ABC Radio National

All In The Mind





Date/Time 15 Mar 2014 11:41:00pm
Hello Nigel,
You sound like an intelligent and educated person. I doubt you'd find mental health services to be very useful.

The annoying thing about mental health services is that generally speaking, mental health programs don't have very much to offer for people with tertiary educations.
They tend to assume that clients don't have an educational level higher than about Year 10 High School. I have a B.A and the equivalent of a half finished Science degree and yet I've found that mental health workers tend to talk down to their clients with the assumption that their clients aren't educated beyond Year 10. This is frustrating, humiliating and condescending for anyone who's been to University. Consequentially the drop out rate for such programs is high. The only people left behind in these programs are those whose levels of education don't exceed about Year 10 High School. This perpetuates a myth that people with mental health problems aren't well educated. Hence the feedback that governments receive is that more funding is required specifically aimed for people who haven't finished High School.

Mental health services are poorly equipped to help people with tertiary educations. They don't have the expertise to provide programs that are rewarding and challenging for people with tertiary educations.
There are highly intelligent and well educated people who are homeless and destitute. These people have Masters degrees or PhDs. Their lives have fallen apart and they end up homeless. They are talented individuals and have plenty to offer the world. Yet there are no support mechanisms to help these people get their lives back on track.
There are no programs adequately tailored to suit the needs of people with tertiary educations. Such programs simply don't exist.

The only program that I found useful was a short 6-week program that taught mindfulness meditation. I've kept that up for a few years now. Meditation won't magically solve problems overnight but it does help. It is necessary to keep it up on a regular basis, setting aside 5 minutes a day for practice. Daily practice (or almost daily) is necessary for it to be beneficial.

Interesting to see that you like cats. Cats have saved me on many occasions through the love and affection which cats offer.
