'The Trip' - learning about Kay Parley RIP
Five prompts drew me to BBC Radio's 'The Trip':
- the ongoing tenor of 'discussion' on twitter;
- the ongoing history and future development and evolution of psychoactive, psychedelic medicines as treatments, running concurrently, or not with psychotherapy and psychosocial interventions (PSI);
- being mindful of keeping up-to-date;
- what is the temperature within critical psychiatry / mental heath / mental illness / well-being?
- and how does all this 'sit' within Hodges' model?
As a student registered mental heath nurse, we learned about the historical introduction of chlorpromazine and other drugs, the difference they made to 'care' and the side-effects.
Pharmacology is dynamic. Atypical antipsychotics are now available. But this series, as the title confirms is about psychedelics and history from 08:30.
The episode highlights the importance of how sessions are delivered. Key points, given the additional pressures (UK) upon intakes for student nurse places for learning disability and mental health, plus questions about the status of these courses within university-based nurse education. If not already aware, the episode concludes with the role of a mental health nurse who died in May. Have a listen about Kay Parley.
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| THE TRIP - BBC Radio |
It would have been marvellous to meet, speak to Nurse Parley. The episode has it's objectives of course, but there are values here. We are all test pilots, researchers.
"The American Journal of Nursing February 1964:
No role, is so welcomed on our psychiatric unit, as that of sitting with a patient during LSD therapy. This indicates that the treatment has value." ...
"Kate Parley passed away in May, so our last words will be hers. Words she would say to her patients at Weyburn, all those years ago.
'You are off on a trip with no baggage, no destination and no compass. That's why I'm here. I can't go with you, but I can be your anchor.
Wherever you go, you'll always be able to see me. I'll be the nurse who sits beside your bed. Taking notes and playing your records.
You'll never lose touch with me. Seeing me, you'll know, you are really in hospital and that you'll be back to Earth about 4 o'clock. I will send you signals too, to encourage your explorations.
I will remind you of places you longed to revisit and events you hope to scan.'"
PARLEY, KAY. Supporting the Patient. AJN, American Journal of Nursing 64(2):p 80-82, February 1964.
https://www.openurses.org/_files/ugd/52de8b_870deaa149e842d286e76131b1321285.pdf
https://andrewpenn.substack.com/p/in-memoriam-kay-parley-rpn-registered
Todd, Betsy MPH, RN. Supporting the Patient on LSD Day. AJN, American Journal of Nursing 121(6):p 42-44, June 2021. | DOI: 10.1097/01.NAJ.0000753656.16844.a9
orcid.org/0000-0002-0192-8965
