nursingforsocialjustice

I ask because conceptually the boundary between medical care and health care and things that support health of people is murky. When I read research written by physicians the default framework is medicine but…is that so simply because of the discipline of the person authoring it? Or is more explanation needed to situate a research perspective? How much of this is tangled up with power struggles, professional territory battles and hierarchies based on static notions of healthcare systems? I do not know, but I would like to find out. I think it is interesting that homelessness and poverty are sometimes presented like outcomes of mental illness which perpetuates some myths about those diagnosed with mental disorders.

Is there comprehensive data on people who are homeless in B.C.? Homeless counts have been done in BC for more than a decade. Are hospitals housing? Are prisons housing?

The history of mental health care in BC is interesting.

People with mental illness are at higher risk of homelessness, substance use, criminal justice involvement, suicide. What does any of this mean? What do we know about any of this?

At the peak of it’s use Riverview Hospital had almost 5000 patients in the mid 20th century. that was 70 years ago. It seems strange to seek reopening of mental institutions as a strategy to address homelessness, substance use, problems in the criminal justice system and suicide. But isn’t it the mental illness that causing all those things? Take a step back…is it? When mental institutions were being used at their peak, when most hospitalized people were hospitalized in mental institutions what societal needs were being addressed? What was the understanding of mental illness? Dementia? Epilepsy? Syphilis? Developmental differences? Homosexuality? Systemic racism? Indigenous people? Is it different now?

What if acceptance of difference? Societal self reflection and wide-spread strategies to address homelessness and poverty were viewed as interventions that impact health? Are they? Do they?

Love,

Michelle D.