From NBC News: “‘We know what itâs like to walk into a space and feel vulnerable, to feel like there is no hope and to be seeking something that is not just an illness pathology message,’ [Cherene Caraco, founder of Retreat @ the Plaza] said. ‘There is a wisdom of lived experience that cannot be duplicated by professional experience or academic achievements.’
. . . Caraco, who wants the retreat to help fill a hole in the behavioral health system, questions the tendency to resort to involuntary commitment to psychiatric hospitals. Forced psychiatric treatment is on the rise nationally, with the rate of involuntary commitment having increased three times faster than the population growth in the 25 states where such data are available.
The system prioritizes pathologizing illness over promoting wellness and opportunity, Caraco said.
‘We donât have a system thatâs designed to protect and nurture the individual thatâs having a mental health emergency,’ she said. ‘We have a system thatâs designed to protect the rest of us from the person with mental illness.'”
***
Back to Around the Web
