The Recovery House (TRH) – A project of Caravan of Life Pakistan Trust, which works tirelessly in an aim to shift the focus on effective steps needed to combat mental illness in Pakistan- recently conducted a public awareness seminar on ‘Recovery from Mental Illness: Looking at the Roadblocks & Strengths’.
The facilitator/expert speaker for this session was Dr. Veronica Carey (PhD, CPRP), Assistant Dean for Diversity and Student Affairs; Associate Clinical Professor at Drexel University – College of Nursing & Health Professions, USA.
The seminar was attended by over 75 attendees, mostly caregivers, people living with the illness or those belonging from other profession. These attendees interacted with the Dr. Veronica and exchanged their valuable thoughts along with highlighting the importance of having such sessions on a higher frequency in Pakistan.
The Mission of Psychiatric Rehabilitation is to help people with long-term psychiatric disabilities
TRH brings experts in the field from the United States of America to Pakistan on frequent basis, both for training purposes and for conducting relevant seminars & conferences. With such efforts, TRH remains resolute to bring focus and attention of the people in Pakistan towards the essential precautions that are required to tackle with mental illnesses.
Being highly strong-willed and welcoming the participants, Dr. Veronica Carey said, “The Mission of Psychiatric Rehabilitation is to help people with long-term psychiatric disabilities increase their functioning so that they are successful and satisfied in the environments of their choice, with the least amount of ongoing professional help.”
“This is my fourth visit to Pakistan and the people here possess very strong skills to overcome any difficulty that comes their way, be it recovery from mental illness. The core principles of psychiatric rehabilitation is to convey hope and show respect, thus making everyone part of the cultural norms and working on their strengths,” she concluded, stressing on the key message of the seminar being “Recovery starts with you!”.
Dr. Veronica thanked the attendees for supporting the recovery of their loved ones and expressed her desire to revisit Pakistan and host such seminars on a higher frequency.
Published in Daily Times, February 27th 2019.
