Jodie and Christine
Content Warning: These stories are about violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation and may include references to suicide or self-harming behaviours. They may contain graphic descriptions and strong language and may be distressing. Some narratives may be about First Nations people who have passed away. If you need support, please see Contact & support.
‘My experience with the mental health system that [Jodie] unfortunately got into was no support – just medicate, medicate, medicate. That made my quite intelligent daughter feel like she was stupid, like she couldn't function anymore.’
Jodie’s mother, Christine, told the Royal Commission Jodie was ‘very different’ from the word go. She did not talk until she was four and would ‘run off into the bush’ and ‘climb up trees’.
Jodie struggled at the start of primary school. The school suggested Christine get Jodie assessed for autism. But Christine wanted her to have a mainstream education at the same school as her sisters. Things improved the following year because Jodie had a very supportive teacher. She thrived and began to do very well.
At 13, Jodie’s dad left home and her grandparents died. She became ‘really anxious’, refused to go to school and had a ‘big mental breakdown’.
Jodie entered the mental health system for the first time and was ‘treated very poorly’. Doctors didn’t investigate if Jodie had a disability and heavily medicated her. Christine wanted someone to support Jodie, ‘work with her, not take her away and heavily medicate her’.
After a while, Jodie returned home and completed her secondary education. The school supported her and ‘she functioned really well’. She didn’t take medication, ‘blossomed’ and made friends. She left school, got a job and for nearly 10 years she ‘was good’.
In her early 20s, Jodie began having problems with her boyfriend. One day he took her to hospital and told staff ‘there was something wrong with her’ because she wanted to harm herself.
Again doctors medicated Jodie. Christine was able to get her assessed and she was diagnosed with autism. However, it was too late – ‘there was no support for adults.’
Jodie, now early 30s, has been in and out of hospital for the past decade. ‘She would get worse and worse until she became quite suicidal, really quite unwell, then go into the hospital again.’
Three years ago, Jodie started attending a regional hospital. Every admission, doctors would heavily medicate her – often to the point where she couldn’t walk – and send her home. ‘Not home to me, just home to live on her own, and she just could not cope.’
Two years ago, Jodie was admitted as an inpatient at another hospital, where ‘she was basically a prisoner’. Her treatment plan allowed doctors to heavily medicate and physically restrain her.
‘She was like a caged animal. They had her tied up … there were faeces all over the floor.’
Christine tried to get Jodie some NDIS support.
‘But we had meeting, after meeting, after meeting with the NDIS. And no, she doesn't qualify for the support.’
During COVID lockdowns, Jodie was still an inpatient and Christine wasn’t allowed to see her. A social worker visited and told Christine that Jodie was living in putrid conditions with faeces through her room and all over her clothes. Staff refused to clean it up. When Christine was allowed to visit she asked staff for a wash bowl and cleaned Jodie and the room.
Christine engaged a barrister who wrote a letter to the hospital threating legal action because of their neglect of Jodie. Following this, staff started becoming ‘friendlier’.
At the time, Jodie was under the care of the public guardian. Frustrated by their lack of oversight and action, Christine applied to become Jodie’s guardian. She was unsuccessful but tried to make the public guardian more accountable. They refused to deal with Christine labelling her, ‘chaotic and difficult’.
Eventually Jodie did get some NDIS funding, but Christine said supports were inadequate because the NDIA and the provider did not understand Jodie’s needs.
The barrister wrote to the provider and Jodie’s services have since improved.
Christine said people are now working towards getting Jodie out of hospital. Jodie ‘sees a way out’ and has ‘started improving’. Jodie is ‘trying really hard’ and has transformed.
‘I have got my old [Jodie] back. She can see some hope.’
Disclaimer: This is the story of a person who shared their personal experience with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability through a submission or private session. The names in this story are pseudonyms. The person who shared this experience was not a witness and their account is not evidence. They did not take an oath or affirmation before providing the story. Nothing in this story constitutes a finding of the Royal Commission. Any views expressed are those of the person who shared their experience, not of the Royal Commission.