Porter-Starke Services offers many programs to help people overcome a variety of mental health challenges. Porter-Starke has long advocated for and helped individuals experiencing psychosis with Its Insight Program, but now it has taken its advocacy even further with its Perspectives series. On Thursday, September 28, Porter-Starke Services held the third speaking session in its four-part Perspective series. Community members of all backgrounds came together to learn more about psychosis and what they can do to make a change.
Porter-Starke’s Perspectives series was born from its Insight Program. Stephanie Swearington, project director of the Insight Program, was doing a lot of presentations on psychosis for organizations and saw how those conversations were changing the narrative on psychosis. She wanted to find a way to open up those conversations to community members to spread even more awareness. There was no better way to do that than by holding sessions of dialogue and collaboration.
The third Perspectives session focused specifically on community involvement and what people can do to help change the stigma around psychosis and how they can make a difference in helping people get the proper treatment they need.
“Psychosis is one of the most misunderstood diagnoses in the mental health field. When people think of psychosis, they think of violence, oddities, and very negative things when in reality people who are diagnosed with psychosis are actually very scared and timid individuals. They’re prone to isolating themselves which causes depression and increases the rate of suicide. It’s important for our community to be aware of what psychosis is and what it’s not,” said Swearington.
The session was attended by people of all backgrounds: parents of children with psychosis, case workers, teachers, and so many others. Each person shared their personal experience and understanding of psychosis, but what they all had in common was a desire to know what they could do better.
“This series is exactly what it sounds like. We want to hear the perspectives of not only the clinicians in our organization but the perspectives of other organization members, and family members, and people who actually experience psychosis themselves. It’s a robust educational session. We want everyone talking,” said Swearington.
To speak on this subject, Porter-Starke invited Dr. Rachel Waford. She shared with everyone how important it is for the community to ensure people with psychosis can easily get the support they need.
“We ask our clients to do an obstacle course to get to care, and we can shift that. It’s our responsibility. We put too much responsibility on people with lived experience and their families, and we should be doing more,” said Waford.
She emphasized the many ways people can transform the narrative of psychosis. One of the first steps community members can take to help people with psychosis is to change their mentality. During her presentation, Waford explained that we often think of psychosis as black and white – we either assume a person needs to manage their behaviors or that they need extreme help. In reality, psychosis is a spectrum of severity and everyone requires different care.
“How we think about what recovery looks like influences what we do. If you don’t think that recovery is a spectrum, you believe that it’s either crisis or behavior management, then you’re going to only invest in services that treat those things. We don’t invest in the stuff in the middle. That’s why conversations like these and this grant and what we’re doing is important. If we don’t acknowledge that there is a spectrum, then we leave a whole gap of care,” said Waford.
Another great way our community can continue to change the conversation about psychosis is by being more mindful.
“Even something as simple as language can change the stigma. One of the things I’m constantly working on is not using the word crazy. We often use words like crazy and insane and psychotic to describe everyday things in our lives, and typically those things aren’t positive, so when a person carries the label, you’re automatically reinforcing that stigma,” said Waford.
Lastly, one of the best things a person can do to help someone with psychosis is to be aware of the signs so that person can get the help they need early on. People typically start experiencing psychosis symptoms between the ages of 16 and 24. Some of the biggest signs are isolation, reduced concentration and motivation, uneasiness, sleep disturbance, and an intense focus on particular ideas. When someone notices an individual experiencing these symptoms, the best thing they can do is listen.
“One person can make a huge difference in changing the trajectory of a person’s experience,” said Waford.
Ultimately, Porter-Starke’s third Perspectives session couldn’t have been more enlightening. The Porter-Starke team hopes that everyone left with a better understanding of what psychosis is and what Porter-Starke is doing to help all individuals who face mental health challenges.
“The research shows that the faster people can get into treatment the better their lifetime outcomes are. Providers are faced with the challenge of spreading awareness of this fact in their communities. At Porter-Starke, we do a lot to try to build that awareness; today’s conversation is all about giving people a broader understanding of everything we do not just in Insight Program, but around mental health in general,” said Matthew Burden, CEO of Porter-Starke Services.
The next Perspectives session will be held on Wednesday, November 1. The event will feature a speaker who lives with a psychosis diagnosis. The event will be the perfect way to continue opening up the dialogue around psychosis.
“I think it’s incredible that the last speaker in this year’s series is a person with lived experience. One of the things that we are learning in this work is that we talk a lot about serving this population. We talk about these people instead of with these people so this is a big movement having those voices at the table,” said Waford.
Porter-Starke has already decided to continue the quarterly Perspectives sessions next year as well. Swearington encourages everyone to come out and participate.
“Everyone is welcome. These are free sessions--we don’t want any barriers to keep people from coming and taking part in this educational series,” said Swearington.
To learn more about Porter-Starke Services and its provocative programming, visit www.porterstarke.org.
