I hope I have shown that it is possible to get momentum together to reduce drugging, particularly for those whose rights have been taken away from them in institutions.
The project, more than 800 postal letters, the fee paid to the trainer that came to Ukraine, his flight and accommodation, printing costs for letters and presentations, costs of the conference calls and
translations and websites were paid for by David out of his own pocket.
There was a great deal amount of momentum and support from charities and mothers of individuals who had been diagnosed with learning disabilities and were grateful for being provided with information on an approach that did not involve drugging.
In order for the initiative to proceed further, the support, volunteer work, independent initiative and pressure of young people in former Soviet Union countries on the Ministries of Health and other government officials is needed to improve the rights of people in psychoneurological institutions.
If you are interested in volunteering to translate this website and materials into other languages, please contact David on his personal address or contact.sdvi.su[a]gmail.com.
In Russia, a presentation was personally given to Maxim Anatolyevich Topilin, the Minister for Labour and Social Policy responsible for all psychoneurological institutions at the time. However, we did not hear any follow up.
The future of individuals diagnosed with learning disabilities and in institutions rests in the hands of young people.
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Will they choose to give their hard work for free to put pressure on the management of such institutions and government officials in Parliament or Ministries?
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Or will they prefer to work on projects in international management consulting companies (that help many pharmaceutical companies to increase sales of these drugs and help to influence ministries) with a network of international Facebook friends and a glamourous lifestyle to post photographs of their holidays on Instagram?
Background
The aim of Positive Behavioural Support (PBS) trainings in Ukraine was to spread best practices (PBS) as more humane alternatives to drugging and forced psychiatric treatment for those in institutions and those diagnosed with learning disabilities.
The aim of the project was to reduce the use of psychiatric treatment (especially anti-psychotics), particularly for those in and from psychoneurological institutions.
The organizer, David Powell, had unique experience having worked as a volunteer in a psychoneurological orphanage in Russia (for children deemed to have ‘slow mental development’), visited psychoneurological institutions. He also experienced the bad side of the pharmaceutical industry when working for an international management consulting company, which he left and exposed / protested about.
SDVI stands for Samostoyatenost' Dlya Vypusknikov Internatov or Samostoyatenost' Dlya Vospitanikov Internatov (Russian: самостоятельность для выпускников интернатов or самостоятельность для воспитанников интернатов; Ukrainian: самостійність для випускників інтернатів or самостійність для вихованців інтернатів), which means self sufficiency and independence for individuals currently in or who have left (psychoneurological) institutions.
Psychoneurological institutions are a legacy of the Soviet Union and nearly 200 000 individuals live in such institutions across former Soviet Union countries, most of them dying quite young (e.g., 40 years old). The tragedy is that, while there are an extremely small number of alternative (predominantly charitable programs) whereby children from such orphanages are given places to live and live independent lives, the vast majority at the age of 18 are transferred to adult institutions. Such crowded institutions are no healthy places to live, they do not get much food and vegetables, are often locked inside the building (sometimes not even allowed into the courtyard) and are drugged with antipsychotics with a resultant short life expectancy. The tragedy is that, even with modern economic development, such individuals continue to be drugged as the pharmaceutical industry is extremely powerful and those who try to fight the interests of pharmaceutical companies in lobbying the Ministry of Health to sell their drugs (as I found out) are in a weak position without the support of ordinary people to take their own initiative to put pressure on government officials and visit such institutions to advocate respecting such individuals' rights rather than drugging them.