Your Health in Your Hands Schizophrenia Catherine: This is Your Health In Your Hands, a podcast series for the Open University on PHBs, Personal Health Budgets.
In this case study we hear from Andrew Voice. He has schizophrenia and spent 20 years in and out of asylums before finding a place to live independently in Bexhill. He got a PHB which allowed him to set up a social enterprise offering things like music sessions and yoga to people living with mental health conditions in the local area.
Andrew: I’ve lived here since 05/05/05, which was also Election Day. I’ve been very happy here. Can you manage the stairs alright?
Catherine: Yes, no problem.
Andrew: When I was in and out of the asylums, which was for about 20 years, you were given a bed in a ten-bed male dormitory, a cupboard with no locks on it. Your only privacy was a curtain that was drawn around. You couldn’t collect any books, records, you had nowhere to put favourite clothes.
Welcome Catherine, come in. Go round to the right if you like.
Life wasn’t very good in the asylum. I was either an asylum patient, either a mental ward resident or a vagrant living out in bus shelters or sleeping in a car.
I used to think that the cold war was coming to an end which was right but I thought the Russians had won it. So when I was homeless I had that kind of semi-delusion.
A bathroom, yes, so … bathroom. I’ve got a shower and a bath which is very good to use.
When I was either homeless as a revolving-door patient or when I was an asylum patient in a ten-bed male dormitory my hygiene was definitely lacking. I very much regret the offence I
Catherine: Tell me when it was first mooted that you might be able to have one of these budgets and how you went about working out how much money you’d get and how you’d spend it simply?
Andrew: A chap from East Sussex County Council County Hall in Lewes came down to Bexhill. He is a Commissioner for mental health services. There were about six of us from Bexhill and we were introduced to the concept of self-directive support and personal budgets. I was allocated just over £500 as, I think the term was, an indicative amount. The Commissioner knew that I did some digital artwork and I actually did my support plan as a PowerPoint slideshow.
Catherine: What did you say you were going to use that £500 for?
Andrew: There were four things that I mentioned in my support plan. One was to have a short holiday with my special friend. One was to take her for meals to make our relationship stronger. One was to buy an electric guitar, and one was to start a social enterprise. I had all four things approved.
Yes, the fuzz box is working.
Catherine: So what did you feel, after you’d given your PowerPoint presentation and you had all four of the things on your plan approved, what did you feel?
Andrew: It was great, yes, it was terrific. I mean in a previous life I have had an electric guitar of my own. So it was something I knew I could make use of.
Talking about founding a social enterprise, it wasn’t just the £35 that I got to register the company with Companies House. What was important was that the County Council felt that I could make it work, make it a success and that I was capable of doing all the necessary to run a social enterprise. That was really terrific to have their confidence. That enabled us to hire community premises such as church halls.
Catherine: Did you play electric guitar by any chance?
Andrew: I do, I played electric guitar and I composed some songs. I wrote a song called, ‘At least I’m not a schizophrenic.’ Another one was called ‘Help me now so I love.’ I’ve recently written one called ‘Side-effects party.’ So we had a bit of a laugh, yes, we had a laugh.
Catherine: Would it be fair to say the personal health project gave you some independence to go off and do your own thing?
Andrew: To have the idea to go out and buy an electric guitar that was good. I wouldn’t have got that idea had it not been put to me during the in-control pilot project. We want to find the social things that you can do and my main ambition for the social enterprise was that especially out of the music that we might get something that we could post on the internet and which would go viral.
So people who came to our workshops from the local in-patient units they would have a breakaway from the ward routine. Other people who had ideas for songs, such as I had, would be able to make something of them. We were able to record songs and to put on concerts. The yoga people said in questionnaires that they made new friendships and revived old friendships, as did people who came along to other sessions. So we had a degree of increase in wellbeing that people would mark up on our questionnaires.
Catherine: Andrew Voice. You’re listening to an Open University podcast called Your Health In Your Hands.