Donita Diamata Community Integration

The various personal accounts I have read has given me an appreciation of the mental health system today. Although the system is not perfect, many improvements such as the ability to decline medication, the recovery movement, and the constant improvement of the DSM is improving countless lives. In addition, the field of Psych Rehabilitation has actively saved many individual lives through its goals: community integration, quality of life, and recovery.
Community Integration
The goal of community integration is the practice of ensuring that persons living with mental illness have opportunities to live, work, attend school, socialize, and otherwise participate in their communities like everyone else. Donita Diamata’s personal story displays the importance of one’s social environment. Donita was diagnosed with depression, schizophrenia, and obsessive compulsive disorder. For many years, she seen many healthcare
professionals and was given an excessive amount of medication, misdiagnosed with multiple health problems. Ironically, the best treatment for Donita was separating herself from the clinicians and immersing herself with individuals that made her laugh or integrating herself in a community of people who cared for her. A barrier that Donita had to overcome was a fallacy called appeal to authority. Doniat mentioned that she thought of the health care providers like a God, so she would listen to their opinions even when she was skeptical about her diagnoses. Luckily, Donita was in touch with her feelings and realize simply being around a community of individuals made her feel better than any medicine she had taken.
Quality of Life
The goal of quality of life is person’s subjective evaluation of the aspects of his or her life that he or she deems important.
Donita Diamata’s personal story also reflects the goal of quality of life. As mentioned previously, Donita was mistreated by the healthcare system and through those experiences Donita was able to discover quality in life by creating a consumer-run drop-in/employment/education program. This program aides in helping individuals with mental health dilemmas and giving these individuals a voice in how they would like to treat their mental illness. Through her business, Donita is able to be on the other side of the healthcare system and influence doctors and therapist, which is rewarding for her. A barrier Donita had to overcome was forgiveness and acceptance. Donita could have easily held a grudge over the health providers in her life, but she saw her experiences as lessons Today, Donita understood that her experiences with the health care system allowed her to find joy in bettering the lives of individuals that were once in her
shoes.
Recovery
Th goal of recovery is a lifelong mental illness, recovery refers to a reformulation of one’s self-image and an eventual adaptation to the disease. Joe S Baletta’s personal story demonstrates that an important part of recovery is knowing that someone cares for you. Joe was diagnosed with Manic Depression, Obsessive-Compulsive, and General Anxiety Disorder in his middle adulthood. His illness affected many aspects of his life such as his self-image, ability to survive, and a great deal of fear. Furthermore, Joe found that the mental health system lacked the knowledge on how to properly treat individuals in need of rehabilitation services. Fortunately, Joe was able to recover with the help a psychologist. Thus helping Joe reform himself on a spiritual level and overcome his fears more than he ever could in the past.