PolicingTheDream2012

 

Introduction/Definition/etc Body Conclusion Discussion Page History Page Statistics Page Views:  since creating on 20120228

 

Introduction/Definition/etc

 

Surprisingly Not a rant about Police forces...

 

Read on, I guess...

 

 

Body

 

So on these NoVAPeers pages, you will see some of the

original stuff, early stuff on creating drop in centers from the

funding and development side, not all the way from the beginning,

there were people working on it before, many of them named

in here, and likely moved on to other stuff, but with decades of

experience, what happens next?

 

Was the torch passed on to people who don't want to do it?

What advocacy is happening now?

In a political climate of Republicanism in VA, does the system

get dismantled like in previous Republican administrations have?

Where VMHCA disolved and later restarted as VOCAL ?

 

What about regionally and locally?

 

So like with ex Presidents, what happens with the

current president?  Move over buddy, it's my turn now?

 

Or do the former people just die off?

Or gagged, and can't say anything, don't make the

new people's job any harder than it already is?

 

Just shut up and let them do it?

 

Mental Health has a long tradition of making people

dependent on their services, despite the ethics of

not fostering dependency, that is what I see the most...

 

Make more appointments, call your doctor, get

more meds, for life...

 

Where and when were people getting better in the

traditional and even alternative systems?

 

And who is sheparding or Policing the original Dream?

 

People were asked what they wanted,

providers did most of the judging and

only certain people were awarded,

so what happens to others dreams?

 

It's cruel and inhuman to ask what people

wish for and then not give it to them...

 

At the very least, it's invasive...

 

And in such an impoverished community

it can be deadly, don't get people's hopes up,

and false prophets, false dreams, etc...

 

Plus, it shifted all the responsibility to the

Consumers/ Survivors and ExPatients

so providers weren't responsible for people,

government wasn't responsible for people,

who, then, was?

 

Like deinstitutionalization, it seems like another

way to use people...  While conditions were

bad/ deadly and inhuman in the state hospitals,

once closed, people were homeless and wandering

aimlessly in the streets, without shelter, services,

etc...

 

We seem to have a similar situation now,

and people are told there are drop in centers,

but where to go during the evening?

 

The next logical step was housing,

after starting on peer run day programs,

but then the money ran out, the people

who got paid didn't get more for others,

it was a startup type of thing,

and expectation was that people

become self sustaining,

seed money only, and if it works, give

back, but that may not have happened...

 

I had dreams of people being helped

and myself in the process...

 

but like physician heal /cure thyself,

it's not really that way, AFAICT,

a surgeon can't anesthetize themselves

and then perform surgery on themselves

while under/ unconsciensious (sp?)...

 

It's inherently hierarchical based on

time served, AFAICT.   People who have

been around longer help those new people,

and then the new people help others when they

come in...  In 12 Step programs, it's the 12th

Step, and doing service...

 

Only the successful do service, or the message

gets dliuted, mutated and lost.

 

Step 12: Having had a spiritual awakening

as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message

to _others_ who still suffer and practice these principles

in all our affairs.

 

OK, so you, the reader, probably didn't do the first 11 Steps,

and you can't two step, I'm powerless, here let me help

you...

 

Without the inventory, amends, and hope,

it would not work.

 

Hope and self determination were what was missing,

IMO.  People wanted the trips, but not the work,

get out of the provider run Clubhouse model,

and have some freedom, did it work?

What were the consequences?  What happened?

People fought, badly.  People, friends of mine

died,  people's feelings were hurt when they

didn't get what they wanted/ wished for and dreamed

about...

 

So what is the role of people who were in it

before?  Move aside?  Die off?

 

Recently, I'm remembering the loss of my father

on the recent anniversary of his death...

MyFatherPassedAwayLastNight

 

He had a view on life, that I inherited some

of, rebelled against a lot of it,

and not sure what happens next...

 

He was for education, got his Ph.D.

I've stopped at Bachelors, and it took

17 years to get that, sure I had interesting

research jobs along the way, but low level,

and eventually ended.

And as disabled, it doesn't make sense for me

to pursue a masters when I can't do the work,

after getting a degree.  It's expensive, I don't have

the money, don't do loans anymore, and I can't

decide between tech and clinical stuff,

neither fits right, and the combination doesn't

really exist...  I created individualized stuff

to finish up what diverse stuff I had started,

technology rages on, and clinical stuff

starts from an orientation that they

are all knowing without actually experiencing

it, Lived Experience... 

Sure the peer movement has changed it some,

but not enough for me...

Peers are the new case managers,

paperwork and gofers, while the professionals/

providers are in charge, AFAICT.

 

So, if you have a terminal disease (and most

MH is terminal, IMO), let's say cancer,

and survive it, somehow, I'm hypothetically guessing

surgery, radiation, chemo, etc,

do you then do the surgery, radiation, chemo,

etc on the next person?

Not likely...  How quickly would someone get

back to work after a terminal illness?

6 months? a year? two years? 5 or 10?

 

What about AIDS? 

It's become more manageable, people say

it's not the death sentence it once was,

but still ultimately fatal, as is life itself.

 

Diabetes? Type 1 or Type 2?

Type 1 is juvenile, and insulin dependent,

Type 2 is not, and later onset

so maybe manageable with diet and exercise?

and Monitoring?

Overeaters Anonymous, and other ways of

dealing with it...  My grandfather was a brittle

diabetic and died when my mom was young,

back in the days of no insulin, and I never met

him...  I hear he did great things, Ivy League,

Pro Football when it was just starting out,

the first Pro Football team in Canton, OH.

where the Hall of Fame ended up,

and the team went in.  People only know

of the quarterbacks, Joe Theisman,

and stuff, but he was on the line,

still an accomplishment, and a mayor,

of a small town, in the War, etc...

 

But I was not a good football player,

too skinny, and ended up with an attitude,

"Football: been very, very good to me"

I lost my roots of where I was from,

the redneck, hick from the rural areas

goes to the big city (not my choice,

my parents, and later think it was

probably good for them, not sure for me,

until I went visiting and wonder what

my life would have been like if stayed

rural / small town...)

 

One is not to speak ill of the dead,

and maybe that is why, they can't defend

themselves, and it is a resentment that

just festers, AFAICT.

 

What about alcoholism?

Even if sober, someone still has it,

the urge does pushups, they say/

taught when I was training in detox

for CSAC, and gets stronger while sober,

and relapse is usually pretty bad,

like going to drink milk and it ends

up being ETOH, and next you know

it's all over...

 

Maybe that is why people say stay

around healthy positive people,

so that doesn't get triggered?

(I never liked the word Triggered

as a Depressive, too armament like)

 

What about Clinical Depression?

Cope with it?

Manage it?

Cure it?

Big Pharma has got the public brainwashed

into thinking you just take meds and that's it, cured. 

Not so, for about 30+% of people,

it doesn't work, so what of them?

Meds don't help, keep trying them?

Wait for the next big thing to come out?

and the public thinks that is all it takes,

you must be doing it wrong, if not getting better...

 

Maybe it was the wrong diagnosis?

Grief, not depression?

Or Bipolar, not Major Depression?

Or ATypical, or just Recurrent?

Complicated.  No easy answers,

and usually seems like no help.

 

Good Writing/ people should be clear,

happy, helpful, and positive?

Oh, and structured.  Beginning, Middle and End...

 

And if you are not?  Are you a failure?

Most probably think so.  Others, consider

it realism.  Play the wise sage and get

hated back.  Told you so.

 

Or seen as arrogant and aloof,

hypocrit, blowhard, ranting unprofeesional blogger,

etc...

 

What about Heart Disease?

High triglycerides and manage by

diet and exercise?

Get lean and keep the weight down

so less strain on the heart...

Not sure...

 

Dad taught me some things,

non fat milk, some heart healthy

recipes were discussed, he was

going to write a recipe book

but didn't as far as I can tell...

Years ago, I got a package that

wasn't labelled, and I sent it back,

what was it? from an old girlfriend?

Sending some excess clothes?

or a OLPC new development thing?

or a projector from the RRWG?

Will never know, I don't accept

things, when don't know who they

are from, they might go boom.

 

But, I do try to give back,

and a lot of this NoVAPeers

is all about, here are some of

my experiences, yours may differ greatly,

but something to think about,

you decide for yourself, if you think

you can fly unaided by airplane,

parachute, hang glider, haven't been

trained, etc, don't be stupid, check

it out with others, learn about it,

make informed choices,

_insert standard advice here_...

 

And if you see anything obviously

wrong, let people know.  They don't

want old fuddy duddies telling them

what to do, most are largely ignored,

out of sight, out of mind, as they say,

how quickly people forget Valentine's

Day, and that was just earlier this month,

and tomorrow the 29th, is just once

every 4 years or so, so that doesn't

happen all that often, a little review

of where we have been, and wondering

where we are going.

 

Can't help getting older, will only

stay young in pictures, and don't want

pictures of myself, so only in words,

and pictures of others...

 

http://novapeers.pbworks.com/w/page/10219181/JerrySpaceIdea

Has a legacy, it's the dream, or part of it, and not sure

if any of the 250 or so viewers over the two years learned

anything, there are hackerspaces in NoVA now

and another starting up in Reston, not for MH

specific, that I know of, and certainly not enough

residential for MH/CSX/ ID/ SA, etc,

respite is talked about and webinars and publications,

that was the up and coming thing a few years ago,

old hat now I guess, I'm out of it, only hear a little bit,

and haven't written a retrospective, it will be

6 years next month since the original stuff started

March 4th, 2006?  Empowered For A Change,

for small change, we used to joke...

 

Where are they now?

Heard one was homeless...

Others busy, change of the guard,

and NVRPP changed models,

burned out consumers on no pay,

no say, no dreams, no help,

and on to using other people,

I would guess...

 

VOCAL grant stuff?

Some changes there?

 

This season, I'm starting to see plants coming up,

croakuses, or similar, Cherry Blossoms

and other signs of spring life, birds making noise in the

early am, people in shorts, wishing the season

here already, allergy and pollen counts starting,

maybe make it to spring, remembering

I had told my dad, make it to spring and we will

go to his hometown, and he passed before that

happened, I took him, in ashes form to his home

town, and it had changed significantly, so much

so that I would not think he would have liked it,

and while I didn't have a good plan of what to do,

burned out on other stuff, and you can't

just scatter ashes any old place, likely

against the law, human remains have

certain resting spaces, most expensive,

and a lot of pomp and circumstance

(read religion) that goes with it,

ashes to ashes, dust to dust,

as I've heard...

 

Thanks Dad, I don't think everything

you did was right, but you cared,

a lot more than most I've ever met,

and while drinking was not one of

your best qualities, you did some

good things along the way,

and you are remembered, at least

by me, and happy belated Birthday

too.

 

 

Conclusion

 

Summary of experience or similar

 

Discussion

 

A place for feedback on the page presented

 

Page History

 

20120228 Jerry

• Jerry created this page to ...

 

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