Description
“Kobierzyn Closer“ is a series of meetings of psychiatric patients of Babiński Memorial Specialized Hospital in Cracow with educators. The purpose is to build bridges between sick people and the rest of the society. Project participants will develop scenarios for educational classes dedicated to mental diseases, with particular emphasis on giving the patients a voice. Materials will be made available free of charge under an open license and promoted all over the country. Hospital Museum will be established as a joint effort with the aim to open up the institution to the community. As a result, patients will perceive the hospital as a place they can shape rather than just a medical institution. Materials collected in course of the project by way of interviews done by project participants with other patients will be used as a base for a publication dedicated to the issue of social perception of mental diseases. Audiovisual materials will be also developed to be shown as an exhibit. Project will be implemented in partnership with Dr Józef Babinski Specialised Hospital and Revita Foundation Kraków-Kobierzyn.
Summary of project results
"There is a disproportion between EU estimates of the share of the population requiring psychiatric help (11%) and the actual share of patients in psychiatric care in Poland (4% - Centre for Public Opinion Research, 2008). One reason is a fear of stigmatisation of patients under psychiatric care; poor knowledge of mental diseases is another. Hospitals are perceived as places devoid of subjectivity, albeit the detention care model is being replaced with one of restoring social functionality to mental health care facilities. The project goal was to enable social integration of psychiatric care patients, and to eliminate negative stereotypes by organising joint meetings for educators and patients of the Babiński Hospital in Cracow. Fourteen patients and fourteen educators worked to create an exhibition showing mental diseases and processes of recovery. Persons with and without crisis experience co-operated to engage in education and exhibition management. Some participants began perceiving their illness as a valuable experience. Educators, patients, family members, and hospital staff attended a series of workshops on social exclusion, with 28 follow-up interviews with hospital staff and patients in the healing process. The narrative interview method was selected, allowing patients to speak and create a story of mental disease with the use of their own language and perspective. All data collected was used to create 'Mind Your Head', a permanent exhibition at the hospital. Workshop participants engaged in a scientific analysis of the disease narrative, results available in the 'Closer/Further. On Mental Disorders from a Non-Medical Perspective' publication. Scenarios of educational classes for multiple recipients were drafted in a workshop setting. Participants: 14 mental care patients and 14 educators. The partner - Babiński Special Care Hospital - offered grounds and space for the project, as well as staff involvement. The Revita Cracow-Kobierzyn Foundation helped plan activities."
Summary of bilateral results