Social perspectives are about understanding people, their whole lives, and whole experiences. We've collected a number of stories that are sources of inspiration or understanding about the difference a whole person approach can make.
Read Tracey's moving poem about life on a ward - I'm over here
When I applied for social work training the people who interviewed me were not convinced that I would succeed in qualifying as a social worker. At my interview they asked why I wanted to enter this specialism. I explained that my interest in this field had grown because my father and my grandmother had longstanding mental health problems. When they were in crisis they had experienced treatment, against their wills, in two of London’s largest asylums. When I had visited them as a child I had been so shocked by the conditions in which they were being treated that I had decided that I wanted to play a part in changing mental health services. The interviewing panel was alarmed by my disclosure. They did not consider that such close contact with mental illness was a positive factor for entering social work. They told me that, given my family background it was likely that I too would I experience mental illness and this meant that I was not a good candidate for professional training. Read more from the Integrated services paper...
"There is a lot wrong with day services: they can segregate, isolate and restrict choice. But, for some people, especially those on low incomes, they are also a place for social contact, conviviality, informality and all the pleasures and warmth that go with a cup of tea. Let's remember the social importance of such places. There needs to be a choice. Until such time as government raises benefit levels so that anyone who wants to can afford the price of a high street or shopping mall cappuccino or cafˇ latte, they need to be there as an option." Read more from Peter Beresford on loneliness...
"In my culture we usually greet people by kissing them on the cheek. The doctor wouldn’t take me off Section until I stopped doing this as he said that I was being ‘over-friendly’." Read more from Peter Ferns on cultural competence.
"In hospital, the medication had made me feel all the air was being sucked out of my lungs and I had felt I was dying, so I had tried to get my head through the bars over the ward windows to try and breathe some air, but I couldn’t. They had come eventually – it was in the middle of the night - and sedated me, but not before I had bruise marks on my head and temples from hitting my head against the bars." Read more of Raza's diary.
"Before I could afford to pay for treatment with a gay therapist of my choosing, I had never been encouraged to explore how the social and cultural experiences of being gay may have shaped my sense of self, and influenced my mental health. I had never felt safe or supported enough to do so in any statutory mental health service context because of the frequent pathologisation of my sexuality. Working with a practitioner who doesn't see my sexuality in medical terms or as an illness has helped me immensely." Read more on lesbian and gay perspectives...
"A rape in a local psychiatric hospital was reported to us. We called a meeting, and—with minimal publicity—a number of women from different hospitals travelled to tell us about their experiences. They themselves had either experienced serious harassment or abuse within mental health services or worked with women who had done so. For some women it was the first time they had been listened to and believed. Some had been told that it was ' a feature of their illness': rarely were the police called; and on even fewer occasions did the matter get to court." Read more from Jeanette Copperman on Women and Mental Health Research...
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