SANE Forums

[Orangesky]

In today's group session I was intrigued by the CHIME slide. The author (Leamy et al 2011) was cited on screen so I researched their work which led me to another article which cited Leamy... by Cath Heinemeyer, about 'Roving' storytelling and recovery in Mental Health.

Simply, getting out of the comfortable, but staid, circle of chairs for group work was critical. Roving the city, telling stories as our ancestors had done before life filled with distractions and invisible walls.

I also appreciated discussions about breaking beyond the binary of those seeking mental recovery and those who administer the recovery (doctors, counsellors, etc), and instead exploring the effect of peer based therapy (including treaters or group conveners as peers- we're all human!). There is the concept of a 'glass ceiling' or 'lid' which caps the contributions of those labelled as 'participant', when the aim ought to be open ended (unlimited?) to promote the maximum sharing and involvement within the necessary framework of any safe-space.

Maybe its just me, but I found this work really interesting.

Heinemeyer, C. (2019). “Roving” and Recovery in Storytelling for Mental Health: Reclaiming the City, Resingularizing Ourselves. Storytelling, Self, Society, 15(1), 13–30.

[Ru-bee]

Hi @Orangesky 

Welcome to the forums!

Thank you for taking the time to share these insights, it's great to hear that you connected with these ideas. Do you feel like this breaking of this binary is something that could be achievable within the current mental health system? Do you feel like there's still a place for that sort of practitioner/patient approach to mental health recovery?

Really interesting topic you've brought!

[Jynx]

@Orangesky I am right there with you!

Dissolving that barrier and reducing as much as possible the power differential between the so-called 'experts' (not to say that studying psychology and mental health does NOT make one an expert, more a commentary on the idea that they automatically know more than their clients, whereas I operate under the idea that the clients are the experts on their own lives) and the clients they support. That's why SANE is all about lifting the voices of those with lived experience - there's something oh so healing about talking to people who can not only relate, but also share how they coped, how they moved forward... It's incredible.

Thank you so much for sharing this article! 

[Glisten]

@Orangesky @Jynx Loving this.

G

[SkipDog12]

@Orangesky Thanks so much for sharing this with us! I actually passed this article on to the group facilitators, and suggested that it would be really helpful for them to read it. I love having resources like this shared 🙂