Trailer for Season Five
12/16/24 • 8 min
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 mission statement define their purpose:
The Équipe is an intentionally curated and diverse learning community that is committed to advancing a more humane and holistic mental healthcare system. Rejecting the institutional status quo, which contributes to suffering, homelessness and incarceration in the US, we look abroad for bright spots that could inform sustainable change.
So about these conversations. During our week in Trieste, I snuck away to do interviews in the city. Who will you meet?
Claudia Battiston. Claudia is a Psychiatric Rehabilitation Technician – which is a role unique to Italy, but seems to complement what we know as occupational therapy.
Dr. Tomasso Bonavigo, interviewed alongside his colleague, Dr. Alessandra Oretti. Bonavigo works in a community mental health center and Dr. Oretti is the director of the psychiatric unit in the central hospital and is as the interim director of the mental health department.
Elena Cerkvenic. She is a service user in Trieste and just published a book this year called Sono Schizofrenica e amo la mia follia.
Dr. Mario Colucci. A psychiatrist and philosopher, who has worked in the community system for most of his career and has written extensively about the Basaglian vision.
Dr. Giovanna Del Guidice. Here’s a female psychiatrist who managed to work alongside Franco Basaglia and now is dedicated to keeping the flame alive as she travels to other countries to provide training.
Stefania Grimaldi. One of the cornerstones of the model in Trieste is the network of social cooperatives. We’ll learn about one such social cooperative, La Collina, and how this system works.
Michele Sipala. Michele, in a peer support role, is involved with a very innovative six-month residential program for young service users in the city’s mental health system, Recovery House.
Beatrice Stanig. She speaks about how the association – L’Una e L’Altra – has provided a place of purpose for her. She is now a peer support specialist and has written a book called, Sei Innocente.
Caterina Vicentini. Caterina is a service user who provides a glimpse into how valuable the services in Trieste have been to her recovery and her ability to continue her career as a teacher.
The episodes will be ready for release mid-January 2025. Subscribe so you will be alerted when the first episode is available.
This is a non-sponsored podcast with no ads and entirely supported through donors. To support this podcast, please consider a donation HERE.
And thank you to my technical producer, Aaron Stern of Verdugo Sound for editing and production support.
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 mission statement define their purpose:
The Équipe is an intentionally curated and diverse learning community that is committed to advancing a more humane and holistic mental healthcare system. Rejecting the institutional status quo, which contributes to suffering, homelessness and incarceration in the US, we look abroad for bright spots that could inform sustainable change.
So about these conversations. During our week in Trieste, I snuck away to do interviews in the city. Who will you meet?
Claudia Battiston. Claudia is a Psychiatric Rehabilitation Technician – which is a role unique to Italy, but seems to complement what we know as occupational therapy.
Dr. Tomasso Bonavigo, interviewed alongside his colleague, Dr. Alessandra Oretti. Bonavigo works in a community mental health center and Dr. Oretti is the director of the psychiatric unit in the central hospital and is as the interim director of the mental health department.
Elena Cerkvenic. She is a service user in Trieste and just published a book this year called Sono Schizofrenica e amo la mia follia.
Dr. Mario Colucci. A psychiatrist and philosopher, who has worked in the community system for most of his career and has written extensively about the Basaglian vision.
Dr. Giovanna Del Guidice. Here’s a female psychiatrist who managed to work alongside Franco Basaglia and now is dedicated to keeping the flame alive as she travels to other countries to provide training.
Stefania Grimaldi. One of the cornerstones of the model in Trieste is the network of social cooperatives. We’ll learn about one such social cooperative, La Collina, and how this system works.
Michele Sipala. Michele, in a peer support role, is involved with a very innovative six-month residential program for young service users in the city’s mental health system, Recovery House.
Beatrice Stanig. She speaks about how the association – L’Una e L’Altra – has provided a place of purpose for her. She is now a peer support specialist and has written a book called, Sei Innocente.
Caterina Vicentini. Caterina is a service user who provides a glimpse into how valuable the services in Trieste have been to her recovery and her ability to continue her career as a teacher.
The episodes will be ready for release mid-January 2025. Subscribe so you will be alerted when the first episode is available.
This is a non-sponsored podcast with no ads and entirely supported through donors. To support this podcast, please consider a donation HERE.
And thank you to my technical producer, Aaron Stern of Verdugo Sound for editing and production support.
Previous Episode
From Strength to Strength: A glimpse into what defines resilience with Georgette Darby in Hollywood
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. These are accomplishments that she doggedly pursued and was the first person in her family to earn a college degree.
Georgette worked as a junior legal secretary in the law firm Manatt Phelps and Phillips for nearly 10 years. In the fall of 2008, as the world began to reel from the downward slide associated with the financial crisis that sparked the Great Recession, the law firm laid off all staff who did not have at least 10 years tenure. Georgette was just a few months shy of that.
According to this January 2009 article in the New York Times, the United States lost 2.6 million jobs in 2008, the worst year since 1945. By early 2009, more than 11 million Americans were unemployed and the unemployment rate jumped to 7.2 percent.
This was the world that Georgette had to navigate all by herself. As she says, her sorority is “Me Fi Me.” She is a survivor.
Georgette is currently extremely involved in her community, serving on the Board of the Hollywood United Neighborhood Council and as an ambassador member of the new clubhouse in Hollywood which is being created as a part of the Hollywood 2.0 mental health pilot.
Georgette is the personification of the word tenacious. Her lived experience falling into homelessness and navigating our county mental health system is not to be overlooked. She does not give up easily and is a wonderful mentor for anyone who thinks their life is hard. Listen to this interview and see if you could’ve walked a mile in Georgette’s shoes and ended up here!
Links:
Article in LAist re the new LA Clubhouse forming in Hollywood
Our World in Data re/ Covid death rate since 2020
Next Episode
The special community at Luna e l'Altra and the role of peer support: A conversation with Beatrice Stanig
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 touch upon:
- The special place in holds in her heart for the women’s association, Luna e l'Altra which has provided her a place of community and purpose since she first stepped across the threshold when she was 22.
- Her role as a peer support worker and her desire to see this profession recognized by the Italian system in order to create a viable path toward economic independence for those who do this job.
- The recent creation of an association in Italy meant to organize peer support workers. It is called the Associazione Italiana Persone Esperte in Supporto tra Pari (AIPESP). Translated that would be the association for experts in peer support. Here is another article that describes the formation of this association.
- Her thoughts (and personal experience therewith) about the “power gap” that exists between system users and the clinicians and staff professionals in the mental health system and why it is important to have another person in the room when users meet with the professional staff.
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