Housing and Support Narratives of People Experiencing Mental Health Issues: Making My Place, My Home

Abstract

Background: Choice, control, privacy, and security are widely reported housing preferences of mental health consumers, are associated with improved well-being and greater housing satisfaction, and are important for recovery. This paper describes housing and neighborhood experiences from a larger qualitative study that sought to learn with people experiencing mental health issues about their everyday lives in an Australian urban community. Methods: A participatory approach to health research informed this study. A participatory reference group, including four people with consumer perspective knowledge and experience of mental health issues and four mental health practitioners with service provider and researcher perspectives, worked together to design and implement this study over a 4-year period. Thirty-nine participants were recruited, including 18 women and 21 men living in metropolitan Melbourne and receiving community mental health care for ongoing mental health issues related mainly to either psychotic or affective disorders. Participants each took part in one to three interviews or a focus group. The data were transcribed and analyzed using narrative and thematic analytic strategies, underpinned by reflective discussions with the participatory reference group.

Fringe or Not Fringe? Strategies for Localizing Supported Accommodation in a Post‐Deinstitutional Era

“…What social implications does the "fringe localization" phenomenon generate for the community mental health services? Previous research shows that friendly neighborhood interactions and meaningful places (i.e., places persons are attached to and important for individual wellbeing) are valuable to improve the situation and health of persons with PD (Fossey et al, 2020). The question is how these aspects are played out in "fringe localizations" and how these strategies support the access to components of a recovery oriented mental health service supply.…”

“…The appeal process entails knowledge among service users that one or more persons do not want you as a neighbor. The "re-use" strategy and "insert" strategy seemed to facilitate supporting friendly neighborhood interactions (Fossey et al, 2020) in another way than in the "fill-in" strategy, as future neighbors are more aware of each other. However, as a mental health service user, to be located in the margin, in the "fringe," next to parks, main roads or preschools, does not seem to have the best potential to support social inclusion in the community.…”

“…Although we know a great deal about the characteristics of individual buildings and the perceived quality of service provision from the users and carers perspectives (Eklund et al, 2017;McPherson et al, 2018), we know surprisingly little about the processes of localizing the accommodations in the wider societal context, and whether the locations are supporting the intention of the mental health care reform of creating opportunities for people with PD "to live like everyone else" (Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, 2001). Here we recognize that location and the wider living environment matter for the group's health and wellbeing (Fossey et al, 2020). Therefore, they are a key for successfully implementing the mental health care reform of community-based services, as the location of supported accommodation may operate to support or hinder social integration and social inclusion (Government Offices of Sweden, 2006).…”

A cross-sectional survey of stigma towards people with a mental illness in the general public. The role of employment, domestic noise disturbance and age

“…A focus on stigma regarding housing and communities is important, since inclusion of people with a mental illness in their communities contributes to social support, participation and recovery, and often stigma and exclusion emerges in the communities where people with a mental illness live [34][35][36]. People with mental illness often live in substandard accommodations that are crowded, noisy and located in undesirable neighborhoods [37,38]. On the one hand, appropriate housing facilities improve the sense of belonging to the neighborhood, and on the other hand: in poor quality neighborhoods, more fear and stigma towards people with mental illness is present [39].…”

Finding home: Community integration experiences of formerly homeless women with problematic substance use in Housing First

“…Neighborhoods that are perceived as unsafe, particularly due to drug presence and violence, and unaccepting of mental illness may prevent people from becoming involved in their communities and feeling like they belong (Cherner et al, 2017; Coltman et al, 2015; Henwood et al, 2013; Townley & Kloos, 2011; Yanos, Barrow, & Tsemberis, 2004). Other factors that can affect community integration for people with histories of homelessness include social support and skills, neighborhood satisfaction, neighbor relationships, housing quality, and recent psychiatric hospitalizations (Chinchilla, Gabrielian, Hellemann, Glasmeier, & Green, 2019; Ecker & Aubry, 2016; Fossey, Harvey, & McDermott, 2020; Townley & Kloos, 2011).…”