DOI: 10.11118/978-80-7509-832-0-0265

VZDĚLÁVÁNÍ PRO PRAXI V KONTEXTU TRANSFORMACE PSYCHIATRICKÉ PÉČE

Jiří Vander, Kateřina Kubalčíková

In the text we present the course “Help people with mental disorder from the view personal experience people with mental disorder” that we lecture at the Department of Social Policy and Social Work, FSS MU in Brno. First we present basic specification of the course, especially that people with the mental disorder, peer lectors, participate in the teaching of the course. These are people with schizophrenia or affective disorder (depression, mania) who are specially trained to teach. We mention the reasons why is the course important in the education of students of the Bachelor of Social Work Programme. The course is set in the context of the reform of psychiatric care in the Czech Republic. We reflect in detail the subjects of the course: 1. recovery; 2. self-management; 3. destigmatization and 4. peer programs. At the end of the text, a course opinion poll is presented where students express feedback on the course. We divide course instruction into three parts: 1. sharing the life story of people with mental illness; 2. the theoretical conceptualisation of individual themes; 3. procedures of self-knowledge and self-reflection that lead to strengthening of students’ personality strengths and enhance their personal well-being. In conclusion, we note that a similar teaching style is very enriching for students. This is not a classic transfer of knowledge, or discussion, but it is a personal level where peer lecturers share their pain, suffering and difficulties caused by mental disorder and ways of coping with it, which also helps students find role models for coping with difficult life situations in their lives.

Keywords: peer lecturer, mental illness, social work, education, psychiatric care reform

pages: 265-272, online: 2022