I am the person of whom you speak

Abstract

As consumers/survivors increasingly take up roles of influence within mental health service delivery and policy development, tensions sometimes arise about the validity and relevance of consumer perspectives. The author proposes that these tensions may be indicative of failure by the mental health system and the broader community to communicate, understand and believe in personal recovery. This first-person account reflects, in both poetry and prose, about the personal impacts of having the validity and relevance of one’s own experience denied, along with a personal account of the experience of madness and trauma, pessimistic prognosis, involuntary treatment, hope and personal recovery.