Families of the Mentally Ill Ignored

A March 9th press release from Schizophrenia Fellowship New Zealand:

"Families of people experiencing a serious mental illness are not getting the recognition and support they need from mental health professionals for the pivotal role they can play in a relative's recovery. This is leading to avoidable relapses, with families left to pick up the pieces" said Florence Leota, Chief Executive of Schizophrenia Fellowship New Zealand (SFNZ).

In an address at the Wellington launch of Supporting Families Awareness Week, Ms Leota commented on feedback from SFNZ branches throughout the country which overwhelmingly pointed to inadequate consultation with families by mental health professionals. Over 90% of branches reported that District Health Boards included families in recovery planning only sometimes or not at all.

Research has shown that people who experience mental illness have fewer relapses when their family/whanau is involved in their care and treatment.

"SFNZ is a staunch advocate for integrated care – this means complementing the use of clinical support for someone with a mental illness, with support in other areas that impact on their overall health and quality of life.

"Ten years ago SFNZ recognized the need to reinforce the rights of families/whanau within the mental health system so we developed the Code of Family Rights. New Zealand is the first country to have one and other countries are looking to follow our lead," Ms Leota says.

"However experience has shown that in practice, the rights enshrined in the Code are either not being observed at all or at best, not being observed very well. This confirms the need to see the Code regulated in the same way that the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights has been.

SFNZ is currently working with the Mental Health Commission in an effort to have the Code of Family Rights regulated.

"Families need a regulation that provides them with rights to services, information, consultation and support. The alternative is to undermine the recovery process for people with a serious mental illness, with an increasing number of relapses and families at the bottom of the cliff coping with the stress of the fallout," concluded Ms Leota.

Families of mentally ill face daunting challenges

An article published in the November 12th edition of The Oregonian:

By Don Colburn

Imagine your brother had a severe chronic illness. Imagine it messed with his ability to realize how sick he was and made him act a little crazy.

Imagine he resisted getting treatment and insisted he was fine. Imagine he threatened you when you tried to help. Imagine his caregiver nearly went bankrupt. Imagine you found out he was off his meds again and about to be evicted. Imagine you were scared, desperate and clueless what to do -- but decided to visit him one more time.

Imagine, in other words, you were Theresa Rockwood last month.

Her dilemma played out with horrific consequences: She was found stabbed to death in her brother's apartment. Her brother, Joseph F. Rockwood [pictured], 54, who has schizophrenia, is charged with murder.

"One of the things our system is not well prepared to do is engage families," said Chris Bouneff, director of marketing and development for DePaul Treatment Centers and president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Oregon.

With a physical illness, Bouneff said, caregivers are more insistent on bringing family members into discussions about treatment. "Typically, in mental health, that doesn't happen."

There are many reasons: fear, stigma, denial, ethical concerns about privacy protection.

To read the entire article, click here.

Also see:

Man to be arraigned in stabbing death of sister

Slain woman desperate to help her mentally ill brother

Stabbing death: Another victim of Oregon's broken mental health system

Need help?

Capital Health's Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team takes calls 24 hours a day. Trained staffers can refer callers to mental health services and, if necessary, dispatch a mobile crisis team (between the hours of 1:00 pm and 1:00 am). Call (902) 429-8167 or 1-888-429-8167 (toll free).

The Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia (SSNS) offers the Strengthening Families Together program. For more information click here or call the SSNS at (902) 465-2601 or 1-800-465-2601 (toll-free in Nova Scotia).

Podium TV broadcasts presentations made at the SSNS's 20th Annual Conference

Over the next three weeks, Eastlink Cable's Podium TV is broadcasting three presentations made during the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia's 20th Annual Conference: Families as Partners in Mental Health Care.

The broadcast schedule for Halifax Regional Municipality is as follows:

Monday, June 23rd, through to Thursday, June 26th:

Topic: "Prejudiced, who me? Are the attitudes of health care professionals contributing to stigma about schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses?"
Speaker: Dr. Pamela Forsythe
Organization: Schizophrenia Society of Canada


Monday, June 30th, through to Thursday, July 3th:

Topic: Developing Effective Partnerships with Families - Benefits and Challenges
Speaker: Dr. Gráinne Fadden
Organization: Meriden, the West Midlands Family Programme, United Kingdom


Monday, July 7th, through to Thursday, July 10th:

Topic: An Overview of the Nova Scotia Family Pharmacare Program
Speaker: Dr. Jane Gillis
Organization: Nova Scotia Department of Health


Broadcast times for Halifax Regional Municipality during each week are as follows:

Monday: 8:00 am and 5:05 pm

Tuesday: 8:00 am, 5:05 pm, and 9:00 pm (if the HRM Council Meeting does not go overtime)

Wednesday: 8:00 am and 5:05 pm

Thursday: 8:00 am, 5:05 pm, and 9:00 pm

To view broadcast times in other areas of Nova Scotia, click here.

The SSNS’s 20th Annual Conference - Held Friday, May 30th, 2008

Families as Partners in Mental Health Care

Plenary Speaker

Dr. Gráinne Fadden, Director of Meriden, the West Midlands Family Programme, UK

Developing Effective Partnerships with Families - Benefits and Challenges

To view Dr. Fadden's PowerPoint presentation, please click here (PDF).




Cyril Allan (right), president of the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia, with Dr. Gráinne Fadden (please click on the photograph to enlarge it).

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Pamela Forsythe, President, Schizophrenia Society of Canada

"Prejudiced, who me? Are the attitudes of health care professionals contributing to stigma about schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses?"

To view Dr. Forsythe's PowerPoint presentation, please click here (PDF).

Additional Presentations

Ms. Jane Gillis, Pharm.D., Manager, Pharmacare Business Solutions, Nova Scotia Department of Health. An Overview of the Nova Scotia Family Pharmacare Program.

To view Dr. Gillis' PowerPoint presentation, please click here (PDF).

Ms. Patricia Murphy Cosgrove, MSW, RSW, Clinical Social Worker, Nova Scotia Early Psychosis Program. Families: PARTNERS IN RECOVERY (Not Just Rhetoric).

To view Ms. Murphy Cosgrove's PowerPoint presentation, please click here (PDF).

To view the PowerPoint presentation on Vincent van Gogh, please click here (PowerPoint file).


Conference Organizing Committee

Dr. Stephen Ayer, Executive Director, SSNS
Ms. Dachia Joudrey, Vice-President, SSNS


The Conference Brochure is available by clicking here (PDF).



Please click on the image to enlarge it.

How are the Experiences and Needs of Families of Individuals with Mental Illness Reflected in Medical Education Guidelines?

In this Special Article published in the April 2008 edition of Academic Psychiatry, Dr. Joanne Riebschleger et al. conclude:

It appears that medical education curriculum guidelines have insufficient content about families of people with mental illness. The educational experiences of psychiatrists and primary care physicians may not adequately prepare them for working with family members of their patients. It is recommended that medical education curriculum guidelines incorporate information about family stigma; family/caregiver burden; information exchange; family stress, coping, and adaptation; family support; crisis response; and multiple family group psychoeducation.

From the same issue of Academic Psychiatry, also see:

Stigma in Mental Health Care

Family-Oriented Patient Care through the Residency Training Cycle

Psychiatric Nurses' Attitudes Toward Consumer and Carer Participation in Care: Part 1—Exploring the Issues

An abstract from the November 2007 edition of Policy, Politics,& Nursing Practice:

Val Goodwin, BN Hons, RPN

Mental Health studies in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Victoria University, Melbourne

Brenda Happell, PhD, MEd, BEd, Dip Ed, RN, RPN

Central Queensland University

Consumer and carer participation in mental health delivery is now enshrined in Australian Government policy. However, strategies assisting in implementing this vision have not been explored. Nurses are crucial to the mental health workforce, both in numbers and by virtue of the therapeutic relationship. The willingness of nurses to encourage consumer and carer participation is therefore essential for implementation of this policy.

This article presents part 1 of the findings of a qualitative study exploring nurses' opinions regarding consumer and carer participation. Data were analyzed using a content-analysis approach, assisted by the software package NVivo.

The themes explicated were as follows: Consumer and carer participation—a help or a hindrance? Encouragement—an important role for nurses; and communication—a gift of nursing.

These findings highlight the unique and important role nurses can play in encouraging participation and explore some of the issues involved if that role is to become a reality.

Key Words: carer • consumer • mental health • participation • psychiatric nurses

A number of books and publications are available on ‘Family Work’

Books

1. Families as Partners in Mental Health Care (2007) [the book after which the SSNS's 20th Annual Conference is named; this book will be available for purchase at the Conference]
2. Working with Families of Psychiatric Inpatients (2007)
3. An Integrated Approach to Family Work for Psychosis: A Manual for Family Workers (2007)
4. Advanced Family Work for Schizophrenia: An Evidence-Based Approach (2005)
5. Family Work for Schizophrenia: A Practical Guide (2002)
6. The Role of the Family in Psychiatric Rehabilitation: A Workbook (2000)
   

Other Publications

1. Family Work in Early Psychosis (2007)
2. Family Work Training (2006)