Don’t let them look away
Content warning: this includes graphic footage of violence against a person in mental health crisis, and discussion of deaths in custody and suicide.
Like many in the consumer community, we have been shocked and shaken by the recent stories of Jodi Knott and Tammy Shipley, two women with lived experience of schizophrenia who, instead of receiving the care they deserved, were brutalised by police and imprisonment.
Their stories are all too familiar. For some of us, they remind us of our own experiences or the experience of our loved ones. They remind us that, unless we change the system, these stories are fated to repeat.
On the night of the NSW Budget, 23 June, BEING is co-hosting a screening of ABC Four Corners “Brutal Force” documentary in NSW Parliament with Dr Amanda Cohn MLC.
In doing so, we are putting Jodi and Tammy’s stories front and centre on the biggest night in NSW politics to make sure our policy-makers cannot look away.
Event details
Date: Tuesday, 23 Jun
Time: 6pm – 8pm
Venue: Theatrette, NSW Parliament, 6 Macquarie St, Sydney NSW
Click here to register.
We’re honoured to have Jodi’s cousins, Nichole and Sharee flying in from interstate to share their story with NSW politicians.
A big turnout at this screening will show that people care about mental health reform, that it is urgent and there are real human costs in delaying it.
Reform has come too late for Jodi and Tammy. But their stories do not have to be in vain. We can change the system so that the next person experiencing mental health crisis is not faced with police, but instead met with care, dignity and respect.
Yours in solidarity,
The BEING team