Page 31 - The Gazette Autumn 2023

The Gazette QARANC Association 31
grandmother who was having panic episodes, herself having to mobilise via wheelchair and being completely blind and partially death (all prior aliments to the earthquake).
It was here the limits of my practice understanding were pushed. However, it really highlighted how effective low-level interventions can be. I found that with the children, using some of the toys and colouring supplied brought by UK Med helped them to talk. Following this by validating their feelings and experiences helped to give families a place to begin.
Going on to teach the basics to these families and a plan for how to seek further support gave enough containment to start helping these children. As for the 91-year-old great-grandmother, we found that by using handholding touch and gentle but consistent communication, she was better able to settle and manage her emotions.
Did any of these interventions cure the problems? I don’t believe so. Mental illness is oftentimes so complex and individual specific that I doubt any one intervention will remedy the issues fully. Mental illness is the silent pandemic of any natural disaster and can take years to effectively understand and treat.
Mental illness is the silent pandemic of any natural disaster and can take years to effectively understand and treat.
However, I do truly believe that we listened, validated, and gave information and support to some very distressed people. I also believe that what we delivered was better than not having the provision at all. I hope that what we did helped these patients’ overall mental health recovery journey, however I will never know.
Regardless, I will say that as a psychiatric clinician, this element of my practice will be one of the highlights of my career in years to come.
After a few weeks we repacked the transport and began our journey back to the UK. For me, travelling during the daytime, it was the first I had seen of the destruction that this earthquake had caused. Government issued tents in gardens where homes had collapsed, roads and pathways blocked by debris. As much as it is a cliché, the news footage did not covey the level of destruction that this earthquake caused.
It was these sights that truly gave gravity to the reason we had deployed and, for me at least, helped to frame the work we had done in a large picture of events.
Thank you for reading. Teşekkürler.