THIRD EDITION June 2018 Allan Memorial Institute and Griffith
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Recueillie par le programme de transition et de rétablissement Assembled by the Recovery Transition Program THIRD EDITION June 2018 Allan Memorial Institute and Griffith Edwards Centre 1 Dents de Lion CONTENTS WELCOME TO THE THIRD EDITION Dandelion, pale and frail, 4 a ghostly whisper ABOUT THE RECOVERY TRANSITION swept by winds. 6 PROGRAM You weep before the rain, ONE DEFINING MOMENT 8 JOE TAVARES are beaten to the ground PINHOLE OF HOPE and drowned. 10 JULIA BENE FINDING MY FEET UNFINISHED TARA JOANNA-MARIA Lost and found in barren patches, 12 26 A FORWARD MOTION III THE DAY HOSPITAL empty cracks, 14 GREGORY 28 A PATIENT’S PERSPECTIVE tenacious, you grow back. LEAN INTO VULNERABILITY HUMPTY DUMPTY Uprooted and with broken back, 18 DANIELLE NDEZE 31 CECELIA VANIER your will is strong WHAT WORKS FOR ME: MUSIC DISTANT QUIET 20MASSIMO VENTURINO 32 SAMUEL BOUDREAU You will grow back. MEDICATED MY FIGHT FOR THE SPANISH GALGOS Gold is your shaggy mane. 22A. SPENCE 34 TANIA SCHMITT Bold is your hunger for life. RECOVERY TRANSITION PETS PUTTING OUT A WING IMOGEN MATTHEW PETERS Sharp are the teeth of the lion 24 36 FOURTEEN YEARS AND NO LOST FINGERS holding hope between steady jaws. 38GREGORY RTP READS I pause to witness 41 what is tenacious, RTP EVENTS 42 CECELIA VANIER resilient, majestic FREEDOM The dandelion. 45 ABU SAYED ZAHIDUZZAMAN CINDY’S LEMON SQUARES 46CYNTHIA “CINDY” KITTS INTERVIEW WITH DR FIELDING Cecelia Vanier 48CECELIA VANIER 2 3 Welcome to the Third Edition We would like to start by recognizing all the volunteers who have worked hard to produce this zine. Without you, the RTPublication would not exist. We would also like to thank our contributors who, through the work they send us, have shared a piece of themselves with us and with you, the reader. We take particular pride in creating a publication made by and for patients of the MUHC Mental Health Mission—and the larger community of people living with mental illness and addiction. This edition focuses on the Day Hospital. It contains accounts by current and former patients of their experiences, as well as interviews with some of the staff. But this focus does not mean we have excluded contributions from outside that program. This zine remains committed to representing the people treated at the MUHC, regardless of the clinic they happen to receive health care from. We are committed to reflecting the diversity of patients’ experiences in our pages. For the next edition, we are particularly interested in contributions from people with experience in the Early Psychosis and Schizophrenia Spectrum Program. However, we also strongly encourage any and all patients to submit their work. If you would like to submit material to the RTPublication, please contact us by e-mail at [email protected]. The RTPublication is also available on our website: recoverytransitionprogram.com/RTPublication The RTPublication Editors RTPublication Team: Cami Evans Julia Bene Cecelia Vanier Massimo Venturino Chan Phuong Nguyen Michael Lubow Cynthia “Cindy” Kitts Patricia Lucas Danielle Ndeze Rachel Abugov Gregory saya Imogen Shawn Smith Joanna Maria Tara Joe Tavares Veronica 4 5 Griffith Edwards Centre on Pine Avenue RTP office in the Griffith Edwards Centre Allan Memorial Institute RTP office in the Allan Memorial Institute About the Recovery Transition Program RTP Group Activities The Recovery Transition Program (RTP) is a unique mental health initiative designed In addition to one-on-one mentoring, the RTP organizes group activities to help mentors to improve the experiences of patients within the Mental Health Mission of the McGill and mentees alike connect with other RTP participants. Past and current activities include: University Health Centre. Our goal is to integrate a patient-based mentoring program into - A monthly reading group the system of care, in which peer mentors and health care providers collaborate to provide - Group visits to outside resources such as the Art Hive support to patients during their recovery. - The RTPublication workshop - The annual RTP Talent Show The Peer Mentor–Peer Mentee Relationship How I see the RTP We believe that experiential knowledge is an invaluable asset which allows those who live with mental illness and addiction to give hope and encouragement to others. The “There is a sincere sense of respect, compassion, and understanding anchored in the RTP team, dynamic is different from that of a doctor–patient relationship: There is no diagnosis made which has encouraged in me a more hopeful perspective.” and no obligation to disclose any previous diagnoses. We listen, but we are not therapists. —Tara The meetings are an occasion for contact that benefits the mentee and the mentor. “Even as a peer mentor, my time in the RTP has been a time of healing and recovery. Had I not The mentor and mentee work together as equals to determine how the relationship can joined the RTP, I would never have gained such a sense of self-confidence. If I never pushed be most useful. The sessions can provide emotional support from someone who can relate myself to go outside and climb up that evil hill on Peel to go to my peer mentor training, I would to your struggles and who has been where you are now. The sessions can also provide a not have been able to conquer my agoraphobia. Helping my mentees and my fellow peer space to solve problems, set goals, establish new routines, and find connections to outside mentors has given me a sense of competence that I never imagined I could have.” communities. —Cami “It has been a roller coaster ride. RTP support has helped me stay on track with encouragement and guidance in an environment in which I do not feel alone. My thanks to all.” How to Become a Peer Mentee —Steven B. Anyone interested in accessing the services of the RTP must be referred by their health “Being a mentor doesn’t mean that we are completely well. More often than not, it was care provider. For more information about the RTP, the referral process, or how to get listening to my mentees that helped me to realize that I am not alone in this journey of illness. involved, please see our website: recoverytransitionprogram.com and/or contact the I am very thankful to everyone who has been my mentee.” RTP Coordinator at: [email protected]. — saya 6 7 dictated by my OCD. Art therapy abrupt void. There were issues at was just freedom; it allowed me to stake like continuity of care, social express my feelings and concerns support, and putting what I had in new creative ways. learned into practice. Little did I One defining know I was already prepared for Dr Allan Fielding, the resident psy- what lay ahead. The interaction chiatrists, and the nurses helped with staff and patients introduced keep me focused on my goals me to the complexities of daily moment..... while I developed my coping skills. social interactions in the outside In groups held by the occupational world. The assertiveness group therapist I developed introspec- gave me the tools to go for what tion, explored my social environ- I wanted. Self-care and self- My experience with the day hospi- fered, I arrived in such a state of ment, and identified realistic and awareness became paramount in tal began in the summer of 1994, despair and distress that I was meaningful goals. These groups my daily routine. The Day Hospital after being released from a two- unsure what to expect from this also helped me learn to believe had provided me with the coping month stay as an inpatient at the new opportunity. My first couple that I was capable of reaching my skills I would need to succeed in Allan Memorial Hospital. My life at of weeks were stressful and men- ultimate goal of going back to my new life. the time was one of rules and re- tally draining. It was like being school that fall. strictions, of obsessions and com- in school, and getting myself to Today I am a volunteer with the pulsions. I was alive but not living, attend every day was a challenge. One of the more comforting Recovery Transition Program consumed by an overwhelming The daily structure provided me aspects of the program was working on the RTP zine and have fear that kept me paralyzed. My with a chance to focus my mind, that I didn’t feel alone there. I completed my training as a peer days consisted of constantly fight- and I was progressively encouraged was accepted for who I was and mentor. ing my thoughts, afraid to move in to participate actively in my treat- not judged by anyone. The Day case I set off one of my countless ment, re-engage in responsibili- Hospital provided me with the compulsions. My nights were spent ties, take risks, and self-disclose. opportunity to develop my self- lying awake, afraid of the next day. This therapeutic environment confidence and to step out of my I had no idea what was happening promoted acceptance, support, mind and explore the world that to me. Every thought seemed so clarification, validation, and new I had retreated from. The experi- real; the fear was so powerful. methods of problem solving. Joe Tavares ence was particularly helpful in I was losing my grip on reality. improving the symptoms that Obsessive-compulsive disorder is As the weeks went on I learned to came from my relationship with commonly seen as a behavioural appreciate the different groups myself. quirk, when in fact it is a severe and held every day. My favourites crippling illness, defined as much were the newspaper group and art When it came time to be dis- by the mental torment of recur- therapy.