Trigger warning: rape
Recently, I had the chance to visit a rehabilitation center for mentally ill women as a part of a school outreach activity. An outreach is basically a class activity where we visit an institution that helps the poor or the less fortunate. This year, I was able to participate in meeting women who have gone through so much more than they should have.
According to the facilitator at the “Sanctuary for Women”, the women admitted to their facility are usually on their way to recovery after their stay. These are women, 18 to 59 years old, who have been abandoned by their families. In most of these cases, their mental health struggles have been caused by rape from their family members, as well as strangers. If I’m being honest, I was terrified of visiting the place, mainly because there is such a negative stigma around people with mental illnesses. Because of the stereotypes given to us by the media and others, there is a negative image painted in our minds that the mentally ill are “crazy”.
Once I arrived, I was quickly able to notice that the area is big, which could mean that there is enough space for everyone. As we walked inside to prepare to meet and interact with the patients, I immediately saw that the facilities weren’t as clean as they should be. There was a smell in the air and the floors were dirty. (Side note: This isn’t me complaining about the facilities for my sake.) We were introduced to a kind and lively group of women. They were so welcoming and happy to see us. It warmed my heart to be able to converse with these women who asked about me. I even was able to have my palm read twice and receive an arm and hand massage from a nice lady. The women performed two dance numbers for our class. Unfortunately, one of the caregivers put a damper on the mood because she was being rude about the women choosing their song. She even yelled that only those who knew how to dance could perform. Moreover, one lady told us that all they ever did at the sanctuary was clean the entire facility and have a short cooking lesson. We had also been informed that there was only one psychologist at the facility, which was filled with nearly 200 patients. The lack of psychologists and mental health experts is definitely alarming because that greatly affects the rate at which patients are able to get better.
The quality of life of these patients is definitely unfortunate.
Overall, I can say that the outreach activity was nothing short of an eye-opener. I definitely recommend that everyone have a similar experience because it truly does put things into perspective. After this experience, I was more motivated to work towards removing the stigmas around mental illnesses, which is exactly what organizations like The I’m Not My Project are doing. My eyes were also opened to the great need for more mental health doctors because the ratio of physicians to patients is very questionable. Governments should be giving more attention to these needs because these patients are still people who have basic human rights.
