Past Programs
Carers - 2003
Caring for Carers at Sage Hill
15/06/2003
Carers of people with mental illness, unsung heroes or unpaid slaves? This week, compelling and emotional stories from the lives of the people who live and breathe someone else's distress. The needs of carers are too often invisible, overshadowed by the intense and frightening experiences of their charge's illness. In regional Australia, where psychiatric facilities and professionals are few, support services for carers are especially lacking. The team at Sage Hill in the coastal town of Warrnambool in Victoria is responding to this isolation. It's an innovative drop-in centre that's making a real difference...Maryke Steffens pops in for a visit.
Invisible Children - When Mummy or Daddy Has the Sad Sickness
25/05/2003
This week, growing up with a parent who has mental illness. Small children frequently take on a carer role well before they're ready for it and their needs remain invisible to adult mental health workers and even to other family members. Many parents are frightened to disclose that they have children for fear that they'll be taken away. Natasha Mitchell reports on the critical issues, and efforts in Australia to put children's experiences at the fore.
A Mental Health Odyssey in India. Episode 2 - "The Banyan"
09/03/2003
All in the Mind's continuing series on mental health in India. In 1993 two young college friends found a near-naked woman on the streets of Chennai. She was psychotic, alone, and her very visible suffering was ignored by all those around her. So begins the story of The Banyan - a shelter for women who are homeless and mentally ill. The powerful motto of The Banyan is "I exist therefore I am", and today it is temporary home to over 260 women from all corners of this vast country. These are the stories of women who have been abused, raped, lost, ignored, violated and subjugated: the stories of the invisible women of India.
A Mental Health Odyssey in India: Episode 1 - "Family And Stigma"
02/03/2003
Natasha Mitchell takes you on a mental health odyssey! In this first episode - family and stigma. In India arranged marriages are very much the norm, and the joint family, where a man and a woman live intimately with his extended family, is still a powerful institution. Over 90 per cent of people with severe mental illness, especially outside of the major cities, are cared for at home by their families within their communities, and may never receive a diagnosis. But in a country where families are fundamentally changing, and liberalization and urbanization are major social forces - as primary caregivers families are feeling the strain.
