Press Release 3rd July 2007

Mental Health Service Users Congratulate Te Aiotanga Participants and Call for Action By Government

Members of the Phoenix Group last night praised the courage of former in-patients of psychiatric hospitals who shared their experiences with the Confidential Forum.

“We salute these survivors who have brought into the light of day inhumane practices and shameful deficiencies in society’s attitudes to it’s most vulnerable”, said spokesperson John Tovey.

“The community should realise that for each of the 400+ former patients who spoke to the Forum there are many more who carry the memory, pain and scars of similar appalling experiences.”

“The de-humanising acts of violence and abuse over a fifty year period described in Te Aiotanga affected a large number of people and has had a huge personal and community cost,” said Mr Tovey.

“The tragedy seen by the Phoenix Group is that despite improvements since the 1992 cut-off date of the Forum, practises from the horrific past still persist in some of today’s in-patient units. Seclusion in a locked room, having only a mattress, blanket, no drinking water and no provision for toileting, is still the experience of some unfortunate in-patients.”

“The Government must not ignore or minimize people's experiences or the personal and community costs resulting from the extended catastrophe described in the report. We call on them to honour the survivors and the stories they have bravely shared by taking responsibility for the systemic failures they represent and by reassuring the public that ways will be found to reduce and eventually eliminate compulsory treatment and the use of seclusion.”

Ends.

© Scoop Media