There is a wonderful article this week which I would like to draw to your attention. Now, I know I don't always do this, but I have had many readers request that I write a few postings as to what the humble buisness here of mine actaully does, so here goes... (see, a little self promotion never did anyone any harm, right?)
This article, http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/30/111970/people-with-depression-lack-access-to-exercise-therapy.html highlights one of the most passionate subjects which Community Consultancy covers - mental health. Through a multitude of networking events, I was lucky enough to meet some wonderfully talented and hard working individuals who also share my aim to highlight awareness of mental health issues particualrly in these concerning times. We think a lot about businesses/finance and the state of the global economy but yet do we really think about the impact it has on ourselves as human beings? If we're being brutally honest, then probably not....
Yet we should. In a recent article I highlighted on leading wonderworking organisation, LinkedIN, I brought to the attention of the 41 millions services users on the website, the strong connections between mental illness and financial debt. As you can probably imagine, it was received in a stunned silence. I guess for the many readers and for those who had time to wander around the Mental Health Commissioning Group on the site, it gave food for thought. Yet there are significant factors in our own lives which can trigger problems. There are millions of people, across the world who have lost jobs, homes and even relationships due to the shortfall of money. It happens. We are not as resilient as we would like to think. If we are aware of our own minds - we can help not only ourselves but each other, right?
A friend of mine posed a very interesting question to me only yesterday, and she said "Would you employ someone back into a highly responsible job, like a commercial pilot, say, if you knew he had a history of a nervous breakdown or something similar?" And I had to admit, it made me think.
Now, there are two scores of thought on this:
1> The person in question might not ever be in a fit state to ever fly a plane and land it. Much of the population will agree on this no doubt, but what about this one for you?
2> That person is very employable in this role, as he recognises and understands the triggers of this problem so therefore is more than equipped to deal with it, should it arise again.
I bet that has now made you all think....
So, this is how I see it - We take someone who has had such a breakdown. That person has now fully recovered and has passed all the health tests etc under the sun and appears to have no other underlying mental health concerns - in other words, he or she is fit to do the job.
Years ago, in another life, I worked for the NHS (what capacity I shall keep to myself, although I did work very intensely with mental health patients and institutions before they all closed) I knew a particularly wonderful person who had a very responsible, medical job. He was a friend and still is, but his personal life had been peppered with a list of tragedies and upheavals so much so that he suffered (on more than one occasion) a nervous breakdown and spent some time in hospital. He was not allowed to return to work. To his job. At all. Was this fair? To me, no.
He was more than capable to do the work. He had been in his position for decades, yet because he went through a nasty patch in his personal life which got on top of him AND never was likely to happen again - he was medically retired. The truth of the matter here was that the NHS lost a highly valuable member of staff, who has worked in a job since then which does not fulfill his talents.
We can all think of someone who has had their fair share of life and what that has thrown at them over the years. When one in four of us is likely to suffer with mental health problems at some point in their lives, we are more likely to think of several people, rather than just one. Should these people be given a fair chance to start again or should they be forgotten about?
The government and the general dire system we have in place today is fairly embarrassing, yet at the same time, makes my business more lucrative, and sometimes I wish it didn't because it means that the system is nuts. There is so much discrimination on this subject, you would not believe. There are problems we deal with every day of the year, many I have already covered in this blog which can be linked to mental health problems. We are told that if we have a health mind, the body usually follows. This is true, but not enough attention is given to our own mental wellbeing - we are too preoccupied with looking fit and healthy. What does that count if we have a long list of problems and concerns we need to straighten our in our heads?
If we have a good, positive outlook on our own lives, the rest of ourselves will follow. At times, the world looks bleak. Socially we are not allowed to consider mental health - to many of us think of people with mental health illnesses as people shuffling around and dribbling a lot. It goes deeper than that and even "blue days" need to be addressed...
We just need to know how to deal with that....
2009 Michelle Duffy
No comments:
Post a Comment