I recently Re-blogged a story or a collection of tweets that contained the hashtag #WhyWeDontEngage. Charlotte Walker is a mental health advocate who noted that mental health customers often are accused of “not engaging”. Not only that but these accusations were false but customers felt like they were treated unfairly and sometimes spitefully. If you did not, I implore you to read these. The first tweets set off the firestorm of tweets..
@StuckonSW @Sectioned_ Duty person at CMHT called HTT to refer me to them. HTT response to my name: OH GOD NOT HER AGAIN! CMHT guy laughed.
— Charlotte Walker (@BipolarBlogger) December 23, 2014
https://twitter.com/BipolarBlogger/status/545915856132538368
some of my other favorites were..
https://twitter.com/tweety123pie/status/545966876917235713
#WhyWeDontEngage: Because we don't appreciate being spoken as if we were a naughty toddler
— Grumpy Old Girl! 🇪🇺 #FBPE (@OCDTrudy) December 19, 2014
#WhyWeDontEngage Because, before I can engage with you, you have to win my trust in you as a person, & in your skills & ability to help.
— Mental Health (@Sectioned_) December 19, 2014
When I asked when I could leave the hospital, the answer was "when we decide you can." Even prison has a release date. #WhyWeDontEngage
— (((Leah Ida Harris))) (@leahida) December 20, 2014
#WhyWeDontEngage "That sign on the wall says I can talk to a patient representative." Nurse "It's an old sign. The number no longer works"
— Nev Jones (@viscidula) December 22, 2014
#Whywedontengage Imposing power over a vulnerable person in distress is a direct contribution to structural inequality & oppression.
— love moves you (@Suanta1) December 20, 2014
The more I read these tweets, the more it challenged my thoughts about the people that I work with. It really gave me pause. Thousands of tweets about how people who utilize mental health services feel that we are not truly engaged with them. In some cases our lack of true engagement has done real harm. It demonstrated to me that a lot of people are hurt and angered by this. They have the right to be angry and I don’t want to take away from #WhyWeDontEngage. I want to make sure their voice is heard and a response is developed.
If you are on twitter or facebook please contribute to #WhyWeShouldINCLUDE. I have to give Love Moves You on twitter credit for helping with the title of the hashtag. Describe what it takes to develop proper engagement between mental health professionals and those persons who we are supposed to serve. Clearly, we could be doing better and together we can work on this. I look forward to seeing your response.
Sean 🙂
