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Carolyn Ingles Interviewed by Doug Holder Carolyn Ingles tells me that she has never been interviewed. This, coming from a seasoned professional who has worked for thirty five years in promotions and public relations for the public and private sector, is hard to believe. Yet, Ingles is the kind of energetic, zealous brand of woman who loses herself in her work, and the causes she chooses. Ingles, a resident of the Jamaica Plain section of Boston, is currently the Director of Community Relations, Public Education and Outreach for the Dept. of Mental Health Metro Boston. Her mission, is to educate the public on all issues pertinent to consumers and clinicans regarding mental health and the mental health system. Ingles has created a bimonthly newsletter that reaches 15,000 people a year and hosts a radio and TV show that educates residents of Boston about pressing issues and concerns. Ingles is not one dimensional, however. She has a rich background in the arts, and this is often reflected in her work. She has been comitted to the visual and performing arts since 1970. She has worked with the much revered and long defunct JAZZ WORKSHOP in Boston, to the contemporary Jazz venue, SCULLERS in Cambridge. In addition she has worked in various capacities at the New England Conservatory of Music,and the Newport Jazz Festival. I talked with Ingles in her office at Doctor Solomon Carter Fuller Mental Health Center in the South End of Boston. DH: How long have you been in your present position? What drew you you to employ your skills in the area of mental health? CI: It will be eight years in November. I knew nothing about Mental Health, but I was highly involved in PR and government/community relations. It was a chance for me to use all that in a mental health enviroment. It was an exciting opportunity...it was a brand new job, that had never been done before. I got to create my own structure, under the DMH strictures, of course. All in all this has been my own undertaking. I had a close relative who suffered a nervous breakdown. I went through a deep depression when I was a teenager, that fortunately I came out from. People just didn't talk about these things in those days. These two events are in my distant memory. Perhaps they subtley influenced me in this direction. I am drawn to people who are challenged. I am drawn to advocacy. When I worked at the New England Conservatory in 1970, I was involved in bringing affordable music education to inner city kids. I guess even way back this has been an interest of mine. DH: What do you think are the public's biggest misconceptions about mental illness? CI: The biggest misconception is that these people are to be feared, that they engage in violence. Statistical evidence proves if anything the mentally ill are victims of violence. Often people confuse mentally ill people with mentally retarded people. They think there is an intellectual deficit associated with mental illness. Many people who are poor, or who have been in the system for awhile, have become what they are misconcieved as. They never had a chance for an education or a good job, so they were never able to realize their native abilities. Still, a major mental illness has no correlation between one's intellect or lack of. There are many folks with wonderful abilities, and some with limited abilities. When I present our folks on radio or TV, they speak in a fashion that debunks these myths of mental illness. I really try to fight the stereotypical image that the public has, with every presentation. DH: As I noted in the introduction, you've had a long history of working in the arts. Have you found that artists, more than the general population, are afflicted with mental illness? CI: I find more folks in the system who are artists. I find people who are able to create, who have a gift for the visual arts, writing, or music. Artist have to reveal themselves to a public that can be unforgiving. This is a very tough process no matter what medium you work in. They are more susceptible...they have different sensibilities, than someone who may balance books for a living. There is something different in the psychological makeup of the artist. DH: On your Boston cable TV show, "Mental Health Update," you have interviewed an eclectic group of consumers, clinicans,etc...involved in the mental health system. What has been the feedback from the participants and viewers regarding your show? Has it helped to get the "word" out? CI: We get wonderful feedback from the guests and the public. The guests are delighted to be in the spotlight. We select people who we can do positive programming around. Folks are happy to have people pay attention to them. The consumer is happy to tell a story of recovery. It is always a pleasure to hear of people living a quality life through the support of DMH services. The viewers...when I see them on the street...the mailman, the baker, the florist, they are very complimentary. There are about 300,000 potential viewers out there. In my daily life people come up to me all the time to talk about the show. Many of the people I speak to, have had experience with mental illness in some way. The others are informed about the Dept. of Mental Health and the services they offer if need be. DH: From our conversations, you've told me you have interviewed a number of artists, poets, etc...with mental illness. Can you give me a few examples of your most memorable guests. CI: I have had many folks on the show who are artists. One man I had on is a refugee from a civil war in Africa. He was in an art therapy program at DMH's Webster House in Brookline. Eventually he went back to school, studied at Northeastern, and has become an instructor in a program funded by DMH, that helps with recovery. He progressed from a mumbling and shuffling mental patient, to a person who helps others. Another person I would like to mention is the volunteer Mary McKeon. She runs poetry groups on two inpatient units at Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller.. She has been on both my TV and radio show. People like these stay in my mind, and I am most appreciative. DH:I know you believe in the arts as an important therapeutic tool for treatment of this population. What do they offer as an alternative to more conventional therapies? CI: Art Therapy takes the person out of the role as a client or consumer. It gives people a sense of accomplishment or success. It can lead folks to other therapeutic models. It can lead them to educational nd training programs. The primary thing is that it takes them out of the role of patient. DH: Any future projects? CI: We are developing an in-hospital website. I would like to add as a special feature a dispay of art, publication, and other expressive forms from consumers that would be available for viewing for people in the system.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This article originallly ran in Spare Change., a Boston paper for the homeless. |