There have been so many rants on my Facebook timeline about how there's so much press attention when a celebrity dies yet very little for soldiers defending our country. I'm not going to go into my views on this because that's not the point. The point is, these same people are guilty of the same thing but with mental health. There is a massive surge of mental health related articles in the media and various celebrities 'speaking out' when a famous person commits suicide yet very little when a member of the public kills themselves. The thing is; with the stigma attached to mental health, all those campaigning to end it are just grateful for the attention drawn to the cause. I guess, my point is that all of these celebrities 'speaking out' won't be tweeting about depression in a week's time. Those actually diagnosed with depression, however, can't forget so easily as they take tablets daily in the hope of some small ounce of happiness and relief.
There are so many press stories about unreasonably long waiting lists resulting in successful suicides; take this one for example... The thing is though, actual inpatient services are also lacking. And it begs the question; which is worse? A death waiting for help? Or a death caused by shit help? I think I've been pretty honest about this hospital that I am in and I've had many a rant on here about the multiple failings of the place but now, there has been a death. On the PICU, no less. And yes; another patient was arrested and yes; it was in the news but it left me worrying- if the patients on the INTENSIVE CARE UNIT manage to do something like that, what hope do we have on a much less secure ward? A while ago, I told my funder (this is a private hospital) and my community team how unhappy I felt here and how I was no longer benefitting from my admission and it is no longer necessary as I am able to guarantee my safety, but just because I will now be leaving within 21 days I still can't bring myself to stop caring. I still confront the staff with their mistakes, I still tell the other girls when their behaviour affects others and I still get upset when something makes me unhappy to be here. Thankfully, I viewed my next placement on Friday (15th). It is in the grounds of my local psych hospital and I have my own little bungalow; just short-term, to get me used to being out and doing things for myself. It was really nice and very exciting!
Here's some photos:
- My front door!
- the view from my kitchenFinally, in a bid to do all we can to improve mental health services and minimize the stigma, Emma Baxendale (one of our lovely guest bloggers) and I have founded a not for profit organisation called Young Disordered Media - if you want to know more then go check it out!