Authors: Judy Nicholas
Year: 2019
Event: 2019 TheMHS Conference
Subject: book of proceedings
Type of resource: Conference Presentations and Papers
ISBN: 9780994570260
Abstract: Paper from the 2019 TheMHS Conference by Judy Nicholas. Published as part of the 2019 Book of Proceedings.
Biography:
Judy Nicholas has been advocating in the mental health system for over twenty years using the lived
experience of her family members including her own.
Thirty years as a trained nurse in the aged care sector has enabled her to use her wealth of knowledge,
awareness, empathy, intuition, and most importantly how advocacy can be adapted to strengthen all areas of
the health system.
The aim of this presentation is to make known to health professionals the lived experience of two sisters
with mental health issues whose most difficult challenges came in the form of side effects to the medication
designed to overcome their disorders. The audience will learn about how the methods used by psychiatrists
in 1999 to treat mental illness caused excessive mental and physical pain. Today, attitudes and practices
have changed so much so that their mother and primary carer would say “if only” we knew then. The author
will share how together as a family, resilience grew out of hardship in the way of set-backs, severe physical
ailments, increasing mental torment, lengthy hospitalisations, near death experience, symptoms of
institutionalisation to herald the recovery journey through acceptance, advocacy, sharing. Finally in 2019
relief is experienced through the NDIS by way of care and social encouragement in the local community.
Learning Objectives
Learning Objective 1: To raise awareness of the severity of physical side effects to medication prescribed by
psychiatrists and how wisdom is now prevailing twenty years on to put in place practices prior to the
medication response and maybe even form a replacement.
Learning Objective 2: The audience will respond to the lived experience of a family in crisis with an
improved outlook of understanding to increase their empathy towards the mentally disordered person and
to change attitudes from the past which may have been negative and less constructive
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