National Service Users Executive - Supporting your Vision

Noel,
I found your comment a few minutes ago - while browsing over the site. I see no one's responded to your comment. My experience of blogging makes me think this is par for the course - most comments sit there in the wind...
I hope to have something to say on this topic...
Thank you for the info about what happened in west cork. I've also looked at your link

"The formal care sector needs to work in partnership with all carers, however they are defined. "
- Well said.
Coming back to Ireland, after 30 years in UK, I've noticed that many family & friends of people with mental health issues think their point of view has been neglected by those in power & authority. I heard statements like "There was absolutely no information for us." "We were the last to know." "We were excluded..." "Thought about at the last minute."

Coming back with a history of severe depression, I've been at the receiving end of Irish mental health professional and the services they offer. Where would I be now if it wasn't for my family and friends? Probably not here to tell the tale...

From where I sit, family have the toughest position of all: I think it might even be a tougher position than I've occupied. Meaning I've survived debilitating depression and the will to put an end to it all, I'm not sure how good a friend I could be to someone who was as disturbed as I was. I've not been so tested. My family have been incredibly tested. The mental health professionals are only doing a job. For them it's not their whole life that's at stake. They can go home and turn off. My family couldn't turn off; there was no respite for them.

Even though I'm now very well, and am planning to stay that way, my family will always live with the dread that my worst depression may yet be to come. It'll take years of me being free of bouts for them to forget what it's really been like, and how helpless they felt in the face of this mysterious condition.

I'm waiting eagerly for Matthew Johnstone's follow-up to "I had a Black Dog". I think it presents what it's like for at least one family.

I do hope we can develop this "Your Views" into one of the most interesting places for people to visit - from whatever experience vantage point they inhabit.

I don't mean to give a negative impression of Irish healthcare professionals. Please don't read what I've written that way. Whatever your experience of the system here, my story about it is complex, not all good or bad, lots of grey, lots of people doing their best, some struggling, and so on.
One thing I feel sure of: it's not all a money issue, and it's certainly a mindset issue...
- of which much more will, I hope be written here.

"Many people dislike the term “carer”. "

- evidence please?
- what % dislike the term. "Many" may be a deliberately vague term here. It may be being used to stimulate debate, curiosity, argument...?

I have come to dislike the word 'carer' because if has often come to mean 'the one that decides what is best for you'.

A supportive person knows when it is time to take away the crutch. People experiencing psycho/social problems want enabling friends who appreciate their strengths and abilities and help them to find more.

We all have many gifts and abilities. When we focus on our best points then it is possible to survive the storms, trials and tribulations which are part and parcel of life's journey.