is possible that Patrick admitted her words 'a whole person'.
other ideas about where the axe should fall.
From early childhood, Anne says, she was extremely unsettled, finding difficult when she left school to stay in any one place for very long. She mainly hotels, frequently changing. jobs She couldn't socialise, and not surprisingly felt isolated.
had no roots and wandering around aimlessly? Anne explains. i had no sense of worth.' By the age of 32 she had attended numerous out-patient and psychiatric • and had been admitted on occasions to conventional psychiatric hospitals after overdosing on drugs. Responsibility And then something happene which changed Anne's life. She wa referred to the Henderson Hospital, in Sutton, Surrey.
*I was very confused when I first there, Anne says. understand what was going on, It was totally different from anything I had experienced. startled was the complete way in which I was accepted by the community at the hospital. Things were given to me instead of removed. In a conventional psychiatric hospitas your identity is away and all decisions made for you. But in the Henderson encouraged to take responsibility as part .of community.
When psychiatrists refer patients to the Henderson, their letter usually ends: 'Of course, there is no point in my admitting the patient to our local mental hospital, because it would be emotional problems of young people which is hard to come by on the health service sycho-therapy The hospital nakes no use of drugs or electric shocks, employing instead a method communal organisation patients known in the Henderson residents - at the of their own treațment programme.
Many of the young people who THERE is a date that Anne Miller will never forget, and it Jenkin, the secretary, won't either. On 1 August 1937 Anne Miller was to the Henderson Hospital, da specialised psychiatric unit. She left the hospital 10%2 months later, in On 31 March the Henderson is due to close, thanks 1o the policies of Jenkin and his colleagues. Anne Miller has come to the 42-bed psychiatric unit are sent via 'failures' of institutions. All are looking for a way out of the emotional turmoil of their life. Conventional and hospitals,' Anne can't cope was didn't _are on the without 'using Henderson you talk problems; not just your own problem but all the other residents'. All the shit that's been gathered around you is taken away.
Ten and a half months after her admission to the Henderson, left it, a totally different person, she . says. people. and convictions. I'm not afraid to say what I think. I feel a whole person.' That is how she has felt for almost two years. which Now the Henderson is under the Tories' health axe, which the social services secretary, vowed in Parliament last week to sharpen. The message is that we shouldn' expect 'a Spill for services Why chop Kenneth consultant • hospital, government's and the Henderson option.
other remedial Like kidney psychiatric funds Miller comments, authority people like us country. ANNE MILLER - Henderson made her feel 'a whole person . drugs. At the among the through your • pace quickens Anne packer much communicate I am aware of my strength groups, the press something.
Patrick Jenkin, has been government's latest Hospital in those who no their •Miller:
every ill', which roughly iranslates as 'suffer with a smile'.
the Henderson? Dr Nuttall, of the two psvchiatrists the considers that the monk ais policies take no'account of secial well-being, 'short, sharp, shock' approach to 'law and order' makes seem like a soft Vulnerable the Stoke Mandeville Hospital for paraplegics, units which are threatened with closure, the Henderson depends area health serves the Such specialised units are most vulnerable as the NHS blood. letting If Anne Miller had never been to the Henderson, she says, she would still be dependent on hospitals and psychiatrists. Instead she works as a devoting of her spare time the busia co acting trade indonion.
contacting trade unionists. social services departments, theatre - anyone who will listen and might be prepared to do The occupation committee a S Benedicts Hospital in South Londor particularly helpful. The occupation last week of St George's Central London and Etwell Hospital in Derbyshire may have set a trend of resistance to th axe which the staff at the Henderson will decide to folłow as the 31 March deadline for closure approaches.
Anne Miller has a word for the government's health policies and impose them. She says they're criminal. Patrick Jenkin has reason to maintain a hospital which allows people to work through problems especially when it leads to the militancy shown by Ann The labour movement ha every reason 10 ensure that the Henderson is saved.
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