Authors: Rosie (Rosa) Bruce
Year: 2017
Event: 2017 TheMHS Conference
Subject: Reducing Stigma and Discrimination,Lived Experience, Recovery,Clinical Issues
Type of resource: Conference Presentations and Papers
Abstract: It is often said that mental health clinicians need to be a special kind of person. At the same time, there are clients and families who have experienced unhelpful clinicians, felt misunderstood and confused about services and available supports. This dichotomy continues to be discussed in the literature (Byrne, Happell & Reid-Searl, 2015; Krupa, 2008). Since the recovery movement, understanding the consumer and carer experience is now accepted as a critical component of service delivery and accreditation (Commonwealth of Australia, 2010; Department of Health & Ageing, 2013).
This paper explores literature evidence in relation to the needs of adult children of parents who have a mental illness. It integrates this with meaning and occupation in the context of lived experience and identity. It is proposed that mental health clinicians need to challenge old ways of thinking and attend to a deeper understanding of self to become better clinicians. In addition to attending to required knowledge, personal development is essential. The author suggests this would enable clinicians to better support people living with mental illness. Breaking down barriers of stigma and self-stigma, to enable accessing early support, includes identifying mental health and spirituality as a central part of being human.
Learning Objectives
Learning Objective 1: What people will take away? This paper will provide an overview of the evidence about the needs and experiences of adult children of a parent who has a mental illness (COPMI) and lived experience.
Learning Objective 2: How this is relevant to MHS and mental health issues? This paper is relevant to mental health services and contemporary mental health issues as it relates evidence from literature and lived experience to clinical services and therapeutic relationships when working with consumers and carers or family to support recovery.
References
Byrne, L., Happell, B. & Reid-Searl, K. (2015). Recovery as a lived experience discipline: a Grounded Theory study. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 36(12), 935-943.
Commonwealth of Australia (2010). National Standards for Mental Health Services 2010. Canberra: Author.
Department of Health & Ageing (2013). National Framework for Recovery-Oriented Mental Health Services. Australian Health Ministers' Advisory Council, National Mental Health Strategy. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
Krupa, T. (2008). Part of the solution...or part of the problem? Addressing the stigma of mental illness in our midst. Muriel Driver Memorial Lecture. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 75(4), 198-205.
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