Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: How to Deal with a Mentally ill Community member

[Chris Hansen (itschrishansen]

Hi All
It would be helpful to hear a bit more about what 'disruptive' looks like,
and what 'mentally ill' means in this context. I've no doubt that if it got
to this listserv it's been really challenging.
Sometimes I joke that there's only two types of people in the world- those
with a psychiatric diagnosis, and those who just haven't been caught yet...
I work as a person who has both experienced psychiatric diagnosis and
worked in mental health services. I now work to develop community-based
alternatives to psychiatric hospitals, and to support people to remain
connected to their lives and communities rather than being sucked into the
bowels of the mental health system.
So, without knowing the specifics of this situation, I'll make a few
comments:
- Most of us want to be connected with, included and seen rather than
'dealt with'
- Being 'trauma informed' is about acknowledging that we are all the sum
total of our histories- there's almost always a context, story and history
to our distress or extreme states
- What most humans are crying out for is connection, validation and
inclusion. We are not always easy in that regard. But as someone pointed
out on the old thread, it's frequently not the people with diagnoses who
are the most challenging anyway
- But it's not all about being 'nice' either- everyone deserves to be
treated as an adult capable of making competent decisions rather than as
incapable and incompetent. So being very clear about what you need without
avoiding, being patronizing or walking on eggshells is also important.

CHeers
Chris

On Mon, 27 Jan 2020 at 17:02, Fred H Olson <fholson [at] cohousing.org> wrote:

> On Jan 27,2020  Elizabeth Magill wrote:
>
> > The thread Sharon mentions is worth reading.
>
> I suspect the thread Sharon and Liz are thinking of was in Oct 2002
> You can find 30 messages in the archives at
> http://lists.cohousing.org/archives/cohousing-L/
> by searching ( box on right at top of page) for
> mental oct 2002
>
> Fred
>
> BTW you can always get to the archives (and unsubscribe info etc)
> via the link at the bottom of every message Cohousing-L sends out.
>
> --
> Fred H. Olson  Minneapolis,MN 55411  USA        (near north Mpls)
>      Email:        fholson at cohousing.org      612-588-9532
> My Link Pg: http://fholson.cohousing.org
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-- 
Chris Hansen
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