August 2018 Collab Salon: Taking Narrative Practices Outside

Chris Darmody ( Perth, Australia) described Camp Retreat – a de-patholgising 3 day program for 20 young people aged 14-17 who are engaged in a mental health service. It is run 4 times a year and it is narratively informed. Many of the participants coming into camp will come with a mental health diagnosis and the stigma associated with engaging with a mental health service and the associated feelings of identity failure. The intention of the program is to separate a person from the problem and engage in different activities without the problem being present. By having this experience it is hoped that participants can return to their lives with an understanding of how much influence the problem has over their lives, decisions about how much they want a problem to be there, and skills to reduce its influence on their lives.