Engage Aotearoa

Referrals open for people in Henderson

January 31, 2021 1:45 pm ⋅

I am all set to move into full-time private practice and will be available to see people for private therapy at WEST Community Hub in Henderson on Mondays from March, with shift to Tuesdays from April on. Find out more about my availability and making a referral here.

I will continue to see people online and from Changing Minds in Mount Eden, but will move to Wednesdays and Thursdays so Fridays can become a day for groups. I have found a most excellent peer support worker with a background in poetry and performance like me, and we are getting ready to run some groups together later this year. More info soon.

I have truly loved my first six months of part-time private practice at Changing Minds. There is something different about working from a service-user led space with such a long history of systemic advocacy in New Zealand. As someone who once participated in Changing Minds’ monthly Consumer Forums, and later served as a trustee on the board, for me it feels rather a lot like coming home each time I walk through the door. I like the way we have a lounge room instead of a waiting room, and the way the walls are covered in framed stories of recovery from real people who have been there before.

Back in my days as a full-time activist, when I was working with Taimi Allan on the Like Minds Like Mine team at Mind and Body Consultants, we often used to weave fantasies about a fictional ‘service-user led clinical service’ and when I left that job for my clinical training, we promised ourselves ‘one day…’ Our little partnership at Changing Minds feels rather a lot like the first step in our own tiny little revolution in that way.

I have searched long and hard for a similar service-user led space to partner with in West Auckland, but it turns out there is nowhere else quite like Changing Minds. I was very excited to discover the peer-led space Te Ata in Henderson (if you haven’t been yet, do go check it out, it’s pretty awesome). Unfortunately, they didn’t yet have a room that was suitable for therapy and it was a bit far from public transport options. So I have opted to use the therapy rooms at WEST Community Hub for the time-being. It’s not a service-user led space or quite as homey, even though it’s also in a repurposed house. But it is a community-led space, so it’s similar enough to my kaupapa to fit. Plus it is super close to bus-stops, the train station and lots of parking – and just down the road from Te Ata.

Here’s to the next chapter.

Take care out there everyone,

Miriam

Posted in: Engage Updates ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Learning To Cope And Thrive Through Psychiatric Medication Withdrawal

January 31, 2021 1:40 pm ⋅

Will Hall is offering a free online workshop called Learning to Cope and Thrive through Psychiatric Medication Withdrawal on Friday the 5th of February at 8-9:30 am NZ time. Register on EventBrite at the link below.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/learning-to-cope-and-thrive-through-psychiatric-medication-withdrawal-tickets-135165097445

Will Hall is a counselor and advocate whose work and learning arose from his experiences of recovery from madness. He holds a Diploma and Masters Degree in Process Work from the Process Work Institute, and studies over the years have included training with Jaakko Seikkula and colleagues in Open Dialogue at the Institute for Dialogic Practice, and the WRAP facilitators’ training. He was a co-author of the Harm Reduction Guide to Coming of Psychiatric Drugs with the Icarus Project and is currently a PhD candidate at Maastricht University Medical Center – School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, supervised by Dr. Jim van Os doing research into alternatives to psychiatric medications.

Posted in: Online Resources, Personal Development Tools, Psychiatric Medication, Service-User Movement ⋅ Tagged: , , ,

Alyssa’s Autism Acceptance Project

January 31, 2021 1:35 pm ⋅

I recently discovered Alyssa’s Autism Acceptance Project online in a blog post by the project creator herself, Alyssa Bolger and her brother Lachlan, two teenagers on the autism spectrum on a mission to change their little corner of the world for the better. They are based in Australia but I found their story really inspiring and think you will too. I love solutions created by the people they are designed to serve. Insider knowledge is a special thing and it always seems a bit like finding treasure when I come across something like this. As a clinician, research is one thing, but it’s never quite as powerful as knowing real life examples of people doing well and what it’s been like for them. There’s a term for this, ‘the power of positive contact’ and it’s a key ingredient for creating accepting communities. This project has that in spades. You can find Alyssa’s Autism Acceptance Project and follow her family’s journey on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheAAAProject/

Alyssa and Lachlan’s article on Reframing Autism gives us a real life example that totally busts the common myth that people on the autism spectrum aren’t interested in friendship and shines the light on the barriers that get in the way. All humans need friendship including people on the autism spectrum.

Alyssa and Lachlan write, “My name is Alyssa, and my younger brother is called Lachlan. We are both proud autistic teenagers and we are writing this post together (with a little help from our autistic parents), because we want everyone to know how important friendship is to us, as we know there are Neurotypicals out there who think autistic people don’t care about having friends.”

They go on to explain, “Lachlan and I have learned that making friends is all about having something in common. That’s why we started our Lego club called BrickTime a few years ago. It’s a safe place that’s seen lots of friendships, because of a common love of Lego. Some of the Lego builds have been amazing! We were even going to organise an exhibition to show off these builds, but COVID-19 put a stop to that. Hopefully, we’ll get to do it one day.

Along with BrickTime, the other thing we do as the AAA Project is travel to schools to talk to kids about autism. We started doing this because of a message that I received while I was the Telethon kid back in 2015. A young autistic girl (who was so happy to discover that she wasn’t the only autistic girl through seeing me on TV) sent a message to ask if I would be her friend. She said she didn’t have any friends in her small country town, because nobody ‘got her’. I would have loved to have been her friend but, unfortunately, I had no contact details for her (and I didn’t even know her name). So, we set off travelling around WA, in the hope that we might find her. We talked to kids from schools as far south as Albany and as far north as Kununurra. Lachlan and Dad did all the behind-the-scenes tech stuff, and Mum and I did the presentation.”

Read the full story here: Building Friendships Brick by Brick, by Alyssa and Lachlan Bolger on the Reframing Autism website.

Posted in: Disability Issues, Families/Whanau, People with Disabilities, Recovery Stories, Service-User Movement, Social Change ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Town Hall Series on Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal

January 31, 2021 10:23 am ⋅

Mad in America has teamed up with the International Institute for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal and the Council for Evidence-Based Psychiatry to share a series of live ‘Town Hall’ discussions exploring what we do and don’t know about safe withdrawal from antidepressants, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines and stimulants.

The first event in the series was aired on the 15th of January (GMT) and if you didn’t get a chance to tune into the live stream you can find the video on Youtube at the link below.


Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal Town Hall 1 – Introducing the Series
https://youtu.be/Pj-mLG7tYi4

Posted in: Online Resources, Psychiatric Medication, Research, Service-User Movement, Support ⋅ Tagged: , , , ,

New programmes added to The Wellbeing Sessions

January 30, 2021 9:40 am ⋅

Whakatau Mai: The Wellbeing Sessions are a series of free online groups funded by the Ministry of Health as part of the national Covid19 response. They were started during the first Lockdown by the good folks over at Changing Minds who have curated a weekly calendar of zoom sessions that anyone with an internet connection and a device can join.

You’ll find regular sessions covering things like mindfulness, journaling, yoga, The Mind Tribe’s safe tapering group, and the recently added Realities Group, which I am really excited to see up and running, plus a bunch of one-off sessions like the upcoming Food & Mood session on February 4th.

The Realities Group
An opportunity for people who experience other realities to discuss their experiences and gain support, with the aim of better understanding these experiences and how to live well with them.  Based on the principles of the Hearing Voices Movement.
https://wellbeingsessions.eventcalendarapp.com/u/22079/91766

The Wellbeing Sessions will run through to the end of February 2021. Here’s a little recommendation Rachel Hunter shared from managed isolation.

Posted in: Community Participation, Online Resources, Personal Development Tools, Service-User Movement, Support ⋅ Tagged: , , , , ,

The ‘patient voice’ on antidepressant withdrawal effects

January 30, 2021 9:30 am ⋅

A new qualitative study exploring antidepressant withdrawal effects and prescribing experiences was published in November which is well worth a read. In this paper, Anne Guy and co-authors outline the results of a qualitative study of 158 people who gave descriptions of their experience of psychotropic medication withdrawal for petitions sent to British parliaments. 

“The themes identified include: a lack of information given to patients about the risk of antidepressant withdrawal; doctors failing to recognise the symptoms of withdrawal; doctors being poorly informed about the best method of tapering prescribed medications; patients being diagnosed with relapse of the underlying condition or medical illnesses other than withdrawal; patients seeking advice outside of mainstream healthcare, including from online forums; and significant effects on functioning for those experiencing withdrawal.”

There are a few links to prescriber resources in among the references that might be useful to explore.

Read the full open-access article here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2045125320967183

Guy, A., Brown, M., Lewis, S., et al, (2020). The ‘patient voice’: patients who experience antidepressant withdrawal symptoms are often dismissed, or misdiagnosed with relapse, or a new medical condition. Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology, 10, DOI: 10.1177/2045125320967183

Posted in: Online Resources, Psychiatric Medication, Research, Service-User Movement ⋅ Tagged: , , ,

Stuff article puts spotlight on psychologist shortage

January 29, 2021 5:55 pm ⋅

On Tuesday, Stuff published an article by Helen Harvey highlighting the ongoing issue of access to psychologists in New Zealand. You can read the whole article here if you missed it.

In a nutshell, there still aren’t enough of us to go around, wait-times are too long, and we have far too few funded options. Dr Malcolm Stewart of the NZ College of Clinical Psychologists hits the nail on the head when he says, “The whole mental health system needs an overhaul. I don’t know if the system has ever really met the need.’’

We went on strike for a whole year trying to advocate for an increase in our workforce numbers so we could create the conditions we need to meet demand, but all we got was a pay-rise and a working group. No real change. None of us are in it for the money of course, so we keep leaving. The official story is always one of moving on to greener pastures, and we usually are. But that’s not usually the whole story. We aren’t allowed to talk in public about what happens in the pastures of DHB-land. It’s a bit like joining Fight Club that way. So it is good to see a journalist taking this up in the media again.

Harvey writes, “Following on from Like Minds Like Mine, a Government funded public awareness campaign, there has been a lot more acceptance of mental health issues and more people seeking out psychological assistance, Stewart says. “And more and more people are seeking non-pharmacological ways of dealing with issues. Good therapy, amongst other things, often helps people to hold onto hope and to believe that change is possible. This can be very protective of life and helps people believe that they can be part of changing their own lives. It is often harder for people to feel this optimism and agency if their treatment is mostly just medication.’’ One in five New Zealanders live with mental illness and/or addiction each year, Health and Disability Commissioner figures reveal. And it is estimated that nearly half of the population will live with mental distress and/or addiction at some point during their lifetime. The system is creaking under the weight and many are blaming years of inaction in the area of mental health.”

Read the full article here:
New Zealand’s Psychological Crisis Putting Lives at Risk
Helen Harvey, Stuff, 26 Jan 2021. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/122695066/new-zealands-psychological-crisis-putting-lives-at-risk

Posted in: Human Rights and Legal Issues, News ⋅ Tagged: , ,

OurSelves volume 2

November 22, 2020 2:29 pm ⋅

Earlier this week, Auckland Pride launched the second volume of OurSelves a free publication featuring eleven creatives from within Aotearoa’s rainbow communities.

Edited by Courtney Sina Meredith and Janet Lilo, and designed by Sarah Gladwell, the publication aims to delight and lend strength to those who discover their community reflected in it.

Order copies from the Auckland Pride website at the link below:
https://aucklandpride.org.nz/ourselves/

Posted in: Rainbow / LGBTQI+ Community ⋅ Tagged: , , , ,

Clinicians share their lived experience: In Conversation episodes 1-5

November 22, 2020 2:14 pm ⋅

The In Conversation Series from In2GreatMentalHealth invites mental health professionals to share their lived experience to help reduce the stigma associated with mental-health difficulties in our communities and within the mental-health workforce.

Scroll down for episodes 1-5.
I’ve gathered together episodes 6-11 for you here.
Watch the full series on In2Gr8’s Youtube channel here.

Episode One: Clinical psychologists Dr Natalie Kemp and Dr Anna Sicilia introduce the series and talk about their lived experience and stigma in the mental heath scene.

Episode Two: Professor Patrick Corrigan in conversation with Dr Natalie Kemp about his lived experience and how things have shifted over the years.

Episode Three: Clinical psychologist Dr Nneamaka Ekebuisi talks about their lived experience of mental health difficulties and intersectional issues.

Episode Four: Mental health nurse Kate Snewin speaks about her lived experience of mental health difficulties and the impact of work culture on navigating this.

Episode Five: Dr Thomas Richardson talking to Dr Natalie Kemp about his experience of navigating lived experience of bipolar disorder as a clinical psychologist.


Posted in: Online Resources, Recovery Stories, Service-User Movement ⋅ Tagged: , ,

Clinicians share their lived experience: In Conversation episodes 6 – 11

November 22, 2020 1:42 pm ⋅

In Conversation is a series of interviews with mental-health clinicians who have their own lived experience of struggling with their mental health from In2Gr8 Mental Health in the UK. The first five episodes feature Dr Natalie Kemp in conversation with Dr Anna Sicilia, Professor Patick Corrigan (clin psych), Dr Nneamaka Ekebuisi (clin psych), Kate Snewin (RMN), and Dr Thomas Richardson (clin psych).

Scroll down for episodes 6-11.

Episode Six: Dr Stephen Linacre, clinical psychologist, talks about his lived experience of significant eating difficulties and the professional work he does now in this area.

Episode Seven: Dr Inke Schreiber, clinical psychologist talks with Natalie Kemp about her lived experience of mental health difficulties.


Episode eight: Dr Rufus May, clinical psychologist talks about his lived experience of mental health difficulties and working in the mental-health sector.

Episode Nine: Michelle Jamieson, PhD candidate, speaks about her lived experience of mental health difficulties and issues of intersectionality.

Episode Ten: Professor Jamie Hacker-Hughes talks about his lived experience of the diagnosis of bipolar disorder, and working for many years professionally in the mental health scene.

Episode Eleven: Emily-May Barlow, Mental Health Nurse and academic, talks about her lived experience of mental health difficulties, in particular, of dissociation.

Posted in: Online Resources, Recovery Stories, Service-User Movement ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,