RE: Debilitating Mental Illness in Cohousing & Society | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Casey Morrigan (cjmorrpacbell.net) | |
Date: Wed, 2 Oct 2002 20:18:02 -0600 (MDT) |
There is no formula for talking about the deep things. Skilled facilitators can help structure things, but only true intimacy and trust will allow discussion of personal matters such as mental illness. And those take time and commitment by individuals to getting to know one another. Why would you wonder if cohousing attracts a disproportionate number of mentally ill people? I'd be interested in hearing more about how you came to raise that question, Zev. Lots would depend on how you define mentally ill. Some of our neighbors and a few members of the city council thought we were crazy to build this place....:) But seriously - I have noticed that it takes a high degree of iconoclasm and a willingness to "buck the trend" to even contemplate creating cohousing. Then a whole different skill set is needed once construction is complete - individualism and "I'll do it my way" don't work as well when trying to work out things cooperatively. Which is to say, skills and behaviors that are helpful in one context are not as helpful in others. What's my point? that mental health and illness are partially contextual. Second, I found that the question to ask myself, when confronted with behaviors or beliefs or emotions that I found irrational, odd, or downright destructive--- whether part of a diagnosed mental illness or not (how would I know, anyway)---- was - is the community resilient and skillful enough to handle this? Am I? Can we use this as an opportunity to build our resilience and skills, or--not? Is this destructive to the community or can we use it to build that intimacy and compassion that we thought we wanted when we moved in here? This helps me get away from the "identified patient" syndrome and swing the focus of attention back to myself and the dynamic of the group as a whole. Casey Morrigan Two Acre Wood, Sebastopol, California -----Original Message----- From: cohousing-l-admin [at] cohousing.org [mailto:cohousing-l-admin [at] cohousing.org]On Behalf Of Sharon Villines Sent: Wednesday, October 02, 2002 3:42 PM To: Cohousing-L Subject: [C-L]_Debilitating Mental Illness in Cohousing & Society on 10/2/2002 2:10 PM, Zev Paiss at zpaiss [at] attbi.com wrote: > First, I am wondering if cohousing is attracting a disproportionate number > of people in this situation, and secondly, and much more problematic, is how > might a cohousing community in its development stage, openly have > discussions about this as the future members are getting to know one > another? I added "debilitating" to the subject line because that is really what you are talking about I think. An illness that prevents a person from participating in the community or may disrupt community activities. One of the reasons to have work shared equally from the start and to have realistic estimations of what work is required in cohousing is to be realistic about how much support a community can provide. If a group is realistic about this, then things should proceed with realistic expectations. The one reservation I have about the development of cohousing groups becoming easier, is that it become too easy. If members think they can move in and then sort things out, all kinds of difficult imbalances will take place. We were required to have 10% (right number Ann?) of our units built as accessible. Presumably that number was reached by some association that determined that 10% of the population would be physically challenged at some point in their lives. (All our fire alarms have incredible flashing lights and very loud sirens that literally vibrate your ears. When they go off, from the piazza we look like a Christmas Tree.) With 50 adults in a community, that means 5 would need extraordinary supports if the community was serving its proportion of society at large. Sharon -- Sharon Villines Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC http://www.takomavillage.org _______________________________________________ Cohousing-L mailing list Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org Unsubscribe and other info: http://www.communityforum.net/mailman/listinfo/cohousing-l _______________________________________________ Cohousing-L mailing list Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org Unsubscribe and other info: http://www.communityforum.net/mailman/listinfo/cohousing-l
- RE: Mental Illness in Cohousing & Society, (continued)
- RE: Mental Illness in Cohousing & Society Maggie, October 2 2002
-
Re: Mental Illness in Cohousing & Society Chris ScottHanson, October 3 2002
- Re: Mental Illness in Cohousing & Society Juva DuBoise, October 3 2002
-
Debilitating Mental Illness in Cohousing & Society Sharon Villines, October 2 2002
- RE: Debilitating Mental Illness in Cohousing & Society Casey Morrigan, October 2 2002
-
RE: Mental Illness in Cohousing & Society Rob Sandelin, October 2 2002
-
RE: Mental Illness in Cohousing & Society Diane Simpson, October 3 2002
- Re: [C-L]salons Laura Fitch, A.I.A., October 3 2002
-
RE: Mental Illness in Cohousing & Society Diane Simpson, October 3 2002
- Re: Mental Illness in Cohousing & Society Tree Bressen, October 6 2002
Results generated by Tiger Technologies Web hosting using MHonArc.