MEDIA RELEASE

PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTIONS – YES WE MIND

21st April 2008
Immediate Release

Australia’s largest non-government provider of mental health services, Mind, is calling on Federal Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson to visit its programs and meet clients who live in the community while recovering from a mental illness.  This invitation comes after recent comments from the Liberal Leader suggesting reintroducing psychiatric institutions for treatment of mental illness.

Mind’s CEO, Robyn Duff, is concerned by Mr Nelson’s recommendations to return to an archaic and detrimental system of care for people with a mental illness.

“Psychiatric institutions were closed for good reason.  The 1993 inquiry by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (Burdekin Report) found widespread abuses; sexual, physical and psychological, in institutions” said Ms Duff.

“Institutional care is not a system we want to return to and it concerns me greatly that Mr Nelson is considering such a plan.  People with a mental illness have the same rights and responsibilities to live within the community as the rest of society.

“From my experience, people living within institutional settings were stripped of their individuality and dignity.  They often had little or no personal items such as clothing, minimal personal space and often no sense of belonging to a community and little hope for the future.

“Moving people into the community and providing individualized treatment and care has resulted in a much better life for people recovering from a mental illness. Community care fosters participation in the community, encourages friendships, the development of skills and hobbies and people are able to live in a supported environment.  This has given people a sense of hope and belonging that institutions could never provide” added Ms Duff.

Mind is also calling on the Opposition Leader to meet its clients so he can see that people with a mental illness are not inherently violent, which Mr Nelson alluded to when commenting that he had been threatened by psychotic patients during his time as a GP.

“People with a mental illness are not inherently violent and it is worrying that a doctor would perpetuate this stereotype, feeding the stigma that so many people experiencing a mental illness have to live with every day” said Ms Duff.

“Sadly it is this stigmatism that often causes people not to seek the help they need”.

“I do however agree with Mr Nelson that mental health is still drastically underfunded and there is huge gap in community support for people with a mental illness.  The current system is by no means perfect and there is still much to achieve.

“I hope Mr Nelson accepts our invitation to visit some of Mind’s programs and meet with our clients who have benefited greatly from recovering in the community.”

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