Mental Notes, the documentary film by Marbrook

Mental Notes is a new documentary film that follows five people with experience of mental illness who survived the institutional treatment of the 'bins' who now reflect on their experiences, many that were dehumanizing. These five people are now very active contributors to their respective communities, but not by any virtue of their institutional 'care'.
I saw the film last Friday, where the director spoke before the showing. I am fortunate to have met and shared some conversation with two of the five featured in the film: Anne Helm and John Tovey. They both were able to present vivid and compelling personal accounts of their experiences and reflections of value, on the process of their illness and that of their recovery, from not only the huge challenges of their illness but most disturbingly, the torments of their treatment.
Today both Anne and John work as Consumer Consultants for the local government district health board, Capital and Coast, the organization that has hosted most of my sabbatical connections here. Trailers of the film are available if you Goggle: Mental Notes, the movie. After the film on Friday I returned to Te Whare Marie to see if Tua Hekenui's family might still be around but the marae was without visitors any longer and resting after the large groups that had come the previous two days. Tua's body was taken in the very early hours of Friday morning by train up to the central North Island where his iwi is.
Yesterday I was fortunate to have the pleasure of Dr Richard Holt and his wife Dr Kristen Sparks who had come to help pick apples at Gregg and Carla's. Richard filled me in on the memorial service at Te Whare Marie, clearly a stressful time for most everyone involved.
Richard and Kristen are both American psychiatrists, both graduated from their MD schools at the top of their class. About seven months ago they moved here to live and work. They are both highly regarded as you can imagine. They spoke of some of the differences in medical and clinical practices here, mostly favorable and advantageous to recovery and wellness. Significantly, they sited the differences in boundaries that I have written about, and find that these less vigilant boundaries and the associated risk issues are culturally more appropriate and congruent with improved recovery and wellness models. The focus shifts in these models from the more egocentric focus in the western models to whanua, that is family, and its sense of inclusiveness beyond just immediate family.
In my observations a great deal of illness and disease is the consequence of stressors brought on by disconnection: disconnection from environment and disconnection with others/ family/ community. These experiences of disconnection engender degrees of relative disorientation and the loss of a sense of belonging. Individual motivation ebbs under these circumstances, and the less active we become, then the more significant the negative impact to our physical health systems result. The recovery process and the subsequent steps involved in our wellness are then dependent on reconnecting and recovering a sense of belonging/ valued roles; reorienting to a sense of inclusion, involvement, individual value, process, and purpose. This then reignites hope and the critical motivation for the spiritual centering of connection and conviction of purpose: living life in wellness.

The tree Tua especially liked at Te Whare Marie

Details of the woven trunk that is distinctive of this tree in front of Te Whare Marie

Dr Richard Holt and Dr Kristen Sparks at Gregg and Carla's apple orchard 

Giant bubble bee the length and breadth of my thumb, makes me think of Tua Hekenui and his aroha, the shortness of life and the need to live with purpose.

I have less than three weeks left now here in New Zealand and will see what I can do to wrap up with some interviews with people who I have come to know hold a very good sense of how recovery and wellness are effectively facilitated.