In reply to your editorial comments about a ‘something for nothing culture’ and community tickets for Pride in October Gscene.
Firstly I do a bit of voluntary work and I do not expect to be given freebies just because of this. I volunteer because I believe in what I am doing, not for I hope to gain from it. However, there is another aspect of the ‘something for nothing culture’.
I have worked in mental health for over ten years and I have seen what this culture can do to those who suffer with enduring mental health problems – there becomes an expectation. This expectation can sometimes lead to the institutionalisation of an individual and make them dependent on their diagnoses. In mental health, if you keep offering freebies such as free tickets to Pride and other similar events/things an individual may lose sight of the real world; becoming more and more dependent on services and more dependent on the mental health worker/system. You might as well have kept the old institutions like St Frances open where the mentally ill lived their whole life at the hospital.
This dependency on a mental health diagnoses can also be seen with the benefits system of the welfare state. If an individual receives a benefit that gives that person a ‘life style’ that person may have an investment in their diagnoses to maintain that life style; there would be no point in recovery if financially you are worse off.
On several occasions I have had a discussion with a patient who assumes I am better off financially because I am working. Yet when we have compared that person’s benefits to my take home wage, the response has been ‘why should I get better?’ Even if it is in the care plan of a person suffering from an enduring mental health condition to go to an event like Pride, they should pay the price that everyone else is paying – welcome to the real world. If you’re a volunteer or a worker for an organisation there is no reason why you shouldn’t be paying full price for your ticket as well.
Finally, I agree we should be concentrating first and foremost on raising more money at Pride for worthy organisations like MindOut so they can continue their fantastic work and stop any freebee culture getting out of hand.
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