F E AT U R E
Walk for Wellness: A Mental Health OT Initiative to Foster Recovery and Optimise Well-being Laura Kagan, (OTR) BPsychSc, MOTPrac Mental Health Occupational Therapist, Luna Therapy
One of the key principles of Luna Therapy is ‘Recovery through Connection’. We embody the belief that for people to experience sustainable recovery, they need support to establish a connection with their sense of self, connection with other people, connection with their communities, connection with nature, and connection with their unique values, cultural beliefs, and truths.
Modern Life + Pandemic = Sympathetic Nervous System Overload
The collective mental health has taken a massive hit over the past year. It has been crystal clear that more and more people have been struggling–and disconnection and the stress of modern life play a major part. Modern life involves an immense level of isolation and loneliness. Many people have lost their villages of support, are overstimulated, and experience sensory overwhelm daily. Most of the time they are operating from the sympathetic state of their nervous system. It’s overwhelming just thinking about it, let alone living it. 30 otaus.com.au
One of the most apparent, worrying, and ongoing casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the collective mental health. The ongoing stress, uncertainty, disempowerment, survival threat, and fear that the pandemic created was unmanageable and catastrophic for many people’s nervous systems and well-being. The pandemic’s impact has significantly contributed to increased global mental-health problems and immense difficulty securing mental-health support. Mental-health practitioners are also experiencing burnout, mental-health problems, and illness themselves. The world can no longer ignore that globally, mentalhealth systems and support processes are not working to effectively support people with mental illness in the way that they need to foster sustainable recovery and engagement in meaningful living. In many ways, mental illness is the pandemic we need to focus our energy and attention on.
Recovery Is Possible
Recovery frameworks in mental health are based on holistic, trauma-informed and person-centred approaches. Recovery frameworks are based on two clear principles: 1. It is possible to recover from a mental-health illness 2. The most effective recovery is when the client drives it.
Luna Therapy is an integrative outreach mental-health occupational therapy service on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria. Like many other occupational therapists, we have experienced increased demand for services during this time, and challenges supporting and discharging clients and families as the support they need is intensive and cyclical. I was incredibly alarmed when I, a mental-health occupational therapist with knowledge, experience, and stable mental health to navigate the process, could not find a psychologist or fellow mental-health occupational therapist with availability for new referrals. I contacted many different mental-health services and was told many had closed wait lists or had a wait list of six months or more. Simply put, we do not have available mental-health services to meet the desperate demands of our community. There has been an immense increase in people needing mental-health support over the past year. How can mental-health services support them towards the best chance at recovery when we are all at capacity and unable to refer them elsewhere?
