(VIC)
.. a few observations about working as a consumer consultant .. at this time last year, I was sceptical as to how much could be achieved by these p/time positions. But Lyn and I put that scepticism .. and any idea of tokenism aside, and decided that we would make ourselves such a valuable part of the system that (the management would) wonder why they hadn't employed consumers earlier.

Most of the training as a consultant has been in the workplace, learning as we go... one difficultly facing both consultants and management is how to cope when a consultant's .. illness returns .. especially when a consultant works in the area that they are being treated. Linked to this .. is the need for adequate debriefing.. I was asked in my job interview .. how I would cope with these experiences, and I replied that it would affect me less if I was in a position to do something about it.

But am I in a position to do something? .. as consultants we are gaining credibility, but, with very restricted hours and fighting attitudes that lead to double standards, the job remains tough ..

Things are changing slowly. Changes like consumer input into .. a hospital complaints policy, consumer-only meetings on acute awards, and consumer meetings in the community with guest speakers that enable consumers to get informed answers (about) treatment, rights and how they can empower themselves ..

Rights can mean .. little if you are chronically unemployed, very little if you are stranded and psychotic waiting for a CATT team that never arrives, or if you are so medicated that you cannot .. tie your own shoelaces .. perhaps we should all take notice of an English sociologist whose advice for dealing with the "mentally ill" was "for scientific purposes, I repeat, for scientific purposes it may be advisable to treat people as Human Beings."
taken from the Consumer Voice mag., thanks to Bernie McCormick for this

click for an interesting essay by Allan Pinches on the interaction of psychiatry and spirituality ..

(NORTHERN NSW) about Narrative Therapy ( I have deleted some sections to conserve space - it is still juicy stuff - Ed.)

"The Problem, not the Person, is the Problem .. Narrative therapy is a counseling approach that has been developed by a number of people, including Michael White and David Epston. This approach focuses on externalising problems. In other words, narrative therapy views the problem as the problem, as opposed to the person is the problem. While this seems obvious this approach is relatively new, and is significantly different to traditional psychotherapy .. Michael White (1989a) suggests that the advantages of this approach include:

• 1.Decreases unproductive conflict between persons, including those disputes over who is responsible for the problem;
• 2.Undermines the sense of failure that has developed for many persons in response to the continuing existence of the problem despite their attempts to resolve it;
• 3.Paves the way for persons to co-operate with each other; to unite in a struggle against the problem and to escape its influence in their lives and relationships;
• 4.Opens up new possibilities for persons to take action to retrieve their lives and relationships from the problem and its influence;
• 5.Frees persons to take a lighter, more effective and less stressed approach to "deadly serious" problems; and
• 6.Presents options for dialogue, rather than monologue, about the problem.

How does Narrative Therapy differ from traditional approaches?

In attempting to understand problems traditional therapies (ie psychoanalysis, Cognitive Behavioural therapy etc) have relied on the cause and effect paradigm (Bateson, 1972). In science, the cause and effect paradigm has been used for hundreds of years. This paradigm attempts to explain the relationship of one event upon another. The pure sciences (chemistry and physics) have examined the components of Ôactions', such as energy, mass, chemical structure and velocity to compose laws that can be used to predict the outcome of an action. For example, a scientist can calculate the speed of an object given information about a particular force and resistance. The laws that have developed are interrelated, mass has the same meaning regardless of which law is being used to describe it. Out of this great scientific approach various psychotherapies have developed that have viewed the human world much the same way as the non human world ..

By assuming that the cause is located within an individual the following may happen:

An imbalance occurs between the therapist and the client; the therapist has the knowledge, sets the time frame and the agenda. If the client does not meet the therapist's expectation they are often given an extra label, "resistive" .."uncooperative" .. "secondary gains" etc. Clients can fall into the trap of deferring to the opinion of the therapist or the therapist can fall into the trap of rescuing the client. The client learns to see themselves as the problem often resulting in the loss of self esteem and hope."

(NATIONAL) On May 2,1998 Australian consumers will join a global Walk, inspired by the United States project "Walk the Walk" on that day for people whose lives have been touched by mental illness.

Globally, mental health activists and consumers/survivors and ex-patients ( CSX ) of the public mental health system are mobilising their resources to create an offshoot of this project, called the Million Mad March, by and for CSXes ..

The Million Mad March in the USA will take place in Washington DC, over 2 days. The first day will be dedicated to a day-long consumer/survivor conference (focus to be worked out). On those days, Australia's own Mad Million will hopefully March in every capital city,(except NT & ACT) and a CSX conference in Sydney or Melbourne will open the event.

The march contact for Victoria is Rod, phone (03)9350 3035 AH. If you want to help with March organisation, please contact him. March organisers are needed in the other States too. The E-mail contact for the Australian marches is MadMarch.au@madnation.org .. also check the MadNation Web page

(NATIONAL) THEMHS is an annual conference for mental health services AND cønsumers in Aussie land & NZ; THEMHS 1997 was conducted in Sydney during August. There were several cønsumer events, including the AGM of the Aussie MH Consumer network, and papers given by Australian cønsumers. THEMHS 1998 will be held at Wrest Point Hotel (near the Casino!) in Hobart, Tasmania.