Those who have read some of my blog, will recognise I do
carry a fair whack of anger about certain issues relevant to the mental health
system as it currently is. I put all that aside, when I think about love, when
I listen to another’s poetry, and, when I’m at work.
There
are definite systems that allow us to exist, while getting us to focus on
building things like recovery, hope for the future, alternatives, as well as
established, recognised workable therapies. My work place fits well with my ideology,
my training as a Transpersonal Art Therapist and also makes my writing and
editing diploma relevant. It also makes me think beyond the wrecking-ball, towards building. It is a workplace, that I’m very happy to be in. One
of the few work places that see my lived-experience as a skill and insight, rather than a problem.
I’m
delivering a talk, with a colleague, on: Anger turned inward, grief and voices. This topic is something I’ve been working
on since January, but have thought a lot about before.
A memoir of mine, Naked ladies, looks at how grief and
anger denied and suppressed can lead to voices and unusual belief systems that
end up with hospitalisations and psychiatric labels. It also shows how anger
and grief can be intertwined. I have, developed my ideas a lot further, though,
since writing this action based memoir. I also have a lot better coping strategies.
I’ll mostly be talking about
established ways of coping and paradigms of thinking towards being all you're meant to be. There is a lot new material,
but it’s not something I’ve done on my own, it’s something I’ve developed
alongside many others who have similar experiences. This talk is relevant to health professionals, social workers, carers, as well as voice-hearers and those who want to understand unusual percipience, their own thoughts, theories of mind etc
Bookings are essential and can be made HERE on the Voices Vic website. The talk will be an all day session, held on Wednesday 24th of July 2013 at 211 Chapel Street, Prahran.
