Katherine Pachkowski, a registered psychiatric nurse and an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatric Nursing at Brandon University, is currently conducting exploratory research on exploitation and mental illness as it pertains to isolated communities – including many areas in Westman where mental health resources aren’t easily accessible.
For Pachkowski – whose resume includes a Master of Science (bioethics specialization) from McGill University – what she’s finding is that a lot of research that’s happening in other areas of health isn’t necessarily being applied to mental health study.
“We’re just under-resourced if you compare mental health to any other sort of physical health realm,” she told the Journal.
She says there are enough gaps in mental health research which provides her with plenty of work to do.
“What I’m finding is that the lack of access to services is one of the factors that create vulnerability in people. One of the other factors is the stigmatization of people with mental illness. These things combined sort of make people vulnerable to things like abuse and exploitation.”
Types of exploitation may be that of a relationship where one person is taking advantage of the other for their own benefit; or the idea of over-charging for a service because he or she can get away with it.
“Some of the things that I expected to find I’m finding. I’m finding that what happens in those circumstances is because the person has a mental illness and that people are taking advantage of them specifically.”
Pachkowski says isolation and not necessarily where you live geographically is creating the different types of exploitation of people.
- See more at: http://www.westmanjournal.com/...oKo9Pd.UnLcnKLj.dpuf
[For more of this story, written by Lanny Stewart, go to http://www.westmanjournal.com/...ommunities-1.9705565]
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