Heart Forward Conversations from the Heart
The American mental health system is broken beyond repair. Rather than trying to tweak a system which fails everyone, it is time to commit to a bold vision for a better way forward. This podcast explores the American system against the plumb line of an international best practice, recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO), in Trieste, Italy. The 40-year old Trieste model demonstrates how a community-based treatment system upholds the human rights of the people served. The Trieste story is anti-institutional and models the therapeutic value of social connection. Topics will address contemporary challenges in the American failed mental health system as contrasted with the Italian approach toward accoglienza – or radical hospitality – as the underpinning of their remarkable culture of caring for people. Interviews will touch upon how the guiding principles of the Italian system – social recovery, whole person care, system accountability, and the human right to a purposeful life – are non-negotiable aspects if we are to have any hope of forging a new way forward in our American mental health system. This podcast is curated and hosted by Kerry Morrison, founder and project director of Heart Forward LA (https://www.heartforwardla.org/). Heart Forward is collaborating with Aaron Stern at Verdugo Sound as the technical partner in producing this podcast (https://www.verdugosound.com). Kerry Morrison is also the author of the blog www.accoglienza.us.
Heart Forward Conversations from the Heart
Italian psychiatrist Franco Basaglia: his life, his impact, his legacy. A conversation with Professor John Foot.
John Foot is a professor of Modern Italian History at the University of Bristol in the U.K. He is an expert on the life of Dr. Franco Basaglia, the visionary psychiatrist whose lasting impact on the Italian mental health system continues to inspire the world.
We will explore Professor Foot’s journey into this avocation, which was sparked by the chance viewing the film San Clemente (1982) while on a trip to Trieste.
Professor Foot is author of Franco Basaglia: the Man who Closed the Asylums. He is a co-editor of compendium of essays about the impact of Trieste in other counties that emanated from a symposium held in Oxford in 2018. It is titled Basaglia’s International Legacy: From Asylum to Community.
We also explore in this interview the plan to translate into English a book that was originally published in 1968, L’istituzione negata (The Negated Institution), which had seminal impact on advancing the Basaglian revolutionary school of thought in Europe and South America.
That one man could have such profound impact on advancing a human-centered, community-based system of care for people living with mental illness is astounding. This interview will provide some insights into Basaglia, who is relatively unknown in the English-speaking world.
Other resources associated with the interview:
Documentary (1968) I giardini di Abele
Book (1969) Morire di classe
Documentary (2013) Dentro le proprie mura