Forensic Mental Illness

In the news, there are consistent stories of people who have committed crimes that are also diagnosed with a mental illness such as schizophrenia. To those who do not work with people who have mental illnesses, it can be difficult to understand how to interact with them and why their illness may have caused them to commit their crimes. I have heard people say that even if a person is mentally ill, they should still serve full prison time for their offence. Many people who hold this view are ignorant of the fact of how ill these people truly are and how many to not have control over their own minds, especially when they commit crimes. Before starting the mental health rotation, I was apprehensive about working on a forensic mental health unit. It was not entirely due to working with client’s who had committed crimes, but mostly due to the fact that mental health nursing is so different from the medical, surgical, and geriatric rotations I had already completed. On these other units, while building therapeutic relationships was a important aspect of care, it was usually not the sole focus of care. This is entirely different on a mental health as developing a therapeutic relationship is how assessments are completed and how information is gathered. While not ideal, assessments can still be

Many people assume that those on the unit are violent when in reality that is only a small portion of the number of people on the unit. The forensic mental health system in Ontario: An information guide states that, “people in the forensic mental health system often feel they have a ‘double stigma’ when others unfairly label them ‘dangerous’” (2012). It can be difficult when not directly involved with the system to see this though, as on the news only the extreme cases are highlighted or those who had a lot of violence involved with the offence they