I thought I'd post a re-cap/reflection about the Carter Center since many people couldn't attend. We arrived at the center and met Mrs. Carter who told us about her work in the mental health field in which she works with people to improve mental health awareness and treatment globally. She told us about her recent travels to MANY countries (many of us almost had our mouths open because we couldn't believe she visited so many places in such a short period of time) in which she met people living with mental illnesses and learned about other systems throughout the world. One of the topics that came up was the use of language when discussing people with mental illnesses. It seems like there is a shifting now away from the "mentally ill" into people "experiencing" a mental illness. I thought that was interesting as it relates to our discussions about language and race, disability, and even weight (something that Marilyn Wann, a fat activists, strives to do is bring back the word "fat" into something positive as opposed to negative...she openly calls herself fat).
Mrs. Carter also told us a few stories that displayed the exact kind of negative stigma associated with having a mental illness and how we need to work on being more conscious about it and aware of what we can do to help.
For more info about the issue you can visit the National Alliance on Mental Illness:
http://www.nami.org/
4 comments:
In addition to Stephanie's post, the Carter center is doing a lot in order to promote people to refer to those with mental disabilities in a positive way. Mrs. Carter began working on mental health care issues in 1971 in order to remove the stigma and discrimination against those with mental illnesses. In 1991, Mrs. Carter founded the Carter Center's Mental Health Program to reduce the stigma, gain comparable health care for those with mental illnesses, improve the lives of those with mental disabilities and their families, as well as increase public awareness worldwide.
The advocacy that Mrs. Carter spent the most time talking about during our meeting was The Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism. These fellowships are offered to the reporters because they are best able to remove the stigma as well as educate the general population on those with mental handicaps. These fellowships are offered all over the world in order to make a change globally.
Overall, Mrs. Carter is an incredible person who has achieved so much in her lifetime for the greater public. I truly enjoyed meeting with her and getting to hear her story.
I'm so sorry to have missed this opportunity to meet with Mrs. Carter. I think it's so important to be exposed to the brave activist work that is being undertaken, especially by high profile people (also by anyone truly devoted) because it gives a sense of the urgency and also publicizes much needed causes. I'm particularly interested in the changing language and terminology used to describe those "experiencing" mental illness, since a lot of damage can be done by ignorant talk. Anyway, I'm glad you all got to meet her.
I am saddened I missed the former ladies comments on the "negative stigma associated with having a mental illness," I am sure I would have enjoyed and learned many things from that particular talk. I would just like to mention that Emory if trying to work to lessen the stigma associated with mental illness, spread awareness, and make resources for addressing those issues more available. I am sure many of you have heard that the school will be charging students an extra $50 in student fees to help cover the costs associated with that work. Additionally, Emory has a wonderful helpline that was recently recognized as community crusaders by the student group Synergy and the numerous vocal groups who donated the proceeds from their bare-naked voices concert to the helpline. We do so much online and to go along with that Emory Listening Ears, which was formerly peer counseling is encouraging all students to post and read the blogs meant to foster discussion and give advice. Check out the website http://listeningears.wordpress.com/
Though I did not attend the Carter Center Event, I am would like to become more familiar with Mrs. Carters advocacy efforts through the Mental Health Program. During my freshmen year, a section of my seminar was dedicated to mental health and the stigmas associated with those who have any type of mental illness. My professor tried to get us to understand that having a mental illness is like having any illness such as diabetes or cancer. However, mental illness is like a taboo subject that is talked about but at the same time is not talked about enough. Society labels those who have a mental illness as "crazy" and some people even go as far to say that mental illness is just a figment of someone's imagination. Luckily, things have evolved to where the person is no longer defined by their illness.
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