In my master’s thesis (Advocacy in Mental Health: A Case Study), I analyse how a group operated in advocating for Joc Podlesnik, my friend with long-term experience of institutional psychiatry, who was threatened with eviction from a residential unit. I focus on the relationships between members of the advocacy group, especially between Joc and the other individuals involved. I divided the advocacy action into two parts - a story and a pre-story, that is, a more subtle and a more concrete part. Based on Joc’s story, I wrote a novel and an additional documentary story. In the first part, when we did not yet know the action would continue into a second phase, Joc and I tried to raise awareness of the harmfulness of institutions and the importance of deinstitutionalisation by promoting the literary work and engaging in other public activities (in the media and at public events). At this stage, the advocacy group consisted only of Joc and me, and we did not have a clear goal. Later, a concrete problem arose (he was threatened with eviction from the residential unit), and at that point the advocacy group expanded and the goal became clear - preventing homelessness.
I began the master’s thesis with a review of theory related to the themes essential to Joc’s life and to our advocacy action - mental health, total institutions, deinstitutionalisation, stigmatisation, housing issues, advocacy, and activist social work. I chose a qualitative research approach, specifically a case study, grounded in action or activist research. In the empirical section, through the results and their discussion, I sought to answer the research questions: What are the connections between advocacy focused on a direct problem and public awareness-raising? How does (non-professional, lay) advocacy on both levels influence both the empowerment of a person with lived experience of mental distress and the outcomes of their crisis? What is the significance of the relationship between participants in the advocacy action? How can this relationship contribute to empowerment? How can (engaged) fiction contribute to advocacy and empowerment? Was our advocacy action successful?
I aimed to answer these questions by interweaving the description of the story that unfolded between Joc, myself, and the advocacy group with the theory related to this story. I arrived at a positive answer to the main question (whether the action was successful?), since according to Vito Flaker and Tanja Lamovec (1993), every action is successful, and in this case the advocacy group also achieved its goal.
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