The Question is Do We have Spy's from Other Countries? If So it would be a Global Phenomenon and of COURSE We are Spied Upon

It's coming up to the Elections
And I Promised I will Vote Blue
But in We are to go Forward
Positively
In Regard
To Mental Health Care
We must Groom
Clients for Work
Medication
Only Dulls the Patient
And makes Them
Quite Incapable of Work
We cannot Acknowledge
That People are Reduced
To the Capacity
Of a Three Year Old
And then Go on Condemning Them
Until They Leap to their Graves
It is a Grave Subject
But I think Psychiatry
Of the Future
Must make a Shift
And must Admit
that the Present System
Is not Working
We as a Society
Must Shield the Vulnerable
Not Condemn Them
Because to do so
Is to CONDEMN
The Victim
Is that What we WANT?
Is that What We need?

Good Luck Johnny & Co

How to Control the Impact of Stigma

The terror of being
Mentally Ill
Runs through Our Blood
As a little Girl
I was terrified
As an Adult Woman
I am terrified
We say that We Care
At times We offer Empathy
Sympathy
Pity
But Without
A Place in the Community
Without a Sense of Worth
Without Employment
Life becomes One Long Passage
Of Grief
When the Drugs
That they
Give You
Give You Cancer
And because of Your Concern
You are labelled
A Drama Queen
I say I have 
Every Right
And for Those that
Come After Me
I make a Plea
That in future
We have Work Houses
Instead of merely
Punishing the Victim
With Medication
It is hard to See
That it is Anything But
I am Grateful
That I have Lived
But the terror
And Isolation
Has Overwhelmed me
And I'm not the Only One
These Days
I just Sit
And Contemplate
My Navel
Medication
Has Introduced
A Paralysis
Of the Mind
I am Overwhelmed
By Inertia
And Anxiety
Because of the Hostility I have Experienced

If I am Example

If I am an Example

Of Why We Should not

Rely on Medication Regimes

To Help Psychiatric Patients

Through Life

The Consequences of

Punishing Victims

Either of Mental Illness

Or Crime

Is that the Result

Is that We Terrify

Alienate

Condemn

and Dull

And We Expect

Them to Suffer

With Little

Or no Rights

I didn't even Fight

For my Own Son

Because I was Instinctively

Aware of How Far Reaching

The Prejudice Was

Even at a Young Age

I've been Overwhelmed

By the HOSTILITY

That Still exists

Towards the Mentally Ill

Even in the Psychiatric System

If We are going to Improve the Care

Of Psychiatric Sufferers

We must set up a Tribunal

For Psychiatric Survivors

That sees to it that these

Survivors are treated

FAIRLY

In Society

The Way it stands

At the Moment

Psychiatric Survivors

Are being Kicked into Touch

Or Preyed upon

They need to Know

That there are People

That Actually Bat for them

And Back them

All I wanted

from Life

Because of Mental Illness

Was a Child to Love and Hold Dear

In the end

Even that was Robbed from me

Universally if We are not

Going to Give these People

Hope and Occupation

As We do the I.H.C.

We are still providing

A Barbaric System

I practically have Premature

Alzheimers

From the Stress of Mental Illness

And Medication

The Place to Intervene

Is When People

Are Young

Show them

That there is 

No Need for TERROR

And they will Respond

Positively 

Cooperatively

And with Enthusiasm

Drugging them

Confining them

And Shunning them

Is Not the Answer

For Change I Beg

For Change I Beg

For Change I Beg

Thesis

If I were a Doctor many would write a Thesis on Psychiatry
Instead I am a Psychiatric Patient
I'm as Crazy as a Rattle Snake
But at my Core I'm Deeply
Concerned
As the System Presently Stands
We often Condemn Victims
More than Perpetrators
The only way that We can approach
Our Fellow Humanity Humanely
Is to let the Light into their Lives
Set them on Railway Tracks
Careers
Like the Rest of Humanity
Lack of Self-Esteem 
Destroys the very Soul of the Sufferer
We Know that there is Stigma
But if We count the Human Toll
The Mentally Ill
Should not have to
Live their entire Lives
As Condemned People
And When these People
Start to Unravel
We Condemn them 
All the More
It is WRONG
To Medicate
With No Consequence
For Neglect
I am not a Pill Bottle
I am a Human Being
Morally We must
Channel People
Into Lives of Dignity
And not Degrade those
That Choose the Sex Industry
They are often
Victims
As a Psychiatric Patient
I'm appalled that
Even those that Care
For the Mentally Ill
Are Prone to Stigmatize them
We must Catch Them
In their YOUTH
Embrace them
And Offer them Occupation
In Work Houses
Or eventually
Back in the Community
Psychiatric Medicine
Must only be used as an Aside
And not as it Presently is……
Effectively as a Punishment to the Victim
Build Trust and You will Save these Peoples
Psyches
Condemning Them is often a Recipe for Mass Murder

I know not How to Murder
And I Wish to never Learn
But that I was even Brought to think of it
Makes me ask Questions
I've tried to put a finger on Why
I've done so Poorly
In the Psychiatric System
And I believe
I did this morning
The Unfortunate Truth
Is that We still pay Lip Service
When We tend to Bully
When it comes to Equality and Justice
For those that have a Psychiatric Illness
When in fact the Reality is
That even in the Psychiatric Services
We still tend to treat the Mentally Ill
As Human Footballs
There is still a tendency
To Degrade
And Humiliate
Condemn
I believe that
Psychiatry
Needs to Question
It's Humility
I see Work Houses
For the Unemployed
And the Mentally Ill
As the only way
To give Hope
To these Souls
If We accept that
These People are
Compromised
Then We should
Protect
Rather than Shun
Create a Dignified
Portfolio
And You will
Have Happy and Well adjusted
Citizen's
To not do this
Is Inviting Peril

Very Sad Day
My Friend has gone to Whakamaru
Suffering from Empty Nest Syndrome Already
Both of the Baty Sisters
To me are Shining Stars
They are like Family

Tomorrow I Begin another Course
Of Counseling
The Isolation
The Desperation
Of Mental Illness
Needs to be Addressed
I have Sunshine
Above me
But the Road
Through Mental Illness
Needs to be Kinder
And more Effective
To their Clients
We cannot 
Lean on Medication
Unless We first
Make a Place
For People 
In Our Communities
It is Not Enough
To Leave People
To Self- Destruct
With little Hope
And Promise
Of Living Independently
Free from Stigma
Perhaps I should not Bitch
Because I am Lucky
Just to be Alive
Considering
But I see the same
Plight
In those Around Me
And because of this
I must Question
The very Ethics
Of Psychiatry
We cannot 
Stand Back
And Disdain
Our Fellow Man
We must roll Our Sleeves Up
And Offer them a Decent Chance at Life
Grief Overwhelms Us
It is a Terror
To Live with Mental Illness
And Discover
That instead of Helping
Psychiatry Condemns
What Hope is there
If Psychiatry
Dissects 
Consumes
and then Shuns
It's very Own Clients
What's going On??

Speed of Light

Quicker than the Speed 
Of Light
Death comes to Us All
At some Stage
That is Mortality
Fifteen Years
to "Three Score and Ten"
God Willing
I Will Make it
And Celebrate
Grandchildren
In Future
Can We Please
Protect the Children
Of Mental Illness
We have been
As Lepers
In Society….

If not
It would be
Kinder to Euthanaise
Is Mental Illness
A Judgement
By God
Or is it a Question???????
Jesus
Does not Disdain
He Loves
Shouldn't the Health System
Be based on Equality
And Justice
For All
Including those
And Especially
Those that Have been Toppled
By Abuse
Jesus would 
Hopefully
Put His Arms Around me
What is Gossip
But a Weapon
Of Destruction
If the Doors
To the Hospitals 
Are Closed
Why?
Why?
Why?
Do We Judge
So Harshly the Victim
In the Modern Age?
At the Core of Our Society
Is Paternalism
And Patronism
A Negativity
And an Unwillingness
Often
To Accept
That Psychiatric Patients
And Victims
Should have Rights
It's just a Litany
Of Contempt
In my Opinion
And When I Die
I Shall Report
Straight to God

An Unwillingness to
Accept
That We treat
The Mentally Ill
As Whipping Boys and Girls
From Lofty Towers
As Gods
We Condemn
Them from on High
We would not Hold Them
for We are Full
Of Nothing 
But Contempt
This Abyss
For the Mentally Ill
Must not Continue
The Law must Protect
And So must the
Health System
Please Must
That that is the 
Future of Psychiatric Care 

For Victims to have Safe and Fulfilled Lives

We cannot go on
Indefinitely
Acknowledging
That Victims
Are Compromised
And Stand back
And Watch Them
Flounder
We must Help Them
To mete out Dignified
Constructive Lives
Leaving People
With Their Rights
Protected
As it Presently Stands
It seems Victims are Lost
In a Health System
And Legal System
That stands back Dispassionately
And then Judges the Victim
We are almost as Hostile
To Victims as We are to the Perpetrators of Crime
It is Wrong
And this Anomaly
Must be Addressed
If Victims of Crime
Are to Live Wholesome
Full Lives
They Deserve More
Than to be Medicated and Sneered at
By the Professionals that are Overseeing
Their Care
At Present
There still tends to be an Ethos
Of Enmity
And Hatred
Filtering through the Health System
That is not a Healthy Environment
To Achieve Mental Health
for their Clients
Psychiatry must Reflect

Advice for the Chief Victims Advisor

I tried an Old Maori Superstition that my Kiako ??  Mere had once Quoted to a fellow Student Jude and I Remembered how to make the Point in the Stars.  I was Overjoyed and Privileged to Spend a morning at Pathways and to be Shouted a Luncheon as well.

My Advice to the Chief Victims Advisor
If You are to Protect
Victims of Abuse
In Violent families
You must find Occupation
In a Safe Non-Judgemental Environment
Otherwise the Cycle of Abuse
Just Trudges On
Like an All Consuming Monster
Very Often Victims
Of Abuse
Register for Psychiatric Care
World Wide
It is at that Stage
And When People
Present
They would be Helped
If they were Prepared
for a Safe Work Environment
Where they have Independent Means
At Present
We often Pity
And Condemn Victims
Instead We must offer Them
The Same Rights
As every other Citizen
Would Expect
Protect a Victim
Shelter Them
By Giving them Opportunity
And You will not end up
With Severely Disturbed Clients
At the Other End of their Lives
Their Circumstances can become
Very Grave Indeed
I think We Owe it
To those Psychiatrically Disabled
That We FIRST
Give them Work
Before We toss them back into their Communities
And if Necessary Medicate
With Great Caution
With Side Effects
Such as Confusion
Cancer
Kidney Disease
Diabetes
And A. C. C.
Not accepting Claims
The Environment
Is Ripe for a very Casual Attitude
To the Issuing of Medication
For there is little Reprisal

Give a Victim
A Life of Independence
That is What needs to be happening
Far more Often in the Psychiatric System

So much for Happy Days

Today is my Partner Peter's
Sixtieth
Sixty Years Young
He has Stood by me
And been a Real Ally
Thanks be to God
For Cepas
My Rock
Through Sickness
And in Health

Smiley

At Thirteen my Nickname was Smiley
As a Young Child
I was Happy
I was Able
And Clever
Then I hit Puberty and
the Turmoil Began
I wanted Desperately to be a Nun
But I Knew that to do that
After having a Lover
Was not Honest
And then Instead of being treated
As a Lady
Because of Psychiatric Illness
I am Laid Bare
And Vulnerable
I had an Intelligent Mind
And Observed first Hand
The Implications of Stigma
It filters through Law
And through the Medical Professions
We sit Back and Judge
And turn a Blind Eye
To Other Human Beings Suffering
At Worst We Laugh
And at Best We don't Judge
It is for God to Judge
That is the Question
I Ask
The Truth Always Surfaces
And Our Present System
Needs to Step Up to the Plate
And Invest in their Patients Lives
Rather than Condemn them as "Mental"
Mental Health at Present is a Farce
I've experienced Hostility
All the Way Through the Health System
If it is Enough for a Psychiatrist
to Lash back at you
And say that "My Behaviour was so inappropriate it is not a Wonder you father tried to Murder You"
When they Know what Happened
And Yet they Stand Back
And Condemn
Then the Whole of the Health System
And the Legal System
Needs to Change Inherent Philosophy's
So that We don't Leave Victims of Crime
Languishing
In Desperation
Wondering Why you are
So Despised
Drugging the Client
and then Tossing them back into the Community
Into the Same Hostile Environment
Is not a Fair Way to Treat People
We must be Curious
And not Obtuse
And Brutal
With Obvious Condemnation
Most of All
We must Honour them
As We would a Shell Shocked Soldier
This World is Brutal to the Vulnerable
Is that What Jesus and God Intended?
Everyone of Us is Precious
Let Us not Draw a Line in the Sand
And thereafter Stand Back and Condemn
PLEASE

R 18

If the World is a Stage
Then When I Die
I Imagine that
I could Make Love
to Salvador Dali
Or to God
Or the Devil
Who Knows
I do not Know
But I imagine Hay Bails
Wasn't it Claude Monet that painted Hay Bales
In his Later Years
When We are Freed
From Our Earthly Bodies
Perhaps the Human Spirit
Lives On
Bouncing Like
The Speed of Light
If We are to Respect the Dead
And I Worship Winston Churchill
If We are to Respect the Dead
We are to Respect
The Lives of Our Children
Please
Please
Please
If We see that Our Children
Are off the Rails
We must NOT
Stand Back and Judge
As a World
And as Nations
Our Mentally Disabled
Are in Dire need
Of Safe Passage
Through Life
We cannot
And Simply
Must Not
Stand Back
When Enmity
And Hatred
Of One Another's Weaknesses
When People are Young
That is the TIME
to Intervene
And Please
Give Everyone of Them
HOPE
I would Give Everything
I have to be Sixteen again
And Simply
Play the Piano
Alas I no Longer Play
Please Protect the Young
Don't Stand Back
While they are being Bullied
Or Raped
And having Murder Attempts
On their Lives
In God's Eyes
We are All Diamonds
Even the Mentally Ill
So Keep them Safe
In Future PLEASE
I have LONGED to Go to My Grave
Since I was Twenty
Only if We Protect
Those with Mental Illness
And Give them Equal Rights by Law
Will We Cure this Dilemma
Psychiatry at the moment is Pitying
Fractured
And Judgmental
We must Please
Set up Work Houses
For the Mentally Ill
And the Unemployed
And Ex-Prisoners
So that these Peoples
Psyches can Heal
It is Simply
Un Christian
To Settle for
Watching them Self-Destruct
With the Knowledge that They
Are NOT Accepted
That is the Key
To Heaven

I Give Thanks to God
For Every Day
Spare those that are Weaker
And Demonstrate Humility
And Kindness
Actions Speak Louder
Than Words
We must Not Condemn
It is Un Godly
Make a Place
For them
In Our Society
PLEASE

R 18

Perhaps it was very Irresponsible to even Start a Blog based on Euthanasia for Mental Patients.  Who am I to have the Audacity to make such a Request.  The time to Intervene Correctly, in a Persons Life, is when they first Present.  I don't believe that it is Humane and Fair and Just to Simply Look on, even if with Humility, though that is Often NOT the case.  The Destitution of Spirit for the Mentally Ill will go on Interminably unless We Provide them a Sheltered Environment for them to Flourish.  We say they the Mentally Ill are Welcome in Our Communities as Long as We don't have to Employ them……..They are free and yet they are totally Isolated and Oft laughed at and Judged.  I Believe, that Fool I may be, after numerous Breakdowns and Ad Lib Psychiatric Medicine but I Implore Humanity that We must offer Sanctuary and Employment before We turn to Psychiatric Medicine.  I am a Mess and more or less a Burden and I am Stricken with Grief that I could so Ignominiously Slip through the Cracks and never find a Way Back.  But the Judgement is so Succinct and it only Escalates as the Person Slips further and further into Insanity.  Please
I Beg that Our Children and Our Children's Children are not left to Self Destruct in Overwhelming Condemnation.  The Huge Burden of Stigma has just been Too Much for Me.
Humanity must turn towards offering Society as a Place of Sanctuary and Equality for those that are Burdened by Mental Illness.   That is JOB Prospects, etc, etc, etc…………….Please
We cannot Stand by and merely have Contempt for their Efforts.  We must Protect and Provide Equal Opportunity in terms of Employment and Human Rights.  The Right to Justice has to be One of them and from my Observations it Simply does not exist for those Stigmatized with Mental Illness.  
At the Heart of the Justice System We must move toward Protecting the Vulnerable or We are Simply Not Just.  I am not the Only One……I am One of a Multitude that has been failed by the Psychiatric System.  For the Sake of Humanity We must Endeavour to do Better for Our Psychiatric Survivors.  Every Human Being is Precious to God and We must Demonstrate that Please.

Asymmetric Nude 2

Picked Up the Cabbage Leaves

Picked Up the Cabbage Leaves
Have lost my Fork
My Trowel
And my Secateurs
As well as My Mind
I'm a Complete Lightweight
I couldn't
Make a Political Argument
If Someone Paid Me
But I was told to
Focus on Myself
By the Psychiatrist
But We cannot
Go on Kidding
The Patient
Within Consultation
And then Condemning
On Paper
And Verbally
It is Immoral
To Stand By
And Allow
Our Psychiatric Patients
To be Raped
And Have Murder Attempted
And to be taken Advantage of
Etc, etc, etc
Without Protection of Law
It's all a Cruel Freak Show
And Psychiatry must Change It's Focus
And Develop a Moral Fibre
That Enhances People's Lives
Drugs only Hasten
The loss of Faculties
Unless People can See
That there is Truly Hope
I have been So Traumatized
My Sanity
Is All but Completely Lost
We cannot Go On
Mocking People
Into Suicide
Please Give these People
A Decent Chance
At Decent Living Standards
And Job Security
That I Believe
Is the only Fair Choice
For Psychiatry
The Mentally Ill
Should not be Left Rudderless
To Will Themselves into an Early Grave
I Kneel Before God
And I Pray
That When I am @ Peace in my Grave
Our Children
Don't just Exist
In a State of Complete
Desperation
But feel Safe
In a Society
That does not Condemn
I'm only Here by default
I wanted Out of the Degradation
But I Argue now
For those that are
To Come
We Cannot
Go On
Turning a Blind Eye
And not Lending a Hand
Psychiatrists must Start Batting
For Their Patients
Instead of Analyzing Us
As Some sort of Lab Rats
And then Condemning
And Hiding Mistakes
Drugs Destroy the Mind in some Cases
Even more so than the Mental Illness itself
We must First Employ
Then Medicate Cautiously
PLEASE
PLEASE
PLEASE

Weed Garden and Plant Anenomes

These Days I am Happy to think of What I can Do
Rather than what I can't do
I'm no Rocket Scientist
And some Days I do
Very Little
Today is a Sunny Winter Day
And I must do Something

Seventh Happy Day

When One realizes how Good it is just to be Alive and then I win my Golf it is Hard Not to be Happy. The Game of Golf is a Miracle of Creation because of the pleasure of Participating.  I am Privileged to be able to Play.

Imagine A World

Where Every Human Being

Is Valued

If the Potential

Of the Young

Is as Uncut

Diamonds

We must

Strike

At the Very Bottom

Of Society

With a Strong

Resolution

For Change

Psychiatric Patients

Loose the Respect

Of their Peers

Then they

Loose Hope

Then they

Become Melancholy

and Inert

Are We to Waste

Our Human Resources

With Poor Management

of These Poor Souls?

Instead of Such as

Suggesting Sterilisation

And of Course

As I have said

Condemnation

+ Stigmatisation

+ Alienation

There

Is the New Revolution

I Believe

I'm Supposed to be on

A Happy Day

Day Five……………

Got Out of Bed early

Made Porridge for Peter

And I

Watched Ghana Playing Germany

Thrilling Play

Smoked the Peace Pipe

And it is a Sunday

The most Special

And Sacred of Days

Because it is a Day of Rest

Day Four of being Happy

Have made a Carrot Cake
And Thank God it looks Great!
Angie visiting today
So We'll get Her to blow the Candles Out!
This Week I have to tidy
My House
And next Week
I Shall set up the Studio
I have to remain Focused
Cool Winters Day

Day Three of One Hundred Happy Days

Thanks to Rainbow-Claire Insley and Malissa Jayne Topping and Whoever thought of the Idea I've taken the Plunge and I am trying to have One Hundred Happy Days in a Row.  I'm on Day Three and there is Already Slight Improvement in my Output.  Could be a Marathon….Lets See if I make it.

Day 2 of 100 Happy Days

I'm going to try and go One Hundred Happy Days
That's a Mission for me
When some days I am Glad
If I just manage to fold the Washing
I have now Promised
To tidy my Studio

Voila
I have Until next Thursday

Speech at Sixteen

My Speech of Choice
At the Age of Sixteen
Was that Everyone
Should have Right
to Euthanasia
You see
I was Young
Clever
And My Poor
Dear Mother
Had Lost Her Mind
I wanted
And still
Sometimes
Feel that
Having Right
to Euthanasia
Would make
Us Change the way
That We treat Our Invalided
If instead of having
to Commit Suicide
We could
Demand Euthanasia
It would be
Embarrassing 
We would Immediately
Take Action
I have Lived
Since I was Sixteen
Entirely
Traumatized
And then I Fell
Having a Mental Illness
Is like falling
Into Personal Hell
I had the Great Privilege
Of Giving Birth
And for that
For my Sun
I must go on……..
When little is left
Of what was
Once a Clever Mind
I have to Settle for 
Simple Pleasures
Like Watching
The Clouds go by
It is Deep Winter
Here in Paeroa
Please treat Us All
As Equals
As Brothers
+ Sisters
Before God
We have to Get
Away from Judgment
And Help
Our Fellow Man
For aren't those
The Values
Of a Democracy
Be Kind

I Guess I was too Stoned to finish what I had begun………..
There needs to be a Radical Shift in Our Society's Focus on the Mentally Ill.  There is an invisible Barrier set in the way of the Mentally Ill.  And that is Universal Condemnation.  The Psychiatrists Condemn You.  The family You Live in Condemns You and so does the Majority of Society.  If We are to Allow Our Mentally Disabled People to Live Wholesome, uncomplicated Lives We need to Shift the Focus on the Patients Strengths PLEASE.  Too many are Falling by the way side with Psychiatric Diagnosis.   As a World and as a Country and as a Community We must Shield and Protect Identity Factors in Dysfunctional Families.  First terrified and now Disillusioned I think We need to Change the Focus of Care PLEASE.

So I Wanted Death if I was Mentally Ill.  I carried on in that vein for All my Adult Life.  It is only because I Lacked Courage that I am Alive and Perhaps to Honour my Son.  Suicide is Destructive but if We don't want People to Kill themselves they must be Included in the Fabric of Humanity.  Not just cast Out of Society.  I've Lived it and I know the Pitfalls and the Pain of Isolation and Judgement.  In the New Era PLEASE look at People Strengths rather than merely focus on their Weaknesses and Condemn.  The Commissioner for Mental Health Services Herself Acknowledges that We need to Change the Focus.  Insanity becomes a Self fulfilling Prognosis and Isolation breeds Dissidence.  When all They want is a Place to Stand and Contribute alongside their Fellow Man all We do is Dis Them.  No Wonder their behaviour becomes more and more Extreme.  Work, Security, Pay Rises are Every one's Dream.  Let's Help it to Happen for the Mentally Ill and Ex-Prisoners so they can think of Better things to do than take Out their Angst on their Fellow Man. We need a Huge Shift and it must Happen because the Psychiatric System, for all it's apparent Concern, doesn't attack the Problem with enough Vigor.

A Hundred Happy Days

100 Happy Days
Seems to be the latest fad
To do that
I have to take 
My Meds
Use my time
Constructively
And a Love Interest
Always Helps
I don't think
I can last
A month
Without
Some family Issue
Tripping me Up
But here goes
Day One

The Sun is Shining
Cheers Winter Up
The Trees are Naked
Now We can 
See the Birds
Singing away
To help Cheer
A Winters Day

Thank God
For the Sun
And thank the 
Lord for my Boy
Without Him
I am Nothing

Sunday

It's a Sunny Sunday and the Washing is on the Line.  Not much to Report.  Just Happy.   I've made it to 54 years of Age.  I have Discovered that Hope is a bulb in the Earth that Pops up at unexpected moments.  Hope Rekindles itself.  

And a Blue Heron
Flew through the Rain
to my Window
Gray Clouds
Will not
Weary the Spirit
May We Shield
Each Other
And be as Beckons
In the Dark
Let in the Daylight 
To those
Whose Lives
Have been Destroyed
By Mental Illness
It is for the Young
That I Pray

Rainbows Aplenty

It's a Bleak day
But there are Rainbows
Aplenty
And We are Cosy in Our Insulated Home
I had a Stern
Discussion
With Salvador Dali
And as long as
I am Alive
I Should
Have a Paint Brush in my Hand
It was how I had Fun
How I could
Communicate
And without it
Part of me
Is Missing

You are LUCKY Johnny that You didn't Spend your Youth having Nervous Breakdowns and Caught by Insanity.   What I am saying and I shall Reiterate is that many of Our Psychiatric Patients are often some of the Brightest and most able of Candidates.  And yet to be diagnosed with a Mental Illness is like your Spirit being put into a Rubbish Bin.  Would it not be an Intelligent move to focus on finding Secure Employment for these people rather than let them naively flounder like a boat with no rudder in Hostile Communities.  Wouldn't it be a far Superior Option and one where Humanity takes a Step forward in the Treatment of the Mentally Ill that We give them a "Train-line" so to Speak.   Groom people for Work and Employ and only then use Medication in the Equation.  I feel I Slipped into an Abyss when I was Diagnosed and the fear was Palpable.  It has been a Nightmare ever since with People Looking Down on me with Judgement ever since.  People NEED to feel a Part of the Community or Anger Breeds in the Shadows.  I am Guilty and a Peace Activist so I can only warn that leaving People to bumble along against the Weight of Stigma is Cruel.  We Breed Dangerous People if we leave people as Train-wrecks at the bottom rung of Society.  We must Act more Constructively and get People into Sheltered Employment or such like and give People HOPE please.

Uenuku Dancers

I look to my Etching and I sometimes Surprise myself.  As I come from Te Awamutu Uenuku, the Guardian of the Rainbow, has Special Significance to me.  Those Years were the Summer of my Life.  

It was such a Privilege to go to the National Party Cuppa.  Still have the Blue Nail Polish on.   They are doing a Good JOB.  Seamless Politics.  Impressive

Billboard Vision 1980

Thankfully I'm Alive
My Uncle Milton
Reminds me
That I Should 
Thank God
For every Day
That I
Should
Be Proud
For I had a Son
It would be So nice
To form a Trust
called after Mervyn Hope Campbell
Called the Hope Foundation??
Whereby
Newly Diagnosed
Psychiatric Patients
Would find Opportunity
Of Employment
I'm a Train-wreck
And more or less
A Career Beneficiary
Which Usually
One would have
Good Reason 
to Condemn
But my Idea of a
Humane Solution
For those that
Present with Mental Illness.
Would be FIRST
Employ
And then 
And only Then…
Medicate
Ad Lib
I have born
The Consequence
Of Using Medication Alone
To treat the Patient
And in my Estimation
It is a Cruel
Stigmatizing
Regime
We are not Rats and Bunnies
But the Mentally Ill
Are Also Human
We must want
For Every Human Being
What We want for Our Own Children
And that is Acceptance
In Our Own Communities
That is my Prayer
For the 
Future
Of Psychiatry

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Train Wreck

I wouldn't rather
Live any other Life
For the Lessons
Of Compassion
I have Learnt
Every Day
I hope to
Get Up
And tinkle
Iris
Our Mascots
Legs
It's a Joy
To be Alive
I Hope to
Look into
A Granddaughters Eyes
One Day
And Know that
She will
Be Safe
I have
Too many times
Seen the Inside
Of Mental Institutions
Give them
Hope
Guidance
And Employment
And You will
Keep
Both Society
And the Psychiatric Patient
Happy
And a Happy Society
Is a Healthy One

Uenuku

It is Unfortunate to live One's Life as a "Train-wreck".  Sometimes I wish I could go back to Pine Cone Mansion at Te Awamutu and Relive my Life from there.  I had the Great Privilege of meeting my Local M.P. Scott Simpson and the Minister of Arts and Attorney General Chris Finlayson.   It's got to be Good that the Country has been Protected from Financial Ruin by a Banker and a Good Gang.  

I think, however, that it would be the most Marvelous Experiment if We took Distressed Youth from Broken families into Employment and training so they don't get lost in the Poverty Trap.   If We taught them the Arts and Cooking and Gardening and Music Skills and Paid them as opposed to Medicate and leave to their Own Devices at the Bottom Rung of the Ladder indefinitely.  I wonder that a Trust could be set up to Help People build up their Confidence and Self Esteem by Employing them at an Honest Rate of $15 per Hour and Directing them in whatever proves to be their Forte.   Especially in the Coromandel Area there is Scope for more Lodges and Tourism.  I'd Weave Stars and Bake Cakes because that is all I'm Good at these Days.  But I would so love to See Young People getting a Chance at a Good Start in Life.   If there was a Control Group that was given only Medication and another that was paid an Honest Wage whilst Bettering themselves I think my Idea, as a Pilot Scheme, would Romp in.  The Days of "Ad Lib" Psychiatry must Accept that a more Humane Approach would be to Encourage rather than proffer Glib Platitudes.  As a Society, PLEASE, may we come to the Conclusion that Constructive Intervention would be far more beneficial than Long Term Unemployment and all the associated Anti Social Behaviour.  It doesn't Bare thinking about how off Beam I became but We must, as a Nation, and as a World, find a better way to Redeeming Our Youth before We strike Catastrophic Consequences in some cases.

I Rant

But I am Passionate
That there must be Hope
For the Mentally Ill

PLEASE

I When I Argue I Argue
For the Child
That I was
Not the Woman
That I Am
Please
Ensure
That Victims of
Crime
Do not
Become
Increasingly Victimized
Even in the Noble Profession
Of Psychiatry
It is not for Psychiatrists
To Judge and Demonize
The Patient
We Should As a Nation
And as a Compassionate World
For isn't that how We would
Wish to Remember
Ourselves
We cannot go on
Casting Out
The Mentally Ill
As if they were
Some sort of Cast System
That puts Us on the Lowest Peg
Of the Ladder
For Eternity
What We must do
As a Humane Society
Is Plot a Path of Employment
for Them
So that they can Maintain
A Semblance
Of Dignity
In the Community
I Know Vincent Van Gogh
Would have His Fists
Bared for me
And a Tribunal
Especially for Psychiatric Patients
Is a must
We must be 
FORWARD
Thinking
PLEASE
I argue
for myself
As a Thirteen Year Old
Don't let them
Fall by the way
To be taken 
Advantage Of
Are We as a Nation
Going to offer
Psychiatric Patients
Work Rehabilitation 
Before We continue
To Medicate
Ad Lib
Are We Compassionate
Or Dispassionate?
Have We removed
Ourselves
From Their Suffering
As a way of
Coping
That is the Future of Psychiatry
To find People's
STRENGTHS
And not
Underline their 
Weaknesses
And Condemn
I am a Shining Example
Of Why We
Must Not
Rely only upon
Medication
To treat the Patient
And then Scoff at
From behind Pedestals
I was a Brilliant Piano Player
And Good Sports Woman
Perhaps We could put aside
A Whole Island
For the Mentally Insane
Where Nobody
Laughs
And Nobody
Condemns
It is So Boring
Attacking the Weak
And being Indifferent to 
Their Plight
Psychiatry
Must Shake Itself Down
And not allow
The Victimization 
Of Psychiatric Patients
To Continue
PLEASE

Drugs only help
To Tranquilize the Patient
Humanity must Accept
That if  we are to be
Compassionate to
The Mentally Ill
We must
FIRST
Ensure
Placement in the Work Force
Show them that there is Hope
Workhouses/Health Clinics
I Believe
Are the best Option
for Rural Communities
The Lives
Of the Young
And their Aptitudes
Must not be Sacrificed
Stigma destroys
Our Young People
With Mental Illness
If we are So Angry about Experimentation 
On Animals
We cannot go on with
This Inhumane
Approach to the Care
Of the Mentally Ill
I couldn't get a job
As a Tea Lady
At the Waikato University
Because I wrote that I was Bi-Polar
Or so I Guessed
Who Knows that might not be true
But do You get My Point
Psychiatric Medications
Only Help to Rob
A Person of their Faculties
In the long run
We need a Society
That Shields and gives
Them the Same Rights
As everyone else
For only then
Can We call it Justice
I could have done very Well
In the Work force
When I was Younger
Inertia and Unemployment
Are a Dangerous Trap
For the Disenfranchised 
We must See to it
That it Doesn't Happen
Hope is Important
to the Mentally Ill
Once again
I say "Treat them as Shell Shocked Comrades and always, always, treat them with Respect for their Psyche's have Suffered in the Present Health System.  As a Society We must move forward toward Compassion instead of Hatred of those Disabled by Mental Illness.  My Life has been pure torture for which I would be happy if Someone Shot me from behind so that I could let go this Mortal Despair and have a Fresh Start.  But it is for my Child and my Child's Children that I make this Plea.  Bi-Polar is Genetic and if the Gene were ever to Surface again I Hope that We can Provide more Dignity and Comfort for Psychiatric Survivors.  Employ them and Keep Society Safe.  And of course if You don't Employ them You are breeding Time Bombs!

These Days I just Sit
And Contemplate the Universe
I am
But a Shell
Of a Woman
From the Torment
And Torture
Of Bearing the Stigma
People
Wipe You
And You are
Left
Just Existing
And waiting
for 
Time
To bring
The Peace
Of Death
We cannot go on
Not offering people
The Sanctuary of Employment
If we think
That We Should
Not Experiment on Animals
We Should not Experiment 
On Human Beings
Unless We focus on giving
These People's Lives
Dignity and Purpose
If we Exaggerate People's failings
We will
Reap Bad Behaviour
If We accentuate
Their Strengths
We'll be getting Somewhere