Post on 14-Jun-2015
Photovoice: Mental Health Laura Booth, Michel Cormier, Terry Cormier, Margaret Doucet, Lisa Duplessis, Sabrina Legere, Lynsey MacNeil & Krista Trueman
Nursing 4165 February 2010
1
“People living with mental
health challenges often have cognitive
distortions such as black
and white thinking”
~ Vaunna Frennette, 2010
2
The Lived Experience
3
“The mentally ill often feel
abandoned by health care services as
they fall through the
ever widening gaps in service”
4
“Mental illness and
addiction are emotionally
charged topics that hit
close to home”
5
“Negative attitudes and misperception
s subject people with
mental illness to
discrimination, rudeness and
rejection”
~ McKee, 2009
6
“Uncover... Discover... Discard...”
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Myth:
Addiction, like a fork in the road is a
choice
8
Like waves on the ocean, the effects of mental illness have a ripple
effect...
9
“20% of us will
experience Mental illness
directly the other 80% will know someone directly
affected...”
10
“...and you know what
they say about people who live in
glass houses...”
11
“... They shouldn’t
throw rocks”
“Mental illness and
addiction are destructive
forces”
12
It could happen to you:
One client described
losing his job as “the
breaking point” and “from that
point on everything
started to go downhill”
13
Strong support
systems are essential in
healthy child development
“...the only happy
memories of my father are the picnics we used to have”
14
Another client
described his isolation as“standing
alone, surrounded, by a world
full of people”
15
“I feel invisible in a
sea of people”
16
“I knew I was different from
the other kids. So I would just
isolate myself”
17
“No support is like being alone on the
ocean”
18
“It feels like I’m spiralling deeper into isolation”
19
Mental health and wellbeing depends on so
much...
20
“Getting the right
combination of
medications can be a
tricky balancing
act”
21
One client described
treatment for bipolar
disorder as “taking a cocktail of
pills”
22
Another stated: “I’ve
had to change my sleeping patterns so that I can
sleep at night. The
medications make me
sleepy all the time”
23
One client talked of her
lost childhood due to
episodes of psychosis and
paranoia at the age of 10
24
“If I had money I could
fly away somewhere”
25
... “by the time you pay your rent and
buy groceries, there just isn’t much
left”
26
“I didn’t get the health care services I
needed because I lived in the
country”
27
“Sometimes my
depression seems
overwhelming”
28
“Some days,I feel like my
life is in a million pieces”
29
“Everything in my life
seems like a crisis”
30
“Music helps me to cope when life
seems overwhelmin
g”
31
“These are my favorite
because they are so free
and represent growing”
32
“The only way to have gratitude is to live in the now, not in
the past or in the future”
33
“My journal is the only unbiased listener I
know, I can say anything”
34
“I pray a lot because it gives me
hope. I even keep my
prayer beads under my pillow”
35
“There’s no speeding in the trudging
zone”
36
“Recovery and renewal is a long and
winding road”
37
“Living with a mental illness
is an uphill battle”
38
“There is no elevator, you have to take the steps”
39
The Lived Experience
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The Determinants of Health
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Each determinant
of health ultimately impacts
another and often has a
domino effect on the person's life and health
42
Living with a mental health
challenges affect all
determinants
43
Income & Social Status
“What could I expect, I grew up being poor”
44
Social Support Networks
“Without friends and family, life is
empty”
45
Healthy Childhood Development
“My dad drank and abused my
mom. Social Services came and took my
brothers, sisters and me and placed us in foster care”
46
Education
“I dropped out of school at 17. I
left to find work”... “I wish I
had never dropped out of
school”... “I would like to get
my GED, then maybe find a job”
47
Gender
When intoxicated he
had the “courage” he
needed to socialize...
Drinking was his way of
“being outgoing around people”
48
Biology & Genetic Endowment
“Mental illness is a family affair...” as stated by one client who had 3
immediate relatives living
with schizophrenia
49
Physical Environment
“What people with mental illness say they need for their recovery: a place
to live and belong, with privacy, choice and
control”
~ Mckee, 2009
50
Health Services
“We need to be building bridges instead of walls”
~ McKee, 2009
51
Personal Health Practices & Coping
Skills
“Exercise helps keep the weight off. One of the side effects of
my medication is weight gain. Plus
I feel better when I exercise”
52
Culture
“Society often hides mental
illness... People are afraid of it... Sometimes you don’t want to
admit you have a problem”
53
Social Environment
“Support, especially family
support is an invaluable
contribution”
54
Employment & Working Conditions
“My job gives me stability and
a purpose”
55
The Determinants of Health
56
The Principles of Primary Health Care
57
Health Promotion
“Sometimes it’s difficult to get
the services you need”
58
Appropriate Technology
“Sometimes the most appropriate
technology is simple human interaction”
59
Public Participation
“I yell, but no one is listening to my
cries”
60
Intersectoral Collaboration
“Experts in the health care sector working
WITH experts in education, housing,
employment, immigration, etc... Collaborating....
Functioning interdependently to meet needs of ALL
Canadians”
61
Accessibility
Mental health services need to be an integrated and responsive primary health care network where “every
door is the right door”
~ McKee, 2009
62
Principles of PHC & Gaps in Service
63
Parting Thoughts
64
“This means eternity to
me because it is never ending”
65
“... I know it’s a long road...
But ....”
66
“...I’m starting to get back on track, one day at a time...”
67
“...Someday I hope to find...”
68
“...Peace of Mind.”
69
“The miserable
have no other medicine, but
only hope”
~ Shakespeare
70
Nursing Therapeutics, Interventions, Social Actions &
Future Research
71
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The End
73