PROJECT DREAM AGAIN

Perpetuators of Chronicity?

To the degree any theory or practice becomes reductionist it will eventually become dangerous and detrimental to the recovery process. That is because we are more than a mere set of symptoms. You may think I have just made an obvious statement and it certainly should be. The fact that we are fully human should be understood by all, but if your remember you last doctor's visit ask yourself how you felt. Did you feel fully human?

The key to reaching those of us with a diagnosis of a serious mental illness and the folks who love us is by compassionately embracing us in all our complexity. Nothing short of a full embrace of our complete beings will ever be sufficient to facilitate the beginning of the journey up the ascending path towards recovery. Recovery is a journey from the wounds of this world to a place of wellness and well being. The destination and definition of which can only be decided by the person. The wounds can be all or any combination of biological, psychological, sociological, or spiritual making the specific treatment different for each person, but the idea of needing to be fully and compassionately embraced is the same for all of us.

Fundamental to beginning is feeling safe. Part of the picture of being safe is having housing and food, but often overlooked is that one must be as free from pain as possible. For example, after a recent auto accident I was in lots of physical pain as well as mental anguish and I found it impossible to think about anything else. It is important that mental health and family health are both easily accessible to people if they are going to be able to make any progress down the recovery path.

A person must feel safe to begin the journey and know they are being recognized as human and an equal. Recovery begins by being embraced by some compassionate person or community of persons and draws closers to the top of the mountain when one can fully embrace themselves, their fellow travelers, and the environment in which we all live.

Looking away from any aspect of human existence or experience constitutes an intellectual and philosophical avoidance and has the potential for causing great harm. Only when we use an expansive holistic approach rather than a reductionist one can we be facilitators of recovery and healing rather than perpetuators of chronicity.

NATURAL RECOVERY PLANS

by Ed Cooper

Madness leaves a trail of tears and to romanticize it is a folly. A compassionate and natural pathway is the only means of recovery from the wounds produced by this trail. Most service systems are built around people's disabilities, but healing communities are built on the person's abilities, desires, and dreams. If you want to be helpful in another person's recovery process then you must understand we are not talking about a planning process, but rather facilitating wellness as defined by the person. To do this takes a profound respect for the person's dignity and a belief in the value of every individual.

The example for this can be found in the grace that is shown to us by God. He values each of us. “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:26 NIV)

The public mental health system if it is to be a facilitator of natural recovery will have to develop some new methods and more flexible funding sources than they have now. Being primarily funded by a medical model entity such as Medicaid prohibits those who are trying to help from functioning as facilitators of life planning and natural supports much less being any help in the person's spiritual life. A facilitator in the natural recovery process has more to do than be a broker to the public or private mental health system. That is only a small part of the picture.

First, unrealistic expectations of themselves and the folks they are trying to help is the biggest enemy of any person in any helping profession. If you drive yourself so hard that you burn out in the first few months then you can't help anyone including yourself. If you try to drag the person you are working with rather than letting them set the pace neither one of you will reach the finish line. If you have a heart big enough to be good at helping folks your heart will at times get you in trouble. You will find yourself wanting more for the person than the person wants for themselves. It can be very frustrating, but you can never forget that God in His wisdom gave us free will and we must always allow those we work with to decide the path to walk and the mountain to climb.

A treatment plan is an integral part of the recovery process. They are the plans covering the services that are to be provided by the public or private mental health system. These plans should be done by professionals with the person being the guide and then carried out by professionals with flexibility and understanding.

The beginning of this process is an accurate diagnosis and a treatment plan specific to that diagnosis. An accurate diagnosis is not as simple as taking an x-ray and determining if a person has a broken arm. People go for years before they get a proper diagnosis and then have to try medication after medication before hitting on one that works. There is no such thing as one size fits all when it comes to a mental health treatment plan.

The treatment plan should support and encourage natural recovery. By this I mean that the public or private mental health system should not provide anything which can be obtained in a natural way. For example the professional mental health worker should be helping the person to develop a natural support system in the community not try to be the support system themselves.

Rehabilitation plans are just as important as treatment plans, but they should not be confused with them. They can be done by the same organization doing the treatment plan or by another group of folks. They must be done with the person never for the person. Keeping the person's dreams and goals in mind is always of the greatest importance when working with anyone.

Natural Recovery Plans are the maps for one's journey from their Diagnosis to their achieving some of their Dreams. They include the treatment and rehabilitation plans, but they also include one's vision, dreams, hopes, natural support system, and the blueprint for their spiritual or inner life. In other words a Natural Recovery Plan recognizes the whole person and addresses all of a person's needs and dreams.

Now just a word about mental illness in general. To speak of the cause of mental illness is naive. What initiates an illness usually differs from what keeps it going or makes it chronic and what makes it worse at times may be something different from even what started or keeps it going. We need to stop speaking about and trying to find a single cause. We humans are far too complex for such simple explanations.

For example, I know my bipolar disorder has a biological basis and someday they will know more about that, but I also know that the stigma of being mentally ill has had a toll on the way I cope with life. Then you have to throw in the childhood sexual abuse and what it did. Now add growing up on a mission station in Africa. Can you tell me what makes me what I am today? All of that we get from our ancestors' genes and our experiences as we live our lives make us what we are. We are constantly changing. Simple explanations simply will not do.