Mainstream isn't Therapy

Mainstream isn't therapy

Mainstream isn't therapy.  The road back into mainstream life for someone with a 'severe and enduring' mental health diagnosis does not require a therapeutic relationship.  It requires the individual's genuine desire to access the mainstream world based on personal goals, passions and motivation. 

People with mental health conditions are taking the road back to mainstream every day.  Sometimes they achieve this entirely through their own efforts, sometimes with the skills of a bridge builder.  The bridge builder's role is not to set up a therapeutic relationship.  It is simply to help the client identify which area or areas of mainstream life he or she wishes to prioritise.

The most effective way to start the conversation about mainstream is by having the conversation in a mainstream setting.  If a client wishes to access a place where he or she can record and produce music, the meeting can take place in a mainstream music studio.  If a client wishes to access a course in flower arranging, the meeting can be in an adult education venue.  If a client wishes to return to their faith, the meeting can take place in a mosque, temple, church or wherever the client's chosen faith venue happens to be.

The journey of recovery into what Dr. Pat Deegan calls 'valued social roles' can only start effectively by setting out from and within a place where social roles cohere and are realised.  These can be places situated anywhere in the mainstream community and not in special settings.

The client's relationship with the social inclusion bridge builder lasts for as long as the client requests some support in order to access mainstream goals.  As such, it is not an ongoing therapeutic relationship.