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Greetings to all
My name is Greg Turner; I have been on the list for about a year reading =
with great interest the views of contributors and absorbing much. As I =
am very new to PCP, and as yet not feeling particularly confident, I =
have not contributed to the list before now. I'm a community =
psychologist working in the mental health sector as a consultant =
primarily, but I also dabble in a range of activities including =
developing programs for people with chronic and major mental health =
issues (most are said to have schizophrenia, however I have a major =
problem with psychiatric labels), developing professional development =
programs on facilitating "Recovery" from mental illness, as well as =
working with individual clients in therapeutic partnerships. =20
Amongst these other activities I am the training coordinator for the =
Queensland Transcultural Mental Health Centre (Australia) with the =
onerous task of ensuring that government mental health professionals =
throughout Queensland are able to provide a high level of mental health =
care to people from diverse cultures, ethnicities and language =
backgrounds. =20
As a multicultural society there are many cultures, ethnicities and =
languages spoken in Queensland and we also now have a relatively large =
refugee program, especially for people from the former Yugoslavia. A =
major concern that I have is in regard to the assessment and diagnosis =
for these people by mental health professionals (there is evidence that =
there is a disproportionate percentage labelled with schizophrenia, due =
I believe to a lack of cultural understanding by the assessment staff =
compounded by language barriers). In our training programs we emphasise =
that it is not appropriate for workers to try to understand the =
intricacies of each and every culture and ethnicity that they might come =
across, and we also spell out clearly the perils of stereotyping =
individuals according to their culture. As a psychologist who believes =
in trying to understand the reality as experienced by the individual =
(hence my liking for PCP) I am keen for workers to explore the personal =
experience, the role of self, and the world view of the client rather =
than just their cultural category. That is, I would like to see staff =
use techniques which transcend culture; techniques which are applicable =
to INDIVIDUALS. In the transcultural mental health literature there is =
much on social constructionism and cultural constructivism (e.g. =
Kleinman, etc.), however there doesn't seem to be much on the =
application of PCP in transcultural psychiatric settings. Surely PCP =
would be an ideal vehicle?=20
I would greatly appreciate input from all and sundry who have an =
interest in this area, and am particularly interested in collecting a =
reference list of articles and books. I see this as an ideal =
opportunity to "awaken" mental health professionals to the world of PCP =
and what it has to offer them and their clients, no matter what their =
cultural background. =20
P.S. We currently have a four-module Train-the-Trainer program which is =
currently being evaluated by recognised international experts in the =
field of transcultural mental health. These are based on constructivist =
concepts with a strong focus on the use of Narrative therapy. In the =
next year I will commence work on a fifth module specifically for 'Child =
and Youth' mental health professionals. =20
In anticipation, thank you all.
Greg Turner
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