(Blog image of Paul Zentveld - Lake Alice abuse survivor)
Read this NZ Stuff article by Aaron Smale
I ask that you reflect on your definition of mental health
Your definition of mental health will determine how you respond to people with mental health
The term "mental health" does not need to change
Our perceptions, our definition, our response to the term "mental health" needs to change.
Once I said that we need to take away the term "mental health" and replace it with another term.
I thought that by changing the term, we could change the mindsets of people.
I was WRONG.
We need to change the mindsets of the people because it is the mindsets that determine how we see the world and it determines what we say and do when we face the term mental health.
What is your definition of the term mental health?
Do you accept or do you judge?
Do you include or exclude?
Do you wrap around or do you restrain?
How New Zealand viewed mental health. I
Have we changed or just gone undercover?
Lake Alice was one of many mental asylums here in New Zealand
Kingseat Hospital was another.
Bunnythorpe
Carrington
Oakley
Back in the day, it was considered the best and most appropriate placement for those who had mental health issues.
As a child, I played on the grounds of Kingseat Hospital. It looked and was very beautiful. the grounds. The community would gather to watch marching and cricket, all smiling and happy.
Beautiful, happy grounds filled with beautiful happy people
It was all a facade for those who lived in the villas - the cold, concrete, and brick villas with linoleum floors.
Nobody really wanted to know what was happening
So they did not ask
Silently, standing and watching
They told themselves that they were "helping" THEM
They told themselves that they knew best
Then one day THEY decided the best thing for THEM was to place them in the community with the unsuspecting public
Unprepared
Uninformed
THEY told everyone that the best thing for THEM was INCLUSION
THEY did not ask
THEY did
Because THEY knew best for THEM
I cannot forget
Those who lived in the villas
Cannot forget
Because they live with Trauma
TRAUMA remains within the body
Our body keeps the score
If trauma is not addressed
It gets passed on to the next generation
As intergenerational trauma
Mental Health today is seen as a disease
It is not a disease
It is a symptom of a society that
condemns people
discriminates
segregates
excludes and
harms people for being different
New Zealand must become trauma-responsive
They must start asking questions an
STOP watching in silence
STOP judging and tormenting and harming people
START reflecting - WHY ARE WE HARMING OUR OWN?
My call for action
Make New Zealand trauma-responsive
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