Work

The first mistake is to not give these people work. Often people that suffer from Mental Illness are highly intelligent and capable human beings. We give the opportunity of work to people with Down Syndrome. If we gave people with Mental Illness the dignity of work I believe that these people's need for Mental Health Services would be drastically reduced.

I also believe that we would be delighted by the productivity that allowing them this dignity would provide. Perhaps a system of job pooling would work so that if someone is unwell another could fill in for them. But from my own experience, until recently, when I was given work I never missed a day. It was only during periods of unemployment that I indulged myself in Bi-Polar episodes. On that basis I believe that the Stigmatization of Mental Illness breeds upon itself and not giving patients the opportunity to work hinders recovery.

Idle hands are the devils workshop and foster crime and suicide in the unemployed. The cost to society is so great that it makes sense to keep people occupied and feeling as if they are contributing to Society. It could possibly halve the need of Law and Order and the burden on the Health System and for those reasons alone I believe such a tactic should be employed. The hostility towards the Mentally Ill would be reduced giving them breathing space and a feeling of acceptance which is still so lacking today.

We give work to people inside Prisons. Why not give them work outside the Prison to stop them committing most of the crimes in the first place? It costs $90,000 to keep someone in Prison which is enough to keep at least five people employed on the outside.

In spite of having successfully trained as a Legal Secretary my own doctor said "It would be cruelty to dumb..." meaning dumb animals to employ me as a receptionist. It is this sort of cynicism which needs to be addressed if people are to live happy and fulfilling lives.

I also trained as a psychiatric nurse and got an A in clinical in the Introduction and was given a D in Practical. I believe that this was a false mark given with the sole purpose of weeding me out because it was observed that I might be Bi-Polar like my mother. I was told I should become an Artist. Art is fine as a hobby but it doesn't often pay the bills unless you are first rate. It is sad that the very institution that treats people with Mental Illness stigmatised and shunned me because I was Bi-Polar.

Physically I'm as strong as an Ox but I don't want to spend the rest of my life, which could be another thirty years, rattling around in fear, hopelessness and isolation.