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My name is Lynne Stewart and I work for the California Network of Mental Health Clients. I am the Far South Regional Project Coordinator. I am, also, the mother of a 20 year old son, who is in college and working. In the past I have been an artist and an occupational therapist. I have been diagnosed with an assortment of mental illnesses for many years. I am currently diagnosed with major depression. The California Network of Mental Health Clients is a statewide non-profit organization whose Board of Directors and membership consists of mental health clients. The organization exists to enable mental health clients to be heard in our own voice and to empower us to articulate our own ideas and feelings. The organization has come to be active on all levels of state and local government: on boards, commissions, committees, conferences and in legislation. On the local level we are finding our voice and sharing our thoughts and feelings with you today. You will hear of personal encounters we have had, some with police and sheriffs, and what we felt and thought about those encounters. We also are sharing a little of what mental illness feels like, so that your encounters with us and people like us, will bear greater insight. We hope you will hear it with an open spirit. When we have all spoken we would like to hear from you. We would like questions, comments, and feedback, as we would, also like to learn today. I have never had an encounter with the police, even though I have been 5150’d over twenty times in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. I will tell you one very short story. I was on a psychiatric ward and I was having a very hard time with external-reality: keeping things real in outer-reality. I needed people to speak in very clear concrete terms to me. No metaphors, analogies, or similes. Concrete, down to earth, realities. For instance: this is a hospital; you are a nurse; I am a patient; I am sitting on a chair; my hair is brown. Very basic stuff. My sense of external-reality was very shaky because it was being overwhelmed with internal-reality. Internal-reality being memories of the past, fantasies of the future, not being able to stay in the here and now. External-reality is the reality of the here-and-now. In came a social worker to lead a group. She said the hospital was like a womb, a womb! I got very scared and shook-up. I remember saying to her loudly, “This is a hospital! This is not a womb!” She tried to explain what she meant, but that only made it worse. I could only keep saying that this was a hospital. Finally, I left. My point is, that sometimes when a person is having a hard time with external-reality, that is, the here-and-now, they may need you to reassure them with directness. Keep communications clear and easy-to-follow, making information simple, and down-to-earth. But, don’t patronize, or condescend. That is what helps me when I am feeling fragile. |
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Lynne Stewart 2001. |