What is a Good Day Project?

Abstract

The author's experience of day services is that they offered him a friendly and accepting environment but didn't help him overcome his problems. He was left suspended delicately between two worlds: the unpalatable option of psychiatric in‐patient treatment and the unwelcoming world of ordinary activity.He finds similar problems with current day services. Medication can interfere with people's ability to engage in activities, and their original mental health crisis and people's responses to it can put obstacles in the way of them returning to their usual activities. These views are backed up by research. All too often, day services become ‘special needs’ ghettos for people who do not have a place in the wider society.The challenge is to provide daytime opportunities that prevent barriers being created between people experiencing emotional crises and their families, friends and colleagues; or which break down these barriers when they have already been created. Drawing on examples from his own experience, the author argues that what is needed is an holistic approach without an artificial distinction between health treatment and social care, utilising opportunities that are present in the everyday world.

Citation

Read, J. (1997), "What is a Good Day Project?", A Life in the Day, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 7-11. https://doi.org/10.1108/13666282199700003