All week I have been baking little batches of gingerbread. First to send for St. Nicholas day on Dec 6, then to give as gifts to my clinical supervisor, my chiropractor, people who nurture and save me through out the year. These are bursts of my love and care for my fellow humans in the form of spices, dough and sweetness.
The memory of eating and giving gingerbread is a restorative one which can evoke a sense of security for me. Such memories are vital as tools for resilience in what can be a brutally cruel world.
Yesterday I learned about a model of treatment called Recovery for people struggling with severe mental illness like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. These are people whose lives are derailed by adverse stressors and chemical imbalance in the brain. For most people such a diagnosis means the end of a meaningful and productive life and the beginning of a life as a dependent on drugs, institutions like hospitals and family who are often ill equipped to help. What I learned with the Recovery model is that there is healing power in the language and approach with the severely mentally ill, which does not automatically assume they are incapable of making their own choices.
Even being given agency and control over medication choices can make a sea change for someone who doesn't believe they can do anything.
Much of the model advocates for reliance on internal resources; the natural resilience that even the most indigent and disabled persons can show if given the opportunity. The memory of gingerbread baking or being given as a gift is a sweet internal memory. I wish that sweetness to all those whom I know struggle with mental illness. That is my gift to you for the holidays.
The memory of eating and giving gingerbread is a restorative one which can evoke a sense of security for me. Such memories are vital as tools for resilience in what can be a brutally cruel world.
Yesterday I learned about a model of treatment called Recovery for people struggling with severe mental illness like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. These are people whose lives are derailed by adverse stressors and chemical imbalance in the brain. For most people such a diagnosis means the end of a meaningful and productive life and the beginning of a life as a dependent on drugs, institutions like hospitals and family who are often ill equipped to help. What I learned with the Recovery model is that there is healing power in the language and approach with the severely mentally ill, which does not automatically assume they are incapable of making their own choices.
Even being given agency and control over medication choices can make a sea change for someone who doesn't believe they can do anything.
Much of the model advocates for reliance on internal resources; the natural resilience that even the most indigent and disabled persons can show if given the opportunity. The memory of gingerbread baking or being given as a gift is a sweet internal memory. I wish that sweetness to all those whom I know struggle with mental illness. That is my gift to you for the holidays.
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