What are ways that I can support other people who are receiving care?

As we move through healthcare systems, other patients may need and ask us for support. While healthcare systems are responsible for providing care, we also recognize that we may want to and benefit from supporting each other. Here are some examples of community support one person shared while at a psychiatric ward.
- This person spoke about finding ways to help others get access to the outdoors, culturally relevant care, and how they provided Mandarin translation for another patient. They also spoke about patients creating systems to trade food, starting yoga and beading classes, and sharing movies and snacks with other patients.
- “I really saw in the ward how we could all help each other while dealing with all these problems that got us there. We were still capable of showing each other care, even though we were dealing with other things...The first few times I went into the ward, I had no idea what was going. The way that I figured out what was going on was by talking to other people, not doctors and nurses because they don’t even have the time. I ended up doing that quite a bit for people because I was staying there for so long. Patients would come in and they were scared. They didn’t know what their rights were or what they could expect- which is very little. It felt gratifying for me to be able to explain the situation. ‘This is when you can say no, this is not appropriate. What you can expect when you’re certified.’”