Fourteen psychologists will jump off Bloukrans Bridge today, 10 October 2014, for World Mental Health Day in a bid to raise funds and awareness about mental illness.
Fourteen psychologists will jump off Bloukrans Bridge today, 10 October 2014, for World Mental Health Day in a bid to raise funds and awareness about mental illness.
Jane Higgins, psychologist at Fort England Psychiatric Hospital, said sponsorship of today's bungee jump off the bridge over the Storms River west of Port Elizabeth is to raise money for a sundries fund for long-term patients. Higgins and her fellow clinical staff members also aim to dispel prejudices about mental illness.
"We need to dispel myths perpetuating negative stereotypes, but also in creating tolerance," Higgins said.
"Stigma and ignorance are so often mutually inclusive. We must also remember that we are all struggling with something, and all seek some sort of sense of acceptance," Higgins told Grocott's Mail.
"People living with mental illness have the responsibility to be informed and adhere to treatment and other crucial lifestyle choices; they also have the right to a safe environment."
Accessibility to community mental health services, such as halfway houses, would vastly increase their chances of living productive, rewarding lives.
Higgins said that some patients are fortunate to have family members and friends that visit them and support them, but others are not as blessed and rely on the generosity and good will of fellow ward members and staff for extras such as tuckshop money.
"Education is key, although mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder are chronic lifelong conditions, the symptoms can potentially and realistically be managed with medication, she said. Psychological interventions can assist in alleviating the distress, confusion, alienation and some of the symptom severity that go hand in hand with severe mental illness. A combination of different treatment forms can lead to longer periods of wellness and diminished periods of illness.
Higgins concluded with a quote by author Sharon L. Alder: “Never give up on someone with a mental illness. When ‘I’ is replaced with ‘We’”, illness becomes wellness”.
How does she feel about today's jump? "I am feeling nervous and a little excited, looking forward to when it's finished and I can watch everyone else do their jumps," she said.
