Cost Factor by Susan L.

Yesterday's PREFER (Peer Recovery Education for Employment and Resiliency) Summit was based on the subject of dignity and suggested that Peer Supporters are actually Dignity Workers. I found this term fascinating. The speakers were amazing. Nora Jacobson has done a tremendous amount of research on the subject and the role dignity plays in our lives, inside and out of the medical system. She drafted a model of dignity part of which is: "Human dignity is the inherent and inalienable role that belongs to every human simply by the virtue of being human." Oh, how we miss the mark. Myself included. God, forgive me. She went on to say that whenever people meet, professionally or socially, it is a dignity encounter where that attribute is either promoted or violated. The medical mental health system is very good at violating our dignity and, if I might add, unfortunately our seniors know this well also. "It's all in your head!" There has been a bit of an outcry about the financial burden involved in implementing Dignity Based forms of care. The thought just occured to me...we wouldn't need mandatory sensitivity training! There is a couple of sad things about this: one, that it needs to be adopted in the first place and two, money is even a factor. "Please" and "Thank you" don't cost a penny. "Walk as children of light." Eph 5:8