Jacqueline Kannepalli, Entrepreneur, Mental Health Advocate and Champion

Jackie is the founder of Ruby Slippers CIC (www.ruby-slippers.co.uk) and a Mental Health Advocate who also participates in CNWL activities.

Ruby Slippers is a brilliant initiative; its “main aim is to provide vulnerable women with the means to dress themselves beautifully in whichever way they wish, in order to give them freedom of expression, dignity in difficult circumstances and the means to show a proud face to the outside world in testing times.”

Jackie is a writer too. “It’s just that I would like to continue to advocate for people with Serious Mental Illness in the public arena if the opportunity arises.”

Attached here are two of her interesting pieces and we hope are discussed and commented on.

The first is about Menopause:

“From me, luckily, I have been relatively unscathed physically by the menopause - some “brain fog” and sleeplessness, but none of the other symptoms that I know from reading and from friends can be somewhat debilitating.

“However, I do believe hormones - or rather significant “life stages” were triggers for me - from first being unwell when I was 21, to post-natal when I had Grace, and when I was menopausal most recently. I don’t think it is any coincidence that my various episodes coincided with these hormonal life changes.”

The other is about mental health crisis.

In the ‘crisis piece’ she says, “I am Bipolar1 and have been hospitalised in the past because of psychosis. Whilst I have been lucky enough to be cared for by some wonderful, kind people and also kept safe in a crisis, I know this is not the same experience for everyone. I set out below what I see as some of the issues as well as suggest some possible solutions to those in a mental health crisis, based on my own experience.”

“Having sat on the Physical Health Group at CNWL, where there are many excellent mental health professionals and service users trying their upmost to address the physical health needs of those of us with SMIs, I am still shocked by the fact that our lifespan is 15-20 years less than the average, often partially brought on the antipsychotic medication we are prescribed. Firstly, if this lifespan applied to any other minority, it would be front page news and I do not believe I have read about this shocking statistic in any mainstream media. Whilst there are newer generation drugs to deal with mood disorders, the “gold standard” is still Lithium, which was first used in 1949 and can lead to kidney problems and tremors. It would be wonderful if there were more medications that didn’t lead to metabolic syndrome or leaving the person feeling “less than”.”

Some Suggested Solutions To A Mental Health Crisis

• Those attending - particularly if it is the police keeping watch in a “place of safety” - to be dressed in civilian clothes and not in their black uniform and boots which is very frightening even if they are nice people.
• The “place of safety” (wherever it is) to be made more calming and less austere because even though you are in a crisis you are aware of your surroundings, which are themselves often scary because you are seeing frightening things which aren’t there too.
• Could the first responder be gentle and kind - when I was in a crisis, the first man who met me knelt down and spoke to me softly which helped calm me.
• Could there be a padded bed with a fixed soft pillow, a warm blanket, soothing colours on the wall and not bare white, softer lighting and not overhead bright lights, soothing voices (like the amazing Home Treatment Team), calming mindful sounds like lapping waves.
• Could the subsequent crisis ward (not just the regular mental health ward) have the same sort of soothing colours and calming murals on the walls?
• Could we do a focus group or meetings or a survey (if people want to be private) to see what might make others feel safe in a crisis - and ideally we would reach out to the marginalised groups who are not yet part of a group - to give them some power or agency over what happens to them. Can we also make sure people have a “letter of wishes” as to what to do in a mental health crisis?
• Could they be restrained if needed in a different way so that they are not left frightened, bruised and battered?
• Could “best practice” be shared with other hospital trusts and even other countries who deal with people in crisis in a harsh way e.g. in the States?
• We need to try and make sure that no one dies anymore because they were unlucky enough to get ill and that they are treated with kindness and respect.

You can read the first in full by clicking on this link and the second by clicking on this link.