As I began writing this feature last Monday, a little later than usual, I looked up the name Mandy Stevens to get an idea of her background in mental health in the UK. Simultaneously, I noted that BBC Trending had just published her story under the headline, The NHS mental health chief who had a nervous breakdown.
Mandy Stevens, according to her account, has worked in mental health services for 29 years, as a registered mental health nurse with 15 years’ experience as a clinician, and 14 years as a manager and most recently as director of the UK’s National Health Services (NHS).
The September 2016 minutes of a board meeting of t NHS Barnet, Enfield, Haringey listed her in attendance as Improvement Director of this long-standing (1948) organisation.
Then there was the self-published photo last week showing a dishevelled Stevens who wrote, “Perhaps not the most flattering photo of me, but I’m sharing this awful picture and my story to help increase understanding of the impact of mental illness and to celebrate my recovery.”
She had just completed a 12-week hospitalization from a major depressive episode of which she wrote, “From initial symptoms of depression to admission to a mental health unit 10 days later … depression ripped the rug out from under my feet and emptied my whole being. I have been completely disabled and incapacitated by this illness.”
Her main reason for disclosure, she said, is to remind us “there is no immunity; mental illness can come out of nowhere and affect anyone at any time.”
In her LinkedIn post (January 17) Stevens wrote, “I am recovering from the most terrible depression that ripped the heart and soul out of me. Very unexpectedly an NHS Acute Inpatient ward in Hackney has been my home for the past 12 weeks.”
And it was her home, not just because she was housed there, but her account tells of the care and interventions she had from her peers and subordinates, friends, and family.
Steven’s story was brought to my attention by my editor Franka Philip. She posted the article online last weekend and tagged me with the rhetorical question, “If only our (T&T) health system could be so amenable eh?” What struck me more was that, in posting the article, Philip wrote, “I love her openness about her depression…”
About Stevens’ openness, my thoughts were that she was not compelled to “expose” herself to the scrutiny of the NHS, the UK or the entire world but chose to tell her story as one of triumph. Once she had shared her story though, it remained no longer “her depression” but became an instrument of advocacy for everyone who has not found his/her voice.
Stevens’ account is proof of the NHS’s and the UK’s investment in an environment in which all who live with mental illness should be accommodated. But, she too, originally recoiled under the glower of stigma.
She wrote, “If I had been in hospital with a broken leg, or a physical problem, no doubt I would have been sharing amusing photos of my drip stand, the signed plaster cast and the hospital food; laughing with my family, friends & extended social media community.”
But that hardly characterized her experience. “Instead,” she wrote, “I have hidden myself away, scared of my own shadow and told very few people. Sad to say, I have also been embarrassed, shy, suicidal, phobic, anxious, and scared of everything.
“I’m sharing my story now as I feel strong enough to face the world again,” Stevens continued. “I was officially discharged from City & Hackney Centre for Mental Health on Friday January 13, 2017.”
Stevens now owns an uncommon experience of having been treated in a facility she manages, for an illness she’s trained to treat/manage in patients. She is both director and patient at her workplace and I can only imagine that she must be eternally grateful for the quality of care in which she is engaged. And she knows stigma, firsthand.
Read her account here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/from-nhs-director-mental-health-inpatient...
– Caroline C Ravello is a strategic communications and media practitioner with over 30 years of proficiency. She holds an MA in Mass Communications and is pursuing the MSc in Public Health (MPH) from The UWI. Write to: mindful.tt@gmail.com