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
Once upon a time in the California mental health system: A history lesson with Barbara Wilson LCSW
Barbara Wilson, LCSW, has had a distinguished career in social service and helping people for over 50 years. She is well-known in Los Angeles County as a tireless advocate for improved services to people coping with serious mental illness and the families who care for them. She also is credited for being one of the first in the state to sound the alarm approximately seven years ago that a precious housing resource for people with mental illness was slipping away due to the fiscal realities facing board and care operators whose rent revenues were not keeping pace with escalating costs.
In this interview, Barbara walks us through an important chapter in California’s history. Any young student in social work would do well to sit at the feet to learn from this wise woman. Policy makers interested in reform should take heed.
Barbara describes the role of a psychiatric social worker during a time where they had the responsibility –and the authority -- to partner with people and take into consideration their whole life needs. This is exactly what they do in Trieste, and still do in Trieste. This is why people don’t slip through the cracks in Trieste.
In the 1970’s, there was a statewide system in place to serve people with mental illness, with very few bureaucratic layers. She was assigned to the 90044 area code. As she describes this, it reminds me of the “micro-areas” in Trieste where one social worker has a broad command of the human needs in his or her assigned catchment area. So, in fact, it appears that once upon a time, in California, we did provide a social safety net that involved social workers looking out for the interests of people.
Barbara was responsible for the re-entry of people coming out of the state hospital system back into the community. She describes the origin of the board and care system, where well-meaning people would open their homes to guests.
The unravelling of these safety nets occurred in the 1980’s. We hear about the increasing bureaucratization – social workers moving into desk jobs -- and the dismantling of a system that bestowed a sense of trust upon social workers to do the right thing for their clients.
Feeling overwhelmed by the needs of the people she was trying to serve and the constraints of a system that was taking away her freedom to serve them, she took an early retirement as the 1980’s came to a close.
After raising her family, she re-entered this space, urged on by desperate families looking for help and advice on how to navigate an increasingly broken system in behalf of their loved ones. We’ll hear how Barbara’s life seemed to go full circle; the whole person safety net care she provided as a public psychiatric social worker in the 1970’s now became a skill she could rely on as she started her own business (now a non-profit) Mental Health Hookup.
The message: we can do better, because we used to. Tomorrow’s leaders are encouraged to listen and learn from the past.
Links
Facebook link
(2) Mental Health Hookup | Facebook
Report co-authored by Barbara Wilson: