A poem by Together Ravenhill Way Accommodation Service User, Llatoya Jackson
Llatoya Jackson is a resident at our Ravenhill Way Accommodation Service in Luton and has been writing poetry to share her lived experience of mental distress. She has written a poem specifically about her experiences of the mental health system in general.
Diagnosis.
A poem by Miss L. Jackson
Why is mental health so perverse?
“Personality disorder, you say, that’s a first”.
You threaten me with solitude and tell me I’m strange.
I self-harm cause that’s what gets me through and you expect me to
change.
Psychiatrist, Doctors and Social Workers are all the same.
You assess for a bit, look in your text books for a diagnosis and wow, you come up with a name.
You section me off because you say I do things that are not normal behaviour, and then you pump me up with your lethal injection so people in the medical profession think you’re now a saviour.
I’m a human being don’t forget, not some animal you can test your shit out on.
If I do or say anything that doesn’t meet certain expectations you tell me I’m wrong.
So, just because my appearance looks good from the outside, it doesn’t mean to say I’m not hurting inside.
We want to say a big thank you to Llatoya for sharing her poem.
