Healing Trauma: Perspectives And Attitudes, 10

It is almost impossible to get through to some mental health workers about their attitudes and perspectives towards clients. They are some of the principal vectors of stigma and pathologizing. Not all. I did chat briefly yesterday with one colleague who seems particularly diehard at elevating himself above the client. I of course cannot divulge any clinical information on this post because of confidentiality as well as my desire to protect my clients' privacy. That said, this particular case manager began describing to me the client in the most professional and patronizing terminology. I don't for a minute doubt that he was correct on some details, but his tone I found his tone arrogant and offensive, neither did he seem at all interested in appreciate my observations on how well this client is doing (we meet every week for two hours. This case manager sees him maybe for fifteen minutes every three months or so). He clearly does not like this particular client (the feeling is mutual)and when this happens it can be very difficult for the client to get the treatment and the support that he is really needing and deserving. This is one of many reasons for taking mental health treatment out of the pathology matrix and to start treating each person not as a patient, but as a person deserving of respect with all the support available to help that individual get through their issues, without getting stigmatized, and to move towards developing their full human potential. Case managers and psychiatrists tend to be absolute blockheads concerning the humanity of the client who is often degraded as a construction of symptoms and dysfunctions that need somehow to be managed and controlled. Peer support isn't merely about walking in the clients' shoes because we have also been ill. It is also about challenging and busting stigma, even when it is being perpetrated by our alleged superiors. In order to make us into an innocuous and nonthreatening presence we peer support workers are often looked down upon as clients, not entirely well, and the same stigma that is projected onto our clients is also imputed onto us. And many peer support workers by buying into the stigma and internalizing it, merely make things even worse. And if you happen to be someone like me, Gentle Reader, then you are going to be a real deal-breaker. I never was mentally ill to begin with. I was misdiagnosed and my endocrinologist agreed with me that my symptoms of pituitary and thyroid malfunction could easily have been misread as symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Well, I am still qualified to do peer support work. Even if I have never had a real, bona fide mental illness, I have certainly coped with my lion's share of stigma for purportedly having a mental illness. And this is what I have to offer my clients, especially those, who like me, have been misdiagnosed, especially for being socially and economically vulnerable. We will challenge and put to flight this vile shadow of stigma, mentally ill or not, because, you know what? We deserve better. And we are going to claim what is ours. And if we have to, we are going to take what is ours, because now the time has come for a new era in mental wellness. From the medical model, to the recovery model to.....EMPOWERMENT!!!!!