Today is the last day for orientation for us. Well, it's been a relaxed 3 days of orientation for us, with ample lunch breaks and free time to gather in the non-airconditioned lounge to tell jokes, talk and eat (whatever we can lay our hands on - peanut cookies, my sandwiches, grapes, peaches, sweets, avacados =]) Tomorrow I'm going to a different centre :( Will miss the rest for the next 6 weeks.

Over the 3 days, I have learnt and seen the continuum of mental health services provided for patients with namely schizophrenia, bipolar, depression. There are many types of acute, inpatient services, rehabilitative and outpatient services, and OTs have such dynamic roles in all these settings. The mental health setting is really a place where OTs have to be self-motivated, constantly challenging himself/herself to find ways and means to help patients improve.

I was allowed to sit in for an MDT discuss - multi-disciplinary team discussion, where all kinds of health professionals in charge of a certain ward convene to discuss the conditions of the patients, actions taken, actions to be taken, further information gathered, etc. Interviews with patients and family/friends/helpers also take place in front of the team. (It can be quite intimidating for the patients, family/friends/helpers though, I feel) What was amazing is the ability of all the team members to organize their time, space and thoughts so well! They are able to do interviews, discussion, writing of case notes, thinking, remembering information about many different patients at once! There was practically no one sitting still in the room, always a bustle of activity with chairs moving all over the place, files being exchanged and used, stamps chopping away, etc. It was really mind-boggling to see everyone being able to cope with all the confusion inside! It is also quite humbling to see how well each person is able to organise his/her time well and to see the initiative taken by each therapist. I really have a lot to learn - how to cope with confusion as I have seen and how to organise my time well and with discipline.

This also brings me to the point about how much communication goes on between health practitioners. If there were any who wanted to find a sociable bunch, they will find it at the hospitals. LOLS. This really means that repore, relationship and trust building is very important for me to learn. I must learn how to work with others in a team, follow other's leadership and also learn to socialize (and not become isolated just like I am now.)

Other than the MDT, I attended a lantern-making group session with inpatient woman ward and also a moon-cake making group session with the child/teenage ward. I'm too tired now to talk about too many things realized. At the end of the day, we all just come to the sad realization that the mental health setting is a sad setting though it can be really interesting and occassionally funny. It is really sad to see the patients struggle against their own conditions and the stigma/barriers they face in society.

To whoever is reading this blog, anyone can have mental health problems, just that some need more help than others. Don't treat them as though they are animals or less than a human or person than we are because anyone can fall into the illness of the soul and mind at as easily as falling into an illness of the physical body.

Signing off with love,
Charmaine