Abstract
To work in a mental health system you need to be a kind of translator. Our rich English language moves at a lot of different speeds, works through different moods and modes, at different levels of sound, boldly some of it, hesitantly some of it, and so on, for different purposes. Medical talk is impenetrable to most other people, senior administrative people speak whatever is the current jargon, there's everyday language modified for the variety of situations and all these means will be adapted according to who is speaking to whom. It is routine to move between them and, as it were, to translate.
Highlights
To work in a mental health system you need to be a kind of translator
Our rich English language moves at a lot of different speeds, works through different moods and modes, at different levels of sound, boldly some of it, hesitantly some of it, and so on, for different purposes
Medical talk is impenetrable to most other people, senior administrative people speak whatever is the current jargon, there's everyday language modified for the variety of situations and all these means will be adapted according to who is speaking to whom
Summary
To work in a mental health system you need to be a kind of translator. Our rich English language moves at a lot of different speeds, works through different moods and modes, at different levels of sound, boldly some of it, hesitantly some of it, and so on, for different purposes. I wrote this poem knowingly influenced by someone in a small group I've been sharing time with the past couple of weeks, someone in her 70s who has for most of her life been blind. These are my words but, I hope, representing her: Except that to keep saying it, how it folded and that sort of thing, where the saying it wasn't very, wasn't very going that way, I suppose, to do with the way it went, with a second one or a name, how it goes with winter, well or not so well, afterwards, when the evening, you know, silver, a kind of winking sound. I had taken in various objects ^ some flowers, leaves, a clothes peg, a film can, some mother-of-pearl shells, etc: `What's this for, ? (sitting in a group)
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