Authors: Marianne Wyder, Helena Roennfeldt
Year: 2017
Event: 2017 TheMHS Conference
Subject: Reducing Stigma and Discrimination, Social Justice, Lived Experience, Recovery
Type of resource: Conference Presentations and Papers
Abstract: This presentation presents a collective reflection on how health care professionals can best support people who have been admitted to a psychiatric inpatient unit. This reflection is based on the collective narrative based on the experiences and writings of a group of volunteers at a Place to belong who have experienced – or who have supported others experiencing – a time of significant mental health distress. The group has met on a monthly basis for 2 years. During these sessions each of us would writes about various experiences with mental health distress. These writings were then collected by Marianne and incorporated into a collective narrative. In the first chapter, we meet Anne and through her eyes, experience what it is like to be admitted to a psychiatric inpatient unit.
Once the first chapter was developed, as a group we reflected on this piece of work and what was important during an acute psychiatric inpatient admission. As part of this process we presented our thoughts and sought feedback from the wider A Place To Belong community. This presentation will present these reflections. For all there was an overarching need to make sense of what happened and the impact the illness and admission may have on identity and future. Some of factors that enabled or hindered this process in the inpatient unit included: ‘safety’, ‘meaningful connections’ and ‘autonomy and control’.
Learning Objectives
Learning objective 1: People will gain an understanding of what it is like to be admitted to a psychiatric inpatient unit.
Learning objective 2: A psychiatric inpatient admission can be a traumatic time for those involved. Understanding and finding ways to support people during these times.
References
This is a collective reflection based on our experiences. We would prefer not to have any references added. If you need to have some please let me know and I will find some on co-production
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