Integrity Initiative: Why Mental Health Advocacy Starts with Knowing Your Rights

This blog was published by Care Opinion on behalf of Rachael Burns, Founder of Integrity Initiative 

Australia has a fantastic healthcare system. The ability to access quality health services often at low or no costs thanks to Medicare, and the meagre fact that such a considerable number of us are even able to afford and now have the privilege of private healthcare already puts us leaps and bounds ahead of many other countries.

Given its relatively good reputation, it makes sense that more often than not we go into health services with the perception that doctors and those trained to put our best interests first do just that, and that they do it well.

However, the truth is that the clinicians into whom we pour our trust are humans. Humans who make mistakes and make the wrong choices, who may not always act with the best intent, and who don’t always get it right.

Iatrogenic harm gains power when it is ignored. I have written on this extensively in my blog here. 

Whilst I have always been (or, at least tried to be) a health literate consumer*, there have been times where I have not known my rights, have not known how to stand up for them, and have not been able to identify the extent of the injustice that I was subject to. I was buried deep in shame and guilt, blaming myself and believing that I deserved the experiences I was having. I didn’t believe I had a voice and I certainly didn’t know I was entitled to have one.

The solution? To equip individuals to be their own advocate - to know their rights, to know when they have been breached, and to know how to go about bringing these occasions into the spotlight.

In the last quarter of 2024, I decided to make plans that have existed majorly in my mind into something of a reality with Integrity Initiative.

Integrity Initiative is a project to make and deliver packs of care items and self-advocacy tools to people in Western Australia hospitalised for mental health treatment. Care items will include a combination of soaps, lotions, clothing, fidget toys, notebooks, toiletries, sanitary items, art supplies, and much more. These will be paired alongside a curated and individualised selection of resources designed to help them learn and develop self-advocacy skills. 

Integrity Initiative – as a project – will be multifaceted.

Integrity Initiative will engage with the community in a number of ways to help combat mental health stigma, raise awareness, and open conversations about mental health and mental ill-health. It will aim to foster a sense of community and strengthen existing connections within the Lived Experience space.

Of course, a major part will be creating and delivering personalised care packages through a number of different mental health inpatient facilities across Western Australia.

Another major part of the project will be making, sourcing and distributing brochures, booklets, tools, and factsheets that intend to inform a person of their rights and equip them with the skills they need to stand up for these rights.

Integrity Initiative is beyond excited to be partnering with Care Opinion in this mission to restore justice and to amplify the consumer voice.

I urge you to help us achieve our mission: to deliver dignity to those who are stripped of it. There is no form too insignificant.

Integrity Initiative needs your help.

Website: https://integrityinitiative.com.au

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/integrity_initiative/

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/integrityinitiative/?viewAsMember=true

Give Now: https://www.givenow.com.au/integrityinitiative

Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/integrityinitiative?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

My personal Linked In: linkedin.com/in/rachael-burns-0bab68309