Commissioner John Feneley
Mental Health Commission of NSW
Locked Bag 5013
Gladesville
NSW 1675
29 July, 2013
Re: Submission for your Strategic Plan
To Commissioner Feneley,
Milk Crate Theatre works with an Ensemble of artists who have experienced homelessness or social marginalisation to create theatre that creates change. Our Ensemble strongly identifies with concerns around Mental Health.
Our byline is ‘changing the story of homelessness’. We are interested in different perspectives on the world, unheard voices and untold stories. We consult widely and consistently with our Ensemble around their experiences of being in the world and seek to convey those experiences, and the wisdom within them, to the wider community.
Through our experiences, our research and documentation processes we’ve uncovered the following themes and feedback regarding mental health and our Ensemble. We wanted to inform and submit these to the NSW Mental Health Commission as part of your Strategic Plan, whilst also offer support for your organisation to achieve the changes it seeks.
Belonging. The common thread in our discussions relate to our Ensemble feeling like they have a community, a place to belong, where they are accepted for who they are, where there are likeminded individuals. The additional factor with regards to Milk Crate Theatre is that people don’t just join for the social aspect, but that through their involvement with the company they are constantly challenged. This aspect of challenge is key – involving changing and extension of individual boundaries of self and skills. Milk Crate Theatre activities are deemed by nearly all Ensemble to be challenging activities (91.7%). Indeed, this is one of the reasons why people are drawn to them. When asked to give details about how and why people found the activities challenging, several key phrases were repeatedly used. The idea of ‘thinking on the spot’, ‘thinking on your feet’ and ‘being out of your comfort zone’ were ideas encapsulated in several responses. These responses assist the company to create an artistic program that is both challenging, focussed on high production values as well as individualised and well supported.
‘Milk Crate has been positive. It has given me hope. I don't mean this in any trite or cheesy way. Prior [to this] I was still struggling with minimal hope. Milk Crate showed me how the connection with others that accept you, teachers that are respectful and gentle with you without being patronising and belief in your [own potential for] growth, begins the change. I've cut down my medication since I’ve been in Milk Crate and I’ve started studying at Uni and took risks in other areas and relationships in my life.’ Stephanie, Ensemble
The importance of a home. People consistently rate the combination of joining Milk Crate Theatre and getting stable accommodation as the two joint factors that enabled them to find their feet, improve their self-esteem and live a more engaged, fulfilling life.
“Someone else asked me this, someone from the ensemble, “What made a difference in your life.” At first thing I said was Milk Crate but there are two things a stable accommodation, a little home of my own. And I’ve got some things around me and it’s comfortable and it’s how I want it. I’ve never had that in my life before.” Bridget, Ensemble
A need for autonomous, self-directed, long-term care options for people living with Mental Illness. The Milk Crate Theatre Ensemble formed a Social Leadership Team this year, with the aim of targeting a particular area of concern relevant to them that they deemed action needed to be taken on. After much deliberation of many different issues, the issue of better options for self-managed care was decided on. People spoke about the fact that should they feel and notice themselves becoming mentally unwell, they often seek early intervention, and need more community options to assist them manage their experiences. They mentioned how through many experiences, they knew their bodies and what was happening, and often what they needed. They specifically sought intervention whilst they still felt in control. However, unable to access private help due to financial constraints, they consistently felt that due to the limited nature of the current public system, they were often turned away as not being ‘sick enough’ and could be accepted into hospital until they were suicidal or psychotic. By the time they were ‘sick enough’ a lot of damage had been done to their lives, they may have lost their job, their relationships and sometimes their home. The alternative side to this was that people felt they were released before they felt well (in order to provide a bed for someone ‘more in need’) with some medication and little support options. Both of these scenarios often had a devastatingly disruptive impact, and the life repairing required in the aftermath, not only added pressure at a time when they felt psychologically exhausted, but furthered compounded people’s ability to lead a fulfilling life.
We note that you have recognised these issues already in Paper 1 – in particular “It makes no sense to organise mental health care around inappropriate in-patient treatment, which is also the most expensive part of NSW’s current system” and that “we cannot shift our approach from crisis management to prevention and early intervention while this continues” (Living Well in the community: towards a Strategic Plan for Mental Health in NSW p10) and “in mental health the main issue is not survival but long term illness” (p14) and thus recognise that for this systemic change to occur it would require a suite of changes including not only increased funding to community mental health but particularly for the mental health budget to be quarantined from the health budget.
The purpose of this submission, aside from making sure that the opinions of our Ensemble are heard and they are involved in the key changes that hopefully lay ahead, was also to highlight where we can assist. On the final page of paper 1 you note “Starting now, it is time to tell a better story about mental health”. That is a big part of what Milk Crate Theatre does. We use the public platform of theatre to reach audiences - to inspire and provoke engagement on complex social issues. Theatre is a powerful tool – it conveys meaning in a multitude of ways, it speaks languages other than verbal and has the ability to reach people beyond words. And all through story.We are doing this currently through our production Full Circle – which deals with the question of how to support people suffering their first experience of psychosis, (in the coming month it will play for free to disadvantaged audiences in Kings Cross and Newtown as well as ticketed shows to schools and the general public as part of a short season at Parramatta Riverside theatres), and we will continue to focus on further issues to do with mental health in our next main stage production This house is mine, which will explore the relationship people have with their own minds. However, we are also interested in collaborating and using our skills to further support the NSW Mental Health Commission in making these changes happen systemically.
We look forward to hearing from you regarding this.
Yours Sincerely,
Beck Ronkson,
Special Projects Manager
Milk Crate Theatre
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