There are so many tragedies from the attacks at #BondiJunction Among them is the plight of ppl struggling with serious mental illness and their families. The project of deinstitutionalization has been an abject failure as it has not been supported by adequate “community” support. Basically, the heavy burden has been dumped on ill-equipped families. Coupled with the laudable effort to destigmatize mental illness this has meant patient rights sometimes trump common sense. A thought: Clusters of red flags - ie fascination with knives, untreated psychosis- could be part of some kind of triage care maybe? So that people like Joel Cauchi’s poor dad Andrew are not left trying to take combat knives from their psychotic sons and are spared the consequent “absolute nightmare” of #bondiattack Sadly, ppl with schizophrenia will feel more stigmatized now than ever 💔
I’m grateful to my dear friend Tracy Greenberg for added insights re the bad old days of shackles, straight jackets and (god help us!!) “thump therapy” Change was needed but what happened was cost savings thru emptying beds and dumping ppl in community rather than a proper implementation of the model. Many ended up homeless or exploited by corrupt boarding house landlords.
@MagdaSzubanski Deveson wrote about her experiences with her son's illness and death in Tell Me I'm Here, - won the 1991 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission for non-fiction writing and then translated her work into the documentary film Spinning Out. Nothing has changed in all this time
@MagdaSzubanski Hhmm: wonder how many deinstitutionalised sites were on public land, how many remain publicly owned and how many were sold to developers.
@MagdaSzubanski Thankyou Magda for understanding and putting this so eloquently. My daughter has bipolar and ndis keep telling me it’s not permanent .. so no ndis. I struggle everyday as a parent and now with metastic cancer I feel so alone …livid that the parents were interviewed
@MagdaSzubanski My husband and I cannot go into a retirement village because we care for a son with severe depression. If we sell the house he will be on the street, is we keep the house for him it counts as an asset and we don't get the pension. Should have been a politician, no means test.
Language matters This young man had an underlying medical condition. Characterising it as mental health stigmatises, stereotypes and shames millions of people with mental health issues. #BondiJunction IDA hopes there is an investigation into what triggered or caused this young man to do the dreadful things he did. @nswpolice @ChrisMinnsMP @AlboMP @AmandaRishworth @simonahac @DavidPocock @ABC