A Bit of History by Susan L.

Tonight we set up for the Home Show this weekend. I'm so excited about it for many reasons. Mostly it's because this is a great opportunity to get our recovery message out there to people who may never have heard about it. This is a relatively new concept in mental health that has been growing rapidly since the 1980's. Budding psychiatrists, social workers, psychologists are given, at most, an hour in all their years of training to learn about strength based recovery possibilities. That's if it is even mentioned to them at all. It depends if their teachers or proffessors know about it. It also depends if they are willing to rock the boat by stepping outside the clinical/medical models of treatment that have been standard practice for centuries. All of the social service organizations look at problems not solutions or hidden opportunities. There is no mandate to empower people who are merely clients or patients. In fact, the medical system will often strike back in a harsh and punitive manner should a person living with mental health struggles decide to own their own lives. Many people have been and continue to be forcibly hospitalized because they questioned or refused the course of treatment prescribed by the "experts". When nearly half of us living with trauma related mental health struggles, this type of bully tactic treatment has to stop. There are better ways. Doctors and medications are simply one tool that can enable recovery. "Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years and had suffered many things from many physicians." Mk 5:25