Health professionals have a high level power over vulnerable people and therefore they are deemed responsible for equity in health outcomes, for those that are marginalised in today’s westernised society. People that are marginalised often face unfair cultural stigmatisation and racism. It is crucial that we treat Māori people with kindness, empathy and respect.
Missing persons cases cause flurries of action and public conjecture from time to time; searches quite rightly swing into action the moment police and neighbours hear of missing children, or a senior that has disappeared from the local old folks home. But when the missing person is known to be mentally unwell, the concern is muted, and often the action is delayed and ineffective.
The official response to this foreseeable crisis has been pathetic – a combination of denial and claims that the problems were under control. While former Minister Jonathan ‘Dr Death’ Coleman has now scarpered from Parliament (good riddance), the new Labour Minister of Health David Clark clearly has a hell of a lot of work yet to do to convince us that the mental health crisis is being properly dealt with.
I’m highly passionate about advocating for the mentally ill. My passion for assisting the underprivileged and those experiencing hardships in relation to mental illness has led me to charity work.
Not to be put off by the years-long public debate about this country leading youth suicide statistics from the wrong end, Commissioner Kevin Allan has bravely gone where no-one employed by the previous Government had hitherto dared to tread – he has actually (wait for it…) recommended a 10% reduction in suicides target! That’s correct – not zero, not halving it, not even the mild 20% reduction that the current Health Minister suggested while in opposition – but a nice, fat, round 10%.
I studied at the Auckland University of Technology where I completed a Bachelor of Health Science in Nursing. I’m Passionate about, Neurology, Psychiatry, Medicine, societal issues and Maori Health.
It’s coming up to three years since my son Nicky was a suicide victim while in the (compulsory) ‘care’ of the Waikato DHB, and I frequently reflect on the lack of voice families and whanau of mental health patients and suicide victims have.
One of the most telling sections in the terms of reference is the recognition that underlying causes of poor mental health and suicide, such as poverty, poor housing, unemployment and discrimination will be considered as part of the Inquiry’s work – without that, such a review could easily descend into a debate between mental health professionals over issues like best levels of medication, or how many mental health beds there should be in hospitals, rather than looking at the factors that cause mental unwellness.
If the Minister is ever to break out of the ‘Yes Minister’ straightjacket in mental health, he must turn to the community, to service users and to coalface mental health workers for his advice (and by that we don’t mean a raft of self-interested psychiatrists currently employed by DHBs around the country).
A young Greymouth man attempted suicide while in the midst of a possible cannabis-induced psychotic episode; but rather than a mental health crisis team arriving, Caleb – fighting for his life at that point – is attended by Police, who help resuscitate him and then find two cannabis plants in his back yard.