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The American mental health system is broken beyond repair. Rather than trying to tweak a system which fails everyone, it is time to commit to a bold vision for a better way forward. This podcast explores the American system against the plumb line of an international best practice, recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO), in Trieste, Italy. The 40-year old Trieste model demonstrates how a community-based treatment system upholds the human rights of the people served. The Trieste story is anti-institutional and models the therapeutic value of social connection. Topics will address contemporary challenges in the American failed mental health system as contrasted with the Italian approach toward accoglienza – or radical hospitality – as the underpinning of their remarkable culture of caring for people. Interviews will touch upon how the guiding principles of the Italian system – social recovery, whole person care, system accountability, and the human right to a purposeful life – are non-negotiable aspects if we are to have any hope of forging a new way forward in our American mental health system. This podcast is curated and hosted by Kerry Morrison, founder and project director of Heart Forward LA (https://www.heartforwardla.org/). Heart Forward is collaborating with Aaron Stern at Verdugo Sound as the technical partner in producing this podcast (https://www.verdugosound.com). Kerry Morrison is also the author of the blog www.accoglienza.us.
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Send us a text Meet Mario Colucci, a psychiatrist who has worked in a variety of roles in the Trieste system for over 30 years. He is currently the director of the Psychiatric Diagnosis and Treatment Service , which is linked to the general emergency room of the civil hospital in Udine, in the same region of Trieste. I consider him “the psychiatrist’s philosopher” because of his keen intellect and how he effortlessly weaves philosophy into telling the story of Basaglia.&nbs...
Send us a text Stefania Grimaldi works with the social cooperative La Collina in Trieste Italy. This particular social cooperative was formed in 1988 and employees 200 people, 35 percent of which are considered “disadvantaged.” In this episode, we briefly explore the origins of the social cooperative network in Trieste – starting with the first one called the Basaglia SC, which was features recently in a movie called 50 Years of CLU. We explore the two different types...
Send us a text Michele Sipala is a peer support worker at Recovery House, located in the heart of the city centre in Trieste. Recovery House provides a six-month transitional residential environment for six young people, age 18 – 35, to help give a “kick start” into more independent living. Recovery House was started in 2015 and over the past nine years, it has served 55 young people. In this conversation, we discuss the unique needs of younger people in the mental health service...
Send us a text In this episode we sit down and talk with Caterina Vicentini in my hotel room in Trieste. Caterina is a math and physics teacher at the secondary school level in a town – Monfalcone -- that is about 30 minutes from the city centre of Trieste. She is a service user and takes advantage of opportunities like this to share her story to help destigmatize mental illness and to offer hope that one can have a full life -- education, career and family –- even whi...
Send us a text In this episode, we speak with Claudia Battison, a Psychiatric Rehabilitation Technician (PRT) in the mental health system in Trieste Italy. I am joined in this interview by Dr. Joy Agner, Assistant Professor at the USC Chan School of Occupational Therapy and Occupational Science at USC. Heart Forward has become particularly interested in the potential role that occupational therapists -- if empowered to practice their profession to its full poten...
Send us a text Elena Cerkvenic recently published a book, Sono Schizofrenica e amo la mia follia, which translated means: I am schizophrenic and I love my madness. This book ia part of a new series being published – La Collana 180: Archivo Critico della Salute Mentale by Meltemi, a publisher in Milan. Elena meets with us to share her story as a young woman, living in Trieste, excited by her career studying and teaching languages and literature ...
Send us a text In this episode, we learn about the inner workings of two critical elements of the community-based ecosystem in Trieste: the community mental health center (CMHC) and the psychiatric unit in the city’s general hospital (known as the Psychiatric Diagnostic and Treatment Services or SPDC). Tommaso Bonavigo, is a psychiatrist at the CMHC Maddalena. He received his education at the Università degli studi di Trieste, graduating first as a doctor (2010) and then as...
Send us a text Dr. Giovanna Del Guidice has spent her entire career in pursuit of promoting a more humane and relationship-based treatment ethos for people living with mental health conditions. In this interview we hear the story about how she boldly travelled to Colorno Italy as a young psychiatrist in her 20’s to meet Franco Basaglia in person. The fact that she had read his books and wanted to follow his lead, because she was uncomfortable with the teachings of convention...
Send us a text Beatrice Stanig is a young woman who is making her way in Trieste. She is a member of the Women’s Association, Luna e L’Altra and a peer support worker in the mental health system. She has also written a book, Sei Innocente and started the process to work on a second. In this conversation, we cover several topics that help to provide insight into the way in which community based mental health system comes alongside the users who depend upon it. We ...
Send us a text Season Five is a special treat: made in Italy! This past year, with generous support from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Heart Forward was afforded the opportunity to curate a study group to learn about a system in Trieste, Italy that the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a global best practice for community-based mental health care. As the Équipe met regularly via Zoom to prepare for their October 2024 study visit, they fashioned a ...
Send us a text Meet Georgette Darby in this interview. She is one remarkable woman who has endured so much and has emerged strong and resilient. Georgette has a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration with an emphasis in Criminal Justice from California State University at Dominguez Hills. She graduated in 1996. She also has an AA degree in Science, Computer Information Technology from Los Angeles Trade Tech College. She was awarded that degree in 1988.&nbs...
Send us a text In this episode, we visit with two representatives from Fountain House in New York. Our primary intent was to provide a platform to share the results of a recent research report issued by Fountain House: Beyond Treatment: How Clubhouses for People Living with Serious Mental Illness Transform Lives and Save Money. This first of its kind analysis not only offers a fuller accounting of the fiscal and societal costs of untreated mental illness — looking beyond he...
Send us a text In Part II of this interview with Adrian Berumen, an inmate at Corcoran State Prison (in the interview, he was at Calipatria, we track his journey from serving as an inmate Mental Health Assistant (MHA) at LA County Twin Towers to being sentenced to serve a 25-year to life sentence. Adrian’s story resonates with Heart Forward because his peer service, under the supervision of the LA Sheriff’s Department (LASD) and the LA County Correctional Health Services in LA Cou...
Send us a text In this 2 -part interview with Adrian Berumen, an inmate at Corcoran State Prison (he was formerly at Calipatria), we track his journey from serving as an inmate Mental Health Assistant (MHA) at LA County Twin Towers to being sentenced to serve a 25-year to life sentence. Adrian’s story resonates with Heart Forward because his peer service, under the supervision of the LA Sheriff’s Department (LASD) and the LA County Correctional Health Services in LA County j...
Send us a text Dr. Deborah Pitts is a Professor of Clinical Occupational Therapy at the USC Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy. Her practice expertise includes community-based mental health and psychiatric rehabilitation, particularly in the permanent supportive housing (PSH) context, and the ‘lived experience’ of recovery for persons labeled with psychiatric disorders, in particular occupational engagement and psychosis. Her doctoral diss...
Send us a text This is Part Two of a conversation with Leila Towry and Aimery Thomas of The Future Organization (TFO) about their recent year-long research study into Los Angeles County ARFs and RCFEs. These are commonly referred to as “board and care” homes, but the researchers make a case that the community and regulators should intentionally move away from that labelling as we attempt to forge new policy in this space. The study was supported by an Initiative, involving...
Send us a text This is Part One of a two-part podcast interview. A long-awaited research study and report prepared by The Future Organization (TFO) helps to shine a light on an important, but fragile segment of our housing continuum for people with mental health conditions, many formerly homeless. Colloquially referred to as “board & care homes,” they are officially referred to as Adult Residential Facilities (ARFs) and Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFEs). Sponsored ...
Send us a text Is involuntary psychiatric treatment a solution to the intertwined crises of untreated mental illness, homelessness, and addiction? In recent years, elected officials and advocates have sought to expand the use of conservatorships, a legal tool used to require someone deemed “gravely disabled" (e.g., unable to meet their needs for food, clothing, or shelter as a result of mental illness) to take medication and/or be placed in a facility (often locked) under the care of a ...
Send us a text What we do each day and how we define ourselves to others is critical to our identify and sense of self worth. In this interview, we will explore the importance of identity as a foundational component of mental health recovery. For those who are involved in designing social enterprise businesses, or creating more pathways to employment for people living with a mental illness in their community, this interview will provide ideas and inspiration. Paul Barry has had a...
Send us a text This interview with an amazing couple – Rhoda and Gochin – who have operated a small family-style board and care home in the San Fernando Valley (Los Angeles) for the last 22 years, will leave you feeling anxious at the end. And that is the objective: to stimulate not just a sense of urgency, but emergency, to protect precious beds that provide homes for people living with mental illness in our city, in the county, in the state of California. In this int...
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