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Patricia Sutton

Patricia Sutton

My husband, Keith and I have four wonderful children and we are a very close family.  Our two daughters, Catherine 44, and Sarah 36, have meaningful jobs and families of their own.  All live very close to our home in South Australia.  

Our two sons, Peter 42, and Ben 38, also functioned extremely well in the community until approximately 20 years ago, when they were both diagnosed with “treatment resistant” schizophrenia.   As a consequence, they experience extensive psychosocial disabilities, and live extremely limited and isolated lives. They have anosognosia, a very common condition in people with schizophrenia, which means that they do not understand that they have an illness, which has been a significant barrier to them receiving good services and supports. They do not have the capacity to seek treatment of their own accord, to advocate for themselves or to drive the care and support they so desperately need.

Neither Peter nor Ben are able to live independently in the community, or develop and maintain effective personal and social relationships.  They both depend on Keith and myself to assist them with all of their activities of daily living.  There is no suitable alternative accommodation available for our sons and although we love them both dearly, both of them would prefer a more independent lifestyle. 

Although Peter receives twice daily diabetes support from district nursing services, neither Peter nor Ben receive any support from mental health services which would help them to live independently in the community. 

The lives of our two sons are full of despair and lost opportunities and we are extremely concerned about their future when we are no longer around to support them.  We are now aged pensioners and supporting Peter and Ben daily impacts quite severely on our own health and wellbeing.