Ready for independent living?
John Turner, MFT
Executive Director, Phoenix of Santa Barbara
----Maybe you're living independently right now - doing your own check-book,
handling transportation, keeping up with friends, maintaining pretty good
personal hygiene, and working.
----But were you ready for independent living when you started living independently?
Was that when you went to college?
----Speaking personally, I was definitely into independent living when I went to college. That was in London back in the early 1970s. But how good my ADLs were…..that's another question.
----ADLs is mentalhealthspeak for Activities of Daily Living.
----I don't think I did laundry enough. My appearance was pretty wild, but then that was cultivated back in the post-hippie days. Personal hygiene - well, that was British. You know, a bath once or twice a week. No deodorant. Those Brits, they do like their 100 percent all-natural, organic aroma. Have you ever traveled on the London subway during rush-hour? Quite an aromatic experience. You'll be glad since arriving here in the mid 1970s I converted to the American personal hygiene system. But, I digress.
----My thought is that a lot of folks - whether or not diagnosed with a condition found in psychiatry's Diagnostic Manual - aren't exactly brilliant at their ADLs and aren't exactly skilled at independent living when they start it. And maybe aren't exactly brilliant in the living skills area even after many years of independent living.
----Even now, when hungry, I might open a can of salmon and eat it straight out of the can. I'm not sure I'd score high in the cooking domain of independent living skills if a counselor rated me on that.
----A woman I know who ran a large multi-million dollar County Mental Health Department told me recently how she hated to make her bed or keep her place tidy. She would have got a zero on domestic chores from a staff person visiting her.
----So….when we are helping clients get ready to live independently, they don't really need all the ADLs and to be "ready". They just need enough motivation, and be enough on the ball to keep the door closed in winter, a bit of food in the fridge, or in the cupboards, and to be up for receiving assistance from the mental health staff working with them on the essential task of life.
----Mental health types who used to help clients get jobs, used to wait until clients were ready to work. They scrapped that concept years ago. Now, if a client isn't too psychotic, too anxious, or too depressed, you help them find the kind of job they want and then throw in as much support as possible to make it a success.
----It's the Find, Get, Keep model.
----That model also applies to helping people move out of residential treatment.
And one more thing. On this readiness thing. When Pearl Harbor went up in smoke in 1941, America wasn't ready to go to war. If Roosevelt had waited till America was ready, he'd have had a long wait. Instead, he declared war, and America quickly got ready.
----Let's stop waiting for the ready sign.
----But were you ready for independent living when you started living independently?
Was that when you went to college?
----Speaking personally, I was definitely into independent living when I went to college. That was in London back in the early 1970s. But how good my ADLs were…..that's another question.
----ADLs is mentalhealthspeak for Activities of Daily Living.
----I don't think I did laundry enough. My appearance was pretty wild, but then that was cultivated back in the post-hippie days. Personal hygiene - well, that was British. You know, a bath once or twice a week. No deodorant. Those Brits, they do like their 100 percent all-natural, organic aroma. Have you ever traveled on the London subway during rush-hour? Quite an aromatic experience. You'll be glad since arriving here in the mid 1970s I converted to the American personal hygiene system. But, I digress.
----My thought is that a lot of folks - whether or not diagnosed with a condition found in psychiatry's Diagnostic Manual - aren't exactly brilliant at their ADLs and aren't exactly skilled at independent living when they start it. And maybe aren't exactly brilliant in the living skills area even after many years of independent living.
----Even now, when hungry, I might open a can of salmon and eat it straight out of the can. I'm not sure I'd score high in the cooking domain of independent living skills if a counselor rated me on that.
----A woman I know who ran a large multi-million dollar County Mental Health Department told me recently how she hated to make her bed or keep her place tidy. She would have got a zero on domestic chores from a staff person visiting her.
----So….when we are helping clients get ready to live independently, they don't really need all the ADLs and to be "ready". They just need enough motivation, and be enough on the ball to keep the door closed in winter, a bit of food in the fridge, or in the cupboards, and to be up for receiving assistance from the mental health staff working with them on the essential task of life.
----Mental health types who used to help clients get jobs, used to wait until clients were ready to work. They scrapped that concept years ago. Now, if a client isn't too psychotic, too anxious, or too depressed, you help them find the kind of job they want and then throw in as much support as possible to make it a success.
----It's the Find, Get, Keep model.
----That model also applies to helping people move out of residential treatment.
And one more thing. On this readiness thing. When Pearl Harbor went up in smoke in 1941, America wasn't ready to go to war. If Roosevelt had waited till America was ready, he'd have had a long wait. Instead, he declared war, and America quickly got ready.
----Let's stop waiting for the ready sign.
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Last Updated: August 2006 |
