us vs. them?

As quiet as it is kept, there is a tenuous alliance between the peer and clinical communities. I’ve observed a snarky little attitude of us versus them. This doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, a peer living on both worlds, because I believe our goals are the same. To be sure, we go about it differently, but I firmly believe our ultimate goal is to empower, engage and support the people we serve. We are both committed to service to others.

It seems there is confusion and ignorance on the part of clinicians about what peers do with the people we work with. Likewise, there is a culture of distrust of the clinical community by peers. This distrust appears to me to stem from first hand experience of peer specialists as clients of clinicians. Just about everyone I know in the peer community has a horror story about their treatment in the system by clinicians and mental health workers.

Although these accounts of mistreatment, disregard, and excessive force are in and of themselves traumatic, I don’t think they are the rule of thumb. As I have said in past posts, people who choose to assist those of us with mental health differences are “do-gooders.” They have good intentions. I know this because I spend 40 hours a week with them as a peer specialists and several hours a month with them as a client. I simply don’t believe that clinicians set out to harm or re-traumatize their clients. Although, I know that it has and still happens.

Please don’t misunderstand me, I know there have been too many instances of forced treatments, restraints, seclusion, and over medication. What I’m saying is that, as damaging as these actions have been and are, I don’t believe they are a product of malice intent. I think sometimes clinicians overreact and are zealous. From my experience and from what I have observed, I believe individually they want to help. Many times they do help.

The confusion and distrust that clinicians sometimes have for peer specialists stems from ignorance of what exactly we do. We are not babysitters. We don’t coddle other peers. We’re not even friends to the peers we work with on a professional level. We are role models of wellness and recovery. We teach, encourage and empower. We a living examples of what it means to thrive with a metal health diagnosis. We are the poster children for a life focused on wellness, not illness. This is a powerful reality because we are living breathing proof that the stigma of mental illness is based in untruths. Our existence is proof that the stereotypes are not real. We are proof that it is possible to live a life of one’s choosing and have a mental health diagnosis.

So, I think the solution to the ignorance and distrust is dialogue. We need to come together regularly and have some meaningful conversations about what we are trying to do and how we are trying to do it. And, I think this is happening on a small scale. However, there is a needs for forums that give us an opportunity to come together and compare notes. Traditional medicine and therapies work for many. I’d like to learn why and how from the horse’s mouth. Peer support works but how and why? It would be awesome if we could take the best of both worlds and combine them to support the people we are trying to assist in taking back their lives after a crisis. As it stands, peer specialist do their thing and clinicians do their thing, but there is little intentional collaboration.

In a perfect world, I envision a world where the two come together in a more deliberate manner to offer services. The sense I get is that this is happening almost accidentally, but not intentionally. This needed collaboration is not yet a part of the institutional culture of organizations.

I welcome your feedback and experiences. Weigh in on this and tell me what you think.