Stand Up For Mental Health

Today was an amazing day in my studies for a Certificate III in Disability. Our teacher Jo McDougal  entered the room on crutches. She is teaching us about understanding of mental health issues and recovery.

As she explained that she had knee re-construction and that she was a nurse in a mental health ward in a hospital, I had flash backs of the time I was in the Royal Adelaide Hospital after a life threatening motor cycle accident.


I was in an orthopaedic, male ward that had six beds and all the patients were in hospital as a result of a motor cycle accident. The nurses were great and they suffered the indignant practical jokes of six bedridden crazy young men. I mean what are you going to do when you're a teenager with your legs and arms strung up on a bed and in traction?

There was one time when one of the nurses had completed her tour of duty in our ward and we wanted to say goodbye in the best possible way. She was on night shift. We'd been in hospital long enough to know the nurses routines. The nurse in question checked our beds and then turned out the lights saying 'Goodnight boys'. We all responded with a cheerful goodnight. We waited until she went for a meal break. I had a roll of toilet paper. We already worked out the plan. I held the end of the toilet paper and threw the toilet roll like a streamer over the frame of my bed to the persons bed opposite me. He then threw the toilet roll like a streamer across the room to the person on the opposite side. Eventually the toilet roll formed a spider web across the aisle between the beds from one end of the room to the other end of the room. As planned the trap was set, it was time for the spider to catch the fly. I pressed my buzzer frantically. The guys got me to do this because my bed was at the end of the room and the nurse would have to go through our spider web to get to my bed. With in minutes the nurse came running into the room. She screamed as she stopped in the middle of the room tangled up in our toilet paper spider web. We all sat up laughing. She screamed 'why... why would you do this?' we continued to laugh and said we felt it was the best possible way to say goodbye so she would remember us. She saw the humour and laughed along with us. She then turned on the lights and told those who were able to use crutches or a wheelchair to get out of bed and clean up the mess. Ouch!!!

It's interesting that when you're down or depressed, how the power of laughter can have a positive affect on you. Laughter takes away the sadness we may feel.

There is a stigma in the community that is negative and judgemental towards people who have mental health problems. What you don't realise is anyone can suffer from depression which is a mental health issue. If not attended to by professional counselling this depression can spiral down to the pits of despair. You hear those negative voices in your head saying 'you're hopeless... you can't do anything right... what's the point in living'. Your sub-concious voices are what I call the Demons of the Mind.

How many of you have suffered from the loss of a loved one as a result of suicide? I have and it is heart breaking.

There was a time in Adelaide where I visited a young lady friend who had a stall in Central Market. She had a boy friend who was depressed to the point that he was considering suicide. She was so worried about him. I said I would meet her and her boy friend that night at a certain pub for a beer. That afternoon I wrote a poem for him. It was called 'The Demons Of The Mind'. When I met them, I gave him the poem. He read the poem and broke down in tears. His girl friend was concerned and asked why he was crying. He looked up at her with tears rolling down his face and said 'he knows how I'm feeling'. He looked at me and smiled saying 'thanks mate'.

Our teacher, Jo McDougal mentioned some videos on Youtube called Stand Up For Mental Health.



These videos are promoting a counselling service provided by David Granirer who lives in Vancouver, Canada. He helps people with mental health problems, addictions and phobias get over these by teaching them how to be comic comedians. This is a fantastic way to help overcome the stigma of mental health problems. 'Stand Up For Mental Health' helps people build their self-confidence along with acceptance and inclusion in the community.

The moral of this story/s is laughter is the best medicine.

Reference Links:

Stand Up For Mental Health
website: http://www.standupformentalhealth.com/index.shtml
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/standupformentalhealth
youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/psychocomic1

Jo McDougal's  Mental Health Group
Wikispace: http://mentalhealthgroup.wikispaces.com/

Unfortunately I don't have a copy of the poem I wrote for that young man in Adelaide, but I'm hoping he will read this blog post and add a comment along with the poem I wrote for him. If this post moved you, please add a comment.