As part of the CRAZYWISE film screening event in Norwich on 17th March 2018, we asked the audience:
“What resources would you most like to see provided by mental health services in order to support people better?”
These were the responses:
- Peer support groups where holistic / spiritual ways of healing can be explored
- Person – centred ethos to be more widespread amongst MH professional, GP’s etc
- Teach Mindfulness and emotional awareness in schools to young children
- More use of nature!
- A place for homeless people to go and express their creativity; drawing / painting / writing etc
- Active listening / person- centred skills training for Doctors and Teachers etc
- Increased listening skills to replace meds
- Community and Peer support groups
- Lessons in schools on meditation / spirituality and mood management
- Increased time for people to be looked at as individuals and support tailored to their specific needs
- More honest curiosity and listening by Peers / others who identify as ‘Experiencers’ – of course we ALL experience emotional distress / altered states at times but people need to be financially sustainable doing ‘Peer’ work; this work is valuable so more resources need to be redistributed from the conventional medicating and monitoring approach towards anything along the lines of empowering and authentic community support
- More listening, maybe individually and in groups
- More gardening together – it’s therapeutic!
- More prescribed art / creativity
- Bringing together the whole family + friends network
- Yoga and other embodied practice to enable people to feel safe in their bodies
- Spiritually- focused easy to read documents on the essence of movement
- A simplifying and normalizing of the ‘not broken but emerging as more whole’ philosophy
- I would like to see better services run by the NHS (the current system is a joke) – more groups based on spirituality
- Well publicised drop- in centres, open 24 hours a day as a refuge for those in mental distress – use social media to promote in addition to flyers etc
- More social prescribing; art / music therapy / nutrition / exercise / mindfulness
- A person / small group dedicated to getting to know a person. Sharing thoughts and available at times when the person needs supporting (Rather than Appt approach)
- Person – centred approach, taking time to explore, listen and connect with compassion – an integrated approach
- More services that offer listening. More resources! Joined- up thinking and services to engage with people in an holistic way.
- More Peer support groups and referrals to other forms of therapy; the ‘medicine wheel’ – exploring spirituality and shamanic journeying
- Real advocacy to access financial support and midwife the process of safe application, assessment and support with any problems with the system, so that people can afford to have the space we need to be with our processes
- Knowledge centres staffed by people with lived experience that help people to understand and learn about different things that could help them feel and become better.
- Some mental health is just about listening and talking but it does go a lot deeper; food intolerances which the body can’t consume affects the mind. Healthy nutrition is vital in recovery.
- Less drugs, more empathic support in suitable setting, eg. Small groups
- Show CRAZYWISE at every NHS Mental Health Trust
- Reduced medication
- Increased connection through healing therapies and being in nature
- Stop pathologising the human condition and each individual’s spiritual journey!
- How can we prevent childhood abuse earlier as it’s a key theme?
- Natural alternatives to medication
- Time to talk and engage with people
- More community services in rural areas
- Groups / places of worship should be educated in mental health and spirituality
- Schools need to be introduced to mindfulness, meditation and 1:1 talking spaces
- Schools need to cater more for individuality; society needs to be less restrictive
- Less suppression of people’s symptoms may lead to a quicker release of the energies
- Improved access to counselling services; within Wellbeing (18 / 24 sessions?)
- The kinds of things Emerging Proud is doing; offer safe spaces to talk about experiences without being labelled / institutionalised / medicated / pathologised etc
- More networks of people with similar experiences or at least some insight into them – talking to people who ‘get it’ has made so much difference to me!
- More HOPE given as opposed to negative prognosis
- More therapy offered as an alternative to medication
- Alternative views on symptoms, or at least sign posts to find out info on this
- Healthier schools and more outdoors teaching
- Jokes about psychiatry have to stop!
- Increased access to crisis support; 24 hour listening helplines manned by people specifically trained in spiritual emergence
- More Peers groups to take the strain off current services
Reframing Mental distress as a potential catalyst for positive change 