The Asylum from a Patient perspective

lucy winerDocumentary maker Lucy Winer has produced an amazing story of her own history and her journey of discovery when returning back to the Asylum that she once called a temporary home. The following is a review I wrote for Florish Newsletter.

Only last week I heard this phrase by Morgan Freeman as the character Red in the film Shawshank Redemption, “These walls are funny. First you hate ’em, then you get used to ’em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That’s institutionalized.” I had to find the quote later on the internet because this helped me sum up the documentary that I had just watched called “Kings Park, stories from an American Mental Institution”. Most documentaries about Mental Health facilities are written by ex-staff or historians who have either one perspective or no lived experience and are often taken as an accurate record of events. This film is very different because it tells the story from the an insider’s perspective, Lucy Winer was a Patient at Kings Park Hospital at the early age of 17 years, back in June 1967, diagnosed with severe depression she made a number of failed attempts to take her own life before being admitted.

The film is broken down into three parts; the first is Lu-cy’s own story and her return to the rooms of Ward 210, the female violent ward of Building 21. It is a deeply per-sonal journey which is well articulated through Lucy’s commentary. The strain of facing her history and the past helped her but also created more questions than it did answers. Lucy explains some of the scenes she witnessed and was involved in while also attempting to hold onto her own feelings of being confronted by the peeling walls and deep memories of past treatment practices in
a decaying old building that ruled over her life during the late 60’s and has stayed with her up until her 50th birthday.
While this was the first part of the film and the only part that was originally planned, the questions that she was left with needed answers. So parts two and three took on a life and explored the history of the hospital and its context within a community. Like all of these institutions, people’s memories are extremely varied, some memories stay vivid and others fade over time while the different perspectives are confronted and examined as Lucy meets the old former staff, her first Psychiatrist, the town’s people and fellow ex-patients.

Some people just couldn’t face their past, like the torment and abuse that they had been subjected to many years ago, there present disallowed and controlled even walking toward the old buildings, while others took heart that they could swing the wrecking ball to destroy their own past experiences and suffering by physically knocking down the walls. Ex-staff admitted that they often didn’t know what they were doing and were over-whelmed by the enormity of the job in front of them. Many remember the life of close friendships with other staff and the life lived around one of the largest employers in the area.

The third part explores the deinstitutionalisation programs and shared living arrangements that were set up during that phase. Lucy again explores Mental Health Services and the slow decline of facilities and services to those with a mental health condition. She visits the last place people arrive at once they fall between the cracks of a poor system of care, the State Prison Services are now considered to be one of America’s leading Mental Health Care Providers.

All through watching this well made, professionally produced and edited film I realised that the institutional language that Lucy was talking about in America is the same in just about every western country in the world that went down the path of segregation and isolation. The same institutional behaviours that governed the patients also imprisoned the staff, even the local town’s folk. Kings Park isn’t unsimular to any institutional story I’ve heard before except for the fact that this is one of the limited stories told from a patient’s view, a patient that is willing and able to confront her past mental health, her treatment, her past clinical staff and look toward the future. She wants her film to challenge and agitate debate about the future of mental health services. The power of this film lies in the connections it draws between the hopes and failures of the past and the challenges of the present.

It is easy to take a person out of an institution but it is not so easy to take the institution out of the person.
The DVD is available in Standard Definition and Blu-ray; it’s also available as an educational version and comes with a range of teaching materials. The cost is $30 US dollars plus postage of $25 US dollars, which is about $71 AU dollars for the SD version. There is an online version available. As the Moderator of the Willow Court History Group I have approached Lucy and we are discussing a cheaper way to view or purchase this film in Australia. Information will be posted on my website once Australian distribution rights and permission to screen the film are granted.

Mark Krause

Official US website

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76 Years Ago Tomorrow

Lachlan Park Management and the Municipal Council are at it again! 76 years ago the long history of the tenuous relationship was again in dispute with Councillor Shoobridge stating “a few home truths were good for the Council” after Dr Charles Brothers opened up on the Councillors .

home truths at dinner, new norfolk council criticised

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A visit to Mayday Hills Asylum at Beechworth, Victoria

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I had a recent visit to Beechworth and to the Mayday Hills Asylum during a holiday and was able to take some photos and connect up with an historian connected with the local Burke Museum. The Asylum started its life in the mid 1800’s and the architecture shows this clearly compared with Willow Court’s Barracks building. The locals are very pleased that the recent sale of the property went to two local business men and access to the historic site and magnificent gardens is open and encouraged to locals and visitors alike.

A lot of buildings on the site have been reused while the original buildings sit in disrepair. A local group run ghost tours through the buildings and one historic tour on a Saturday. It is clear that any money made isn’t being returned into the site. From photos posted on their website only small groups of 6 to 10 maintain the interest during the evening tour and about the same for the single weekly historic tour.

The gardens are beautifully designed by Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller who also designed the Melbourne Botanical Gardens and was the Victorian appointed Botanist. There is a structured, self-guided tour just of the gardens which is worth the effort even in the rain when I visited.

The Nurses quarters have been re-purposed to accommodation and conference space and one of the larger buildings near the entrance has become the new Municipal Administration Office.

There is a book about the history of Mayday Hills Asylum which was written by the last CEO of the site and is now out of print. “The Lion of Beechworth” by Doug Craig will be reprinted soon as the author has given the rights over to the Burke Museum and the Board of the Museum are planning to keep the history alive through a second edition.

Click the picture to go to the gallery of photos. Click here for more information on Mayday Hills

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New book being written.

I read about an ex patient who is starting the journey of recording the stories of those fellow patients who saw life from a different angle than those who cared for them. Dannii Lane was one such patient who spent some time at Royal Derwent Hospital and  she has called for personal stories from fellow patients. Meanwhile the history post the ‘Troubled Asylum” book is also being composed by an ex-staff member who has been researching the life of the institution over the last few years. No dates have been expressed by either writers, however Dannii expects that this project will take 3-4 years.

This was the call for the stories in the latest Flourish Autumn Newsletter:

After much thought I have decided to write a book about the former Royal Derwent (Psychiatric) Hospital, including when it was known as Lachlan Park, so I’m looking to write about the period 1950 – 2000.
Importantly, I would like the book to be from the perspective of patients who were there during the period in question. It will be their story about their experiences, both good and bad.
To that end, should anyone wish to share their stories and experiences as a patient at the Royal Derwent, in-cluding Willow Court and Millbrook Rise, I would love to hear from you.
The format is not yet decided, but I’m considering the inclusion of photographs, drawings, and poetry, with people’s experiences in the form of short stories. Like any project of this nature, it takes longer to do the re-search than to write up, so I am expecting a timeframe of 3-4 years. It would be nice to see the book published on or just before the 20th anniversary of the closure of the Royal Derwent……I believe it is time for another view to be revealed, and who better to tell the story than the patients themselves.

If you would like to share your story, anonymously if you prefer, my contact details are:

Dannii Lane
Email: antigone_adelphos@yahoo.com.au
Mobile: 0407 943 87
Dannii Lane

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ANZAC DAY

anzac

Today we honor the people who served in all Australian Military conflicts and peace keeping missions. We pay special attention to those people who came back home and needed the services of the Hospital.  We thank the previous hospital staff, some who fought, served, nursed and looked after the injuries of the wounded. We also recognise those that returned and joined the staff at the Hospital. Lest We Forget.

Lance Corporal M Krause 631833

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National Disability Abuse Inquiry

Samantha Connor

A case from this website has helped make up the many stories of abuse of people with disabilities in Western Australia as part of the submissions for the National Disability Abuse Inquiry held this week. Taken from the 1980 Board of Inquiry Report the case added to the many cases that have been gathered around the country to highlight the serious abuse that has and continues to occur in settings were vulnerable people reside. A submission by Samantha Connor who is part of a group of strong advocates calling themselves the Bolshy Divas submitted and spoke to the Inquiry. They also had good representation throughout the national media, including ABC’s program PM in Tasmania. This come hot on the heels of the latest report out of Victoria of a scandalous 20-year cover-up of abuse of people with disabilities in the Mornington Peninsula state-run home.

Some of Victoria’s most profoundly disabled people were subject to six years of abuse in a state-run home, including a suspected rape, assault, unlawful restraint, denial of medical care and regular soap suppositories. Documents obtained by Fairfax Media reveal a 20-year cover-up by respective state governments over the scandal at the Department of Human Service’s care house on the Mornington Peninsula.

The revelations come as the federal and Victorian parliaments prepare to hold public inquiries into the abuse of disabled people in residential care and as the state Ombudsman investigates Yooralla over its failure to protect clients from serious sexual assaults by male carers.

Submission The Uncounted

Media: Click Here

Victorian Fairfax Media Report

This story may cause distress, if so please contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.

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A sweet story to lead off into Easter

Guess who is very talented? Nadia Lobb who is a volunteer on the Friends of Willow Court Committee brought along a sweet treat to last night’s meeting.

No ordinary slice, each one was hand painted with an image of Willow Court’s Barracks Building and just as a bonus they taste yummy! There isn’t any doubt about the passion and talent that is in the Committee.

Happy Easter everyone, stay safe and thank you for your support for Willow Court. I wish I could give you all one of these.

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