I was diagnosed in a 3 day hospital observation at the age of 2 as psychotic. In 1965 that would have been a social death knell.  The abuse, degredation, being hidden, paraded etc, the sense I was only temporary and ultimately pegged for an institution… was that suffering due to the mental health system?

7 yrs of the primary school having me observed by Psych and Guidance, studied, evading, being labeled disturbed for my inability to comply, participate, communicate with all the associated 2nd class citizenship that entails in a mainstream.  The teachers going through the motions at best, mostly left alone or stood out in the corridor, later stood in the rubbish bin by the teacher who threw chalk at me to the amusement of the students… is that due to the mental health system?

Being 9 and medicated, sedated, then abused whilst sedated leaving me with even more trauma, dissociation, confusion to recover from but which was all deemed part of ‘being disturbed’, was that part of the mental health system? Being in psychiatry by 16 for attempted suicide and sent back out to the streets, sexploitation and abuse instead of to a social worker, was that abuse in the mental health system? In therapy with a child psychiatrist from 17-18 and medicated but not told of the side effects, and given her to disclose to with none of the tools with which to disclose and all the while returning home to the man who’d been abusing me since 16 instead of to a social worker… was that suffering in the mental health system?

Being 18 before the psychiatrist finally ran out of tricks and decided maybe I’m not ‘just’ crazy and just might be less crazy if I could read, write, add, subtract, get out of long term unemployment and off the streets so THEN she got a social worker to get me into education – was that suffering in the mental health system?

Being in college but so abused the psychiatrist recommended I’d be better off walking the streets, instead of getting a Social Worker back on my case to help me, was that suffering in the mental health system?

What I can say that for good or bad (and there was both) the child psychiatrist I had from 17-18 was the closest thing to family I had known.  She was my first positive role model and inspired me to want to have education like her, be professional and respected like her, be a citizen of community.  But on reflection there was so much she could have done differently but didn’t, simple things like sending me to the right professional for the job – a Social Worker – or at least liasing with one, and an OT for significant information processing and receptive language problems… but in those days they didn’t know a verbal adult with autism if they fell over one so if you were in a mess you were either backward, disturbed or crazy.   She’d talk of me as her ’star patient’ as if my success (which was also due to the Social Worker getting me into school) was a reflection on her alone.

I always felt uncomfortable being a ’star patient’.  I was a star.  I had got off the streets, escaped sexploitation, gained an education, had a chance at equality.  Being HER star PATIENT defined me as HER achievement, not my own, and reminded me of my role, I had achieved – AS A PATIENT.  Sort of saying ‘not bad for a nutter’.  But at the time, given the horrors I’d come from I thought her warm, kind, I was so grateful for a safe shrink’s office because everything else was so awful.  But in time, no, I feel she lacked humility, she didn’t share the load with a wider professional team as she should have, she reinforced my lesser social status indirectly (reinforcing her higher one too) and it could have been healthier than it was.

I had good experiences with Lawrie Bartak, an Educational Psychologist who diagnosed me with autism.  He helped me understand and come to terms with my information processing disorders.  He helped me navigate social basics and learn self protection skills.  He was an egalitarian and not at all the Clinical Psychologist type. I felt I was in the room with a human being.  Not a scientist.

I had good experiences with a mental health OT in Wales when struggling with loss, agoraphobia, on the edge of breakdown.  The OT got me back into my skills, the community, into life.

I had good experiences with Sheila Kittrick, a psychiatric social worker when I lived in England who did dreamwork hypnotherapy and worked with PTSD.  She was wonderful, innovative, empowering, practical, humanising, egalitarian and has the professionalism and boundaries I aim for an autism consultant. There was no them and us stuff but good clear boundaries (on both sides).  That’s good work.

A psychiatrist in the UK helped me onto low dose Risperdal (with the support of my psychiatric social worker) which probably continued to save my health (I have immune deficiencies so it improved my health) and my life.  In Australia I saw a reviewing psychiatrist who adapted that to low dose Seroquel.  It was a walk in walk out service.  I had no desire nor faith in having my head shrunk and the psychiatrist felt sort of like Freud, a kind of social gulf dividing the very expensive room, a strong ever present feeling of formal hierarchy in this doctor-patient setting.

I’m doing positive work with the psychiatric social worker I’m now seeing in Melbourne.  With qualifications in social work and psychology he’s got at least 5 years study behind him as well as practice and is more equipped to help me manage my stuff than the average 3-4 year graduate of clinical psychology who has no social work or OT to help me holistically with my issues.

A medication review this year with a new psychiatrist in a one off appointment found me diagnosed with DID (in addition to my autism) and the diagnosis probably helped although I was already working through the issues with the psychiatric social worker.

So how have I found psychiatry? More useful than suicide, useful for (potentially life saving) low dose medication if necessary, but fairly piss poor by contrast with what Social Work and OT can do for my mental health issues in the context of disability (a service the federal government is in the process of cutting funding to)  Did psychiatric medication help me?  I’ve been abused on it, abused by it, and saved because of it.  Medication is like a knife.  It can be used helpfully or dangerously.  What I do know is that medication and psychiatry alone, nor clinical psychology alone, could have helped me holistically to address the complexities of where mental health, disability and life long history of trauma are combined.  Fact is, my mental health issues ain’t all some pathology, conveniently removable from society, from community, from marginalisation and in that sense my mental health issues ain’t all IN MY HEAD.
Donna Williams, BA Hons, Dip Ed.
Author, artist, singer-songwriter, screenwriter.
Autism consultant and public speaker.

http://www.myspace.com/nobodynowherethefilm
http://www.donnawilliams.net
http://www.aspinauts.com

This item originally posted here:

A personal review of psychiatry versus social work in the context of mental health

Greens candidate for Brand, Dawn Jecks and Greens health spokesperson, Rachel Siewert have urged the Government to reconsider a decision to cut funding for social workers and occupational therapists from a major mental health program. Senator Siewert said the removal of more than one thousand social workers from the Better Access program was an example of government’s “inadequate” response to growing demands on mental health services.

“Front line mental health social workers are absolutely critical to an effective approach to mental health care. Many people will be unable to receive Medicare-funded assistance from mental health social workers if these cuts go ahead.” The Better Access program will lose the funding for 1100 social workers in April next year if the funding cuts go ahead.  The Greens opposed these changes when they were announced and we continue to oppose the Federal Government’s plan.

“If social workers and occupation therapists are removed from the Better Access program – the consequences for people who need mental health care will be dramatic,” said Senator Siewert. The Federal Department of Health and Ageing is currently reviewing the program but, despite the review not being finalised, the Government has already made the decision to axe social workers from the program.

Ms Jecks said she was “deeply troubled” by the decision. “Social workers and occupational therapists are essential to a comprehensive approach to mental health,” she said. “Mental health is a matter of national importance requiring the creation of a new position in cabinet – a dedicated Minister for Mental Health”.

The Greens are calling for and will fight for additional funding of at least $350million per year for mental health over the next four years. This additional funding will be used to fund; $100million every year in incentives at the primary care level to target those in need, the vulnerable and long-term clientele working within the community and NGO sector. $150million per year for early intervention mental health programs including ‘Headspace’ and early psychosis prevention services; $100million per year for alternatives to emergency department treatment such as multi- disciplinary community-based sub-acute services that supports ‘stepped’ (two-staged) prevention and recovery care.

The Greens believe that years of under-funding by successive Federal governments have resulted in a mental health system which is not working. The Greens will work to establish a new Minister of Mental Health to take responsibility for rapidly implementing the changes necessary to meet the needs of people with mental illness.

want to take action to fight these funding cuts?

Write to your MP.  Contact the federal health minister, Nicola Roxon, and tell her what you think!

Federal Health Minister, Nicola Roxon,
1 Thomas Holmes Street
Maribyrnong Vic 3032,

ph 9317 7077.

or email her your experiences and feelings on the matter

nicola@nicolaroxonmp.com

Make your voice count.

Also 10,000 signatures is required to try and change this by December 2010. Please add yours.  Can you help get signatures from friends, local GP practices, your community?  You can find the petition here.

This item originally posted here:

Greens urge re-think on mental health cuts to Social Work and OT.

I became a a teacher, an autism consultant, a lecturer, and work with families and with adults with a range of abilities and disabilities, including co-morbid psychiatric issues.  A percentage of my clients will access the services of Social Workers and Occupational Therapists because they require something more holistic, more practical than a medication review, medication or further scrutiny of their psychiatric symptoms.  They require a hands on approach which looks at their life in the context of their community, their social networks, their personhood.  Whilst we have Medicare funding for such people to see Social Workers and Occupational Therapists, such people have a far better chance at equality and an integrated place in the community.  Social Workers and Occupational Therapists are trained to think and work holistically, to see beyond the labels, the ‘pathology’.

People are not one size fits all.  Our services should reflect that.

Do add your story, add your voice.  This funding slash isn’t set in stone yet.  The decision will be reviewed in December 2010.  Write to your MP.  Contact the federal health minister, Nicola Roxon, and tell her what you think!

Federal Health Minister, Nicola Roxon,
1 Thomas Holmes Street
Maribyrnong Vic 3032,

ph 9317 7077.

or email her your experiences and feelings on the matter

nicola@nicolaroxonmp.com

Make your voice count.

Also 10,000 signatures is required to try and change this by December 2010. Please add yours.  Can you help get signatures from friends, fellow spectrumites, local GP practices, your community?  Here’s the petition.

Richardson House petition-1

Please print it out.

Once signed they need to all be sent to the address at the foot of the petition.

Thanks for giving a damn.

Donna Williams, BA Hons, Dip Ed.
Author, autism consultant and public speaker.
http://www.donnawilliams.net

This item originally posted here:

What do Social Workers and OTs do in the field of Mental Health?

And colored cloth waved in the breeze from a string clothes line suspended between the shed and the house.  It made colors against the white of the house.  The dog tore the waving colors from the line, one, then another, happily pulling the colors to pieces and going back for more.  The girl squealed gleefully for it was such a happy sight.

Then the back door swung open and the world changed.

An adult emerged, a wooden bat in hand.  The dog ran.  The adult called it.  It cowered and looked to the girl.  She had frozen.  It whined in terror.  Blow after blow crashed onto the dog as it yelped and it’s fur turned wet and it’s blood was burgundy against the black curly fur.  It tried to stand but its legs were broken.  It’s face was smashed.  The girl was commanded to watch or it would happen to her.  Then the bat was brought down and broke the dog’s back and it collapsed like a rag doll, splayed on the ground, one of its paws almost covering its smashed face.

The girl was sick but didn’t even dare vomit.  She didn’t scream.  Only the old woman in the laneway pleaded for the dog’s life.  But that never stopped a psychopath high on the adrenaline of murder.  When she was commanded to help bury the dog the 9 year old couldn’t move.  But someone did, someone not her.  She had dissociated.  The dog was buried in the corner of the garden, under the willow tree at the far left hand corner by the back fence.  That night the someone who had helped bury it laid in a prison bedroom, unable to say a word.  In that back garden other selves would sit and swing and swim and play.  And one would stare at the willow tree in silence.

The reality was so overwhelming it was painted into an alternative reality in a painting named ‘If‘.  When that 9 year old returned during a PTSD episode and finally screamed as her now safe home derailed into that back garden like a train crashing from the past through the present, others visited.  One lit candles and paid homage.  One retrieved a hidden painting from 15 years ago of the dog, the bear dog, laying in its blood and placed it by the candles.  One painted a goodbye picture to the spirit of that dog, called The Escapee showing the 9 year old flying into the sky with that dog.  Three days later all of the others placed a statue of a bear on the altar that had been made for all the dead animals, in honor of that nameless dog and invited its spirit to a safer place of rest.

Donna Williams.

This item originally posted here:

The Escapee – story of a bear, a dog, and a painting.

Here’s the video clip made by Oz Thomas, a colorful human and a wonderful poet in his own right.

This item originally posted here:

Ladies and Gentlemen , welcome to the war

From the beginning it was a real buzz to find our events attracted not just those in the autism community but also those with other disabilities.  I made a point of choosing venues for our shows which had disabled access but more than this, people knew they could be themselves at our events, that we’d always see the person, not the label (that’s also a lyric in the song Mirror that we perform in Footsteps of a Nobody).

People knew I supported and advocated for a not just a more disability friendly society, but a more diversity friendly society.  Not hard to tell with songs like Beautiful Behavioural Mutations , the anthem of Broken Biscuit the plea for equality in Simply Be or the bitey satire of All Be Happy.

From the beginning our events felt rather ‘John Lennon’ and we were proud of that atmosphere.  Luckily, it hasn’t changed.  At the end of the shows, you can actually talk to us, meet us, ask us questions.  There’s no us and them, no walls.  I’d like to keep it that way.

Donna Williams, Dip Ed, BA Hons.
Author, artist, singer-songwriter, screenwriter.
Autism consultant and public speaker.

http://www.myspace.com/nobodynowherethefilm
http://www.donnawilliams.net
http://www.aspinauts.com

This item originally posted here:

A disability friendly band; Donna and The Aspinauts

Donna Williams, Dip Ed, BA Hons.
Author, artist, singer-songwriter, screenwriter.
Autism consultant and public speaker.

http://www.myspace.com/nobodynowherethefilm
http://www.donnawilliams.net
http://www.aspinauts.com

This item originally posted here:

The Aim of AIME Mentoring Program

Australia can protect it’s resources and security alongside a humanitarian approach to asylum seekers.  In fact asylum seekers have contributed as much as any immigrants to Australia.  There is no need to presume guilt until proven innocent.  Asylum seekers can be respectfully processed in reasonable time, in humanitarian conditions which show them and the world the social-emotional values of Australians.  Presently we have a shameful past we’re trying to overcome and we can’t do that whilst we continue to behave as if that racist past is still at the core of our Australian values.  This global image does more economic and security harm to Australia than all the boats of asylum seekers could ever do.  Let’s fear.  Let’s fear our own bigotry, paranoia, hypocrisy and weak national identity which drives us to behave in such ugly ways toward strangers whilst claiming to be ‘the lucky country’, ‘the friendly country’, a ‘cosmopolitan country, a land of smiling welcoming faces.

Donna Williams, Dip Ed, BA Hons.
Author, artist, singer-songwriter, screenwriter.
Autism consultant and public speaker.

http://www.myspace.com/nobodynowherethefilm
http://www.donnawilliams.net
http://www.aspinauts.com

Here’s a letter from GET UP, which others might also like to read and sign up to.

Dear Donna,

Thank you for pledging to help bust the myths in the current debate on asylum seekers.

The most damaging myth in this debate is that held by our leaders – that Australians are intolerant towards asylum seekers. By sharing the factsheet with friends, family, colleagues and neighbours you can help change the conversation about asylum seekers in your community.

You can also share this vital campaign with your friends online by forwarding the original email below.

Thanks for working towards a progressive Australia,
The GetUp team

PS – if you haven’t already downloaded the factsheet you can do so by clicking on the link below:

http://www.getup.org.au/files/campaigns/asylum_myths_factsheet.pdf

—– Original email to forward to your friends —–
Dear friends,

With the tragic news over the weekend that another group of asylum seekers may be missing at sea, it is time for our politicians to stop using their plight as a political football.

For years GetUp members have stood shoulder to shoulder with like-minded Australians to defend some of the world’s most vulnerable people. We all thought that shameful chapter of Australian history had closed forever. In 2009, sadly, it hasn’t.

Whether they’re Labor or Liberal, our political leaders feel they have to talk tough on asylum seekers. Why? Because of the perception, real or imagined, that the Australian community is xenophobic. We’ll never change the politics until we counter that perception.

Your voice has the power to change that view. Tomorrow, as you gather with friends, family and colleagues for the race that stops a nation, there’s a good chance the topic will come up in conversation – so we’ve prepared this myth-busting factsheet to help make you a champion of tolerance and truth:

www.getup.org.au/campaign/ChampionsOfTruth

More minds are changed by discussions between families over the kitchen table and among friends and colleagues in the workplace than they are by pundits and politicians. Tomorrow, in every corner of the nation, more conversations will be taking place than on almost any other day of the year.

Thanks to those hostile to the rights of asylum-seekers, and some sensationalist and irresponsible media coverage, a lot of Australians’ opinions are being formed by disinformation and myth. And it’s those Australians Kevin Rudd is listening to. Tomorrow, you can help counter their influence.

We’ve all sent emails and signed petitions, but if we’re going to stop this happening every time a boat arrives we need to tackle the issue at its source. Click here to counter these myths, and help put an end to the ugly politics of fear:

www.getup.org.au/campaign/ChampionsOfTruth

It’s 2009 our papers and parliament are still full of the shameful intolerance that tarnished the first years of this century. With the issue in the headlines, and our factsheet in your hands, you can be on hand to take a stand once more for the Australia we want to be.

Thanks for being a part of the solution,
The GetUp team

PS – When children were behind razor-wire, when refugees were billed for their detention, when asylum-seekers were exploited for political expediency, the Australian community was there to rally behind tolerance and decency. Tomorrow, your help is needed again. Become a myth-buster with our handy factsheet.

This item originally posted here:

Australia’s asylum seekers….

Footsteps of a Nobody is a powerful one woman rock-musical from Donna Williams, author of the international bestseller, Nobody Nowhere; Autobiography of an Autistic Girl. Through characterisations, gestural signing, evocative spoken word and song it traces Donna’s pivotal experiences from a meaning deaf, meaning blind feral child to homelessness and life as a domestic prostitute and on to her ultimate fight to claim a place of equality among others.

REVIEWS OF DONNA WILLIAMS’ BOOKS:
THE NEW YORK TIMES: She allows us to understand our own perceptions as never before.
PEOPLE MAGAZINE: By turns fascinating and harrowing…
WEEKEND REVIEW: …evocative, poetic…compelling, shocking, gut-wrenchingly moving…
DAILY TELEGRAPH: Powerful and unique.
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: deserves every superlative a reviewer can muster.

BOOKINGS: 9329 8821

www.spenserslive.com.au
www.aspinauts.com

This item originally posted here:

Nobody Nowhere author, Donna Williams has a Melbourne Musical

Donna Williams, Dip Ed, BA Hons.
Author, artist, singer-songwriter, screenwriter.
Autism consultant and public speaker.

Ever the arty Autie.
http://www.donnawilliams.net
http://www.aspinauts.com

This item originally posted here:

That Tony Attwood Controversy – Donna Williams interviews Tony Attwood