Rose Cartwright’s article (I was the poster girl for OCD. Then I began to question everything I’d been told about mental illness, 13 April) claims to expose “the fallacy at the heart of mental healthcare”, arguing that the sector – including but not limited to psychiatrists, occupational therapists, social workers, employment advisers, psychologists, dementia nurses, experts by experience, care home staff, art therapists, carers and support workers – fails to grasp the multifaceted nature of mental health and, instead, reduces it to an illness/treatment model.
I was part of a recent multi-disciplinary team meeting. A psychiatrist shared their concern about patients facing homelessness and asked what might be done. To which a support worker replied that funding for the local homelessness organisation – a key resource for such patients – had just been cut. Everyone, including the psychiatrist, slumped in their chair, knowing that homelessness is a potent risk factor for addiction, mental health crises and suicide. Without such organisations, these risks often become a reality.
