Modern mental health units embrace future

A mental health facility in Manawatu¯ is aligning its surroundings with its treatment to better prepare clients to reenter the community.

St Dominic’s in Feilding has replaced an old communal hall and accommodation building with 20 self-contained chalets to give its clients more independence and equip them for the ‘‘outside world’’.

Spread over 10 hectares of farmland, the facility has provided residential recovery for people living with mental illness since 1991, but its homestead first opened as a school for the hearing impaired in 1944.

More recently, the centre found its method of treating patients in groups and housing them in dormitories outdated, and upgraded its facilities to provide a more individually targeted care plan, manager Dean Chapman said.

It aligned with its goal to provide clients with the tools and confidence to live on their own.

‘‘Mental health services have developed and personal care services are now the focus. We had an environment which wasn’t easy to create independence so we made the decision to look at other options.’’

Building individual flats gave clients a space they felt valued and secure, he said.

‘‘It sparked a desire to have a roof over their head, eat good food and then move onto the next stage [of their recovery].’’

Carers encouraged residents to make connections with community groups, stores and churches prior to leaving its care, but Chapman said some clients felt judged and treated differently.

Many Kiwis lacked empathy for those who suffered mental health problems, and he encouraged people to treat them as they would any other individual in the community.

‘‘We might have a client who will go into a cafe and order a coffee.

‘‘They might get unruly in there and then we’d get a call saying: ‘Can you pick this person up’, and we’d say: ‘No, well, what would you do if it was a normal customer?’.

‘‘They would reply: ‘We’d ask them to leave’.

‘‘We’re saying you should treat them like a normal person and ask them to leave,’’ Chapman said.

One of the biggest problems was rehoming existing clients in the midst of a housing crisis.

‘‘Put yourself in the shoes of landlords.

‘‘You’ve got a low-income family or a person who has just come out of respite – who are they going to choose?’’

WARWICK SMITH/STUFF St Dominic’s has demolished older buildings, pictured to the right, and replaced them with 20 self-contained flats, pictured on the left.