Family members, carers, and friends of loved ones experiencing “psychosis” are valuable members of the treatment and recovery team, and yet their concerns, energy and expertise are often overlooked. This forum - created... [ view full abstract ]
Family members, carers, and friends of loved ones experiencing “psychosis” are valuable members of the treatment and recovery team, and yet their concerns, energy and expertise are often overlooked. This forum - created and presented by family members - is an opportunity for all of us, whatever roles we play to discuss ways that family members can support and share in the recovery process and be at the table within our mental health system.
This interactive and diverse panel will share common themes of crisis, loss, dialogue, hope, recovery, redemption and transformation, and how their unique perspectives as family-carers provides an intimate window into some of the best practices in mental healthcare, as well as harmful practices, from those who are supporting a loved one on a daily basis.
The panel will demonstrate how we grow stronger together by being collaborative partners and by providing humanistic and person-centered support. Topics include creating space for family members to participate in the treatment and recovery process; incorporating a myriad of need-adapted, dialogic, integrative and holistic approaches; as well as specific resources and practices for educating and working with family-carers.
Change is also happening for families within the ISPS organization! Both an “expert by experience” as well as a “family panel plenary” were presented at the recent ISPS-US conference in Boston in 2016 and a precedent was established: that families belong at the table and everyone’s voices are important in the healing and recovery of psychosis. The panel will also share multi-disciplinary ideas for expanding the family-carers voice within our ISPS communities to elicit powerful change in the global conversation to support persons experiencing extreme states.
Click here to view an online version of this email.
Therapeutic environments , Other family work , Other approaches to working for change
