The Northern Territory news Fri 24 Mar 2023
NT news
The Northern Territory news; NewspaperNT
2023-03-24
English
Community newspapers -- Northern Territory -- Darwin.; Australian newspapers -- Northern Territory -- Darwin.
News Corp Australia
Darwin
application/pdf
Copyright. Made available by the publisher under licence.
News Corp Australia
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00042
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/908379
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/908560
10 NEWS Friday March 24 2023 NTNEWS.COM.AU NTNE01Z01MA - V1 our mental health crisis Latest updates The woman, who wished to be referred to as a survivor, said her experience of the Territorys mental health facility was nothing short of barbarism . Picture: Supplied A WOMAN was stripped naked and forced to urinate in the corner of a seclusion room at a Territory mental health facility. The woman, who wished to be referred to as a survivor, said her experience was nothing short of barbarism. People think you go in there to get help, but every human right you have is violated, she said. After 19 years of accessing Top End Mental Health Services, the survivor now funds her own private psychiatry because she said the system only further traumatised and antagonised her psychiatric condition. When Im in that distressed, highly distressed state, I get thrown in there, and its sort of entering the dark ages in some way, she said. I remember probably about 15 years ago being put into solitary, stripped naked, injected with barbiturates and left without anywhere to urinate. The survivor said after complaining about her treatment, some changes were made across the unit but it wasnt until May last year NT Health created a three-bed womens only wing in the high-depen dency ward at Royal Darwin Hospital. The survivors last admission was in 2021 and she said little had changed in the almost two decades she had been accessing the service. They perceive me as dangerous but all I want is someone to make some fking sense to me and treat me like a human being and the fact that Im not outrages me, she said. She also said she was flykicked by another patient during one admission. The woman recounts sitting in the TV room and being stared at by up to four uniformed corrections officers who were guarding other patients. Very often theres three to four men dressed in uniforms, its like a sort of a gladiatorial vibe where they just kind of stand there staring at the patients and observing patients, she said. Its horrific. The behaviours of prison guards while supervising inmates in mental health units is at the centre of an agreement between NT Health and Corrections, which has remained unsigned for almost a year. Last year, the survivor approached the community mental health team, run by NT Health, to wean off an antipsychotic that was impacting her quality of life. It was interacting with my driving and I was ready to come off it, she said. Its not something I was meant to be on for a long time. However, the community team took her to tribunal to have her court ordered to remain on the drug. They say that because I dont agree with them. I lack insight into my illness, you know, and this is the circular thinking that they have, she said. Thank god the magistrates saw through it, and saw them for how nonsensical they were. Now with secure employment, the survivor said her recovery is continuing and has vowed to fund her own psychiatry and psychological services. Im very privileged in terms of my financial situation Ive been able to slowly extract myself from the public system, she said. Ive now got a private psychiatrist that I see through telehealth and she just is appalled by how Ive been treated. The survivor said her experience was marred by the systems reluctance to use best practice and truly implement a model of care that supports people to recover from mental illness. exclusive (A)manda Parkinson Stripped naked: Womans horror ntnews.com.au 1, 229 McMillans Road, Jingili NT 0810 8948 3555 Senator.NampijinpaPrice@aph.gov.au jacintaprice.com JacintaNPrice Authorised by Senator J. Nampijinpa Price, Country Liberal Party (NT), 1, 229 McMillans Road, Jingili NT 0810. Senator JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE Senator for the Northern Territory Do you think the Northern Territory Government is doing enough to keep Territorians safe? Please scan the QR code to have your say