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Why Speak Out (by Jennifer Chambers & Erick Fabris) Welcome back to Psycho Magazine everyone. This is our ninth issue and we're happy to be presenting it! We thank the following people for their good company and conversation at Queen Street, in the Mall and on the wards: Anonymous (these names not arranged in order) These people and others have contributed to this commentary on life and times at Queen Street. The purpose of this commentary and others on later pages, is to speak out about what's happening and what people are seeing around them. In formal speak, people speaking out are actually advocating for themselves and for others because of our shared experience in the system. This is called self-advocacy and everyone does it at some point. We suggest that listening to people speak out is an alternative preferable to forming committees of "experts" to talk about people. Here are people saying things we think the new governing board of Queen Street and the other amalgamated agencies should hear: "I was here a few years ago and didn't like it-- all the medication! Especially Haldol. I couldn't think, had trouble seeing, everything was trembling in front of me. I was leaning against the wall, I was afraid of falling down. I'm better when I don't take it. I get worse when I do take it. Now I take something else, and not so much." "I think this was not a good place for me. If I have to be hospitalized again, I'll try to go to another hospital. Toronto Western serves the Portuguese community. It would have been helpful to have the Patients Council when I was here, to find out about places I could go, housing, etcetera." "There were silent tears before the Patients Council. Now the patients have someone to talk to their rights. Before the Patients Council all authority was bad stuff." "The sickest people aren't in here. The people who cause war, hurt people are. Because as long as you look normal and "look out for number one" you fit in. We can't see the mean thoughts some people think." "Music is a source. Music is medicine." "Patients here are special people. Some of them show such unconditional love. Some have disturbed spirits and cause trouble, but most have good hearts." "The Patients Council is needed because you have to have someone who is conscious enough to see the problem, recognize it, put the problems on the table . Some people don't know how to see things and express them, how to address problems. There must be people who can really see the problem. We must have some kind of representation for the people."
"All the feuding: black versus white, religious, and so on, drives us to move forward, in a good and bad way. We should learn from the past-- really learn history."
"We should get more outings here. The Patients Council has been good for [someone on the ward]. The Patients Council is good to stand up for you."
"Instead of putting me in restraints they should have told me to cool down, go for a walk, chill out. Same thing for needles. Got to try to stop all the pills. They want to completely run your life, control you, shatter your dreams."
"I think drugging people up is a way for psychiatry to get more money by making us have to stay longer. We can do better without it. I talked to the Patients Advocate when I was here. He couldn't help much with getting me off the drugs."
"The Patients Council is quite effective. It is starting to rub off on people. At first the Patients Council was ineffective, no one thought it could do anything. Now people see it can do things and it's getting known."
"Staff see us as children. Less than human. One person is good, others treat us as second class citizens."
"I'm afraid to speak out about rights, afraid that they'll start to treat me bad at the outpatient program. Nurses usually don't talk to you, just smoke and drink coffee. There was a nice nurse. Most are not so good. Nurses told me they didn't want me to go see the Patient Advocate. But I went anyway because of how the doctor was treating me. Sometimes people prefer you to be ignorant, so you'll play the game."
"I was going to a vocational rehab' service and I didn't like the way they treated me-- they were very patronizing. I wanted to meet with them to talk, and bring an advocate. So three or four of them ganged up on me and said I couldn't 'go through life having an advocate'. But they all had each other!" For Gil (by L. M.) Sitting there every day in your recessed spot
Then and Now (by L. A.) The difference between Queen Street and the Lakeshore Hospital is that when you entered Admitting at Lakeshore, it wasn't everyone that got medication right away. A lot of people waited about three days before this happened and you were diagnosed within that time frame. Now, when entering Queen Street, they waste no time in putting people on something, from the word 'Go'! When you left the Lakeshore, there was a whole bunch of people who were considered quite well and they were taken off their medication to see what happened. Most of us stayed off for good. We had much better treatment back then. What I notice today is a lot of people never get off their medication at all. Nor do they get benefits from the type of treatment in here. Also, there is more distrust here than what I ever saw when I was at the Lakeshore, between doctors, staff and clients. Queen Street is a page out of Freud's time-- beautiful surroundings, three meals a day; keep people happy if that is possible with so many code white's and medication. Patients Council and the Ombudsman (by Jennifer Chambers) At the request of the Ombudsman's Office, survivors and consumers including Patients Council staff met and talked at the Ombudsman's Office. The Ombudsman's Office was wanting some advice on psychiatric consumers and survivors and our issues. And we wanted to know more about what they could do with our folks. The Ombudsman deals with "administrative fairness". They help if a government body has not followed its own policies and procedures when dealing with you. So if someone in a Provincial Psychiatric Hospital (like Queen Street) is not treated fairly by the hospital, the Ombudsman's Office might be able to help. But they would expect people to try talking with the Patients Council or the Patient Advocate first. The Ombudsman can only look at whether a policy is fair, and if it is being followed fairly. But they only talk to the person with a personal complaint. They might also be able to help if an organization like the Patients Council was treated unfairly. But they can only make recommendations. Unfortunately, once Queen Street becomes part of a public hospital, not a Provincial Psychiatric Hospital, the Ombudsman's Office [call them OO from now on], can no longer help us with "Queen Street Issues". However on issues such as the redefinition of who's disabled, the OO could help us if the new definition is applied unfairly. (They can't say the definition itself is wrong). We found the OO staff we dealt with, Fiona Crean and Lise Corbeil, to be good people. OO staff have been getting some further education by other survivors. The number of the Ombudsman's Office is 1-800-263-1830, or in Toronto (416) 586-3300. Forum on Advocacy, 1997: "Your Rights - Love 'Em and Learn 'Em" (by Jennifer Chambers) We had a great discussion at the Queen Street Patients Council forum on advocacy. David Reville was our keynote speaker. David is a psychiatric survivor himself, as well as having worked as an MPP, been an advisor to Premier Rae, and having been chair of the (short lived) Advocacy Commission. Susan Zimmerman of the Patient Advocate Office at Queen Street and Kim Mullen of Parkdale Community Legal Services gave us the benefit of their knowledge of the law. Some of the achievements of the Queen Street Patients Council related to advocacy were summarized. The following are highlights from the talks and discussions at the Forum: David Reville: "When we get labelled we lose power over our own lives. Advocacy is getting it back. We've got to be careful when the bad guys start talking about advocacy. A clue that someone doesn't get it is: if they talk about "empowering" someone else. (Like if the government says it's empowering us by cutting welfare). You can't "empower" people, we must do it ourselves. The Patients Council is a self-help organization that can create an empowering process-- the PC Advocacy Policy is a good example." Susan Zimmerman: "The reality is that the Mental Health Act gives psychiatrists more power than any other member of society-- and at times it is abused." Kim Mullen, a law student at Parkdale Community Legal Services, described the issues that "Parkdale Legal" can help with: Social Assistance, worker's rights, Landlord Tenant disputes, Immigration and human rights. Other experts at the Forum-- the folks attending-- offered opinions about how little legal rights can matter when you're actually in the system. One person told her story of being taken to the hospital and called "incapable" because she had not washed, and had not answered her phone. She stated that she was not in any "danger", which is the only reason a person is supposed to be locked up. She was told that she could appeal, and that a person can not be treated until after their appeal is decided. Another woman stated that she wanted to be taken to hospital when she was "deteriorating". Bill 111 was mentioned, which would give new powers under the Mental Health Act to lock people up if they are "deteriorating". It was pointed out that anyone who wants this done to them can already arrange for it by filling out a Power of Attorney form, stating what they want done to them and when. But once it's signed, you can't take it back without getting a Capacity Assessment, so be careful with what you sign! Others talked about different kinds of pressure that get applied when they didn't agree to take the drugs that the doctor wants to give them: "being told that we'll be put in restraints and given it by the needle, that we'll be put on a form, be found incapable, that we can't have any kind of other help if we don't take the pills. David Reville: "People are saying that it is surreal to hear about rights, in light of actual experiences. The best advice is: try to get out, don't come back. People must know their rights, as well as having to realistically judge the real situation."
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