This is the first in a series of poems on the theme of stigma.
It was published in the NTW Foundation Trust News Issue 11 Winter Edition - February 2013 via the Gateshead Mental Health Carer Involvement Group, who noted that ...
There is unfortunately still a significant amount of stigma associated with mental ill health and this can affect carers and family members, as well as
the person who is unwell. Indeed, there have been circumstances where the level of abuse and victimisation from neighbours has become so unbearable that families have felt that they had no option but to move house.
This poem by Hazel McLeod goes right to the heart of this problem with wit and insight
and ends on a rousing note. Hazel is a Carer, who has recorded some of her work and a
CD entitled, Why Me? dedicated to her deceased son Glenn.
Please contact Joe Lewis at Crossroads Care Gateshead on: 0120 7549780 for more
information. Bill Harrington at Bliss Ability in South Tyneside has recorded, edited and
produced the CD which is partly funded by money from the Department of Health.
Mrs Olivetti
There goes Mrs Parker, who lives up our street
She always seems to cross the road
And so we never meet
She doesn’t even look at me, her nose up in the air
She totally ignores me as if I wasn’t there
When my son Teddy first fell ill, we went through a bad time
And all our friends just dropped us as though we’d done a
crime
But one thing that I didn’t know was I still had a friend
In Mrs Olivetti who lives right at the end
Whilst standing in the butchers, just the other day
She overheard old nosey Parker in her vicious way
Telling all her cronies “they’d be murdered in their bed”
As folk with schizophrenia (meaning our Ted)
Are brutal and they’re dangerous and should be locked away
She’d read it in the paper, just that very day
Well Mrs Olivetti, bless her little heart,
waded in amongst them and tore them all apart
“Now listen Mrs Parker, everybody knows,
your sister had depression and took an overdose
And then you tried to hush it up, by saying she’d the ‘flu
In case your sister’s illness, reflected back on you
And Sarah Green, you know you really ought to be ashamed
Your son committed Arson and although he took the blame
They said he’d had a breakdown, didn’t know what he had
done
So you’ve no need to vilify another mother’s son
Instead of spouting rubbish, use a bit of tact
Young Ted’s a really nice lad; I know that for a fact
So give that family some support, their life is hard enough
And stop buying those newspapers that peddle that vile stuff
They don’t print any articles on folk who overcame
Their illness to lead useful lives, they just apportion blame
Why even Winston Churchill, you’ve heard of him I’m sure
Had problems with his Mental Health
Yet led us through a war
I heard that Mrs Parker’s face went very red
She sniffed, but didn’t say a word, just simply dropped her
head
When I went back to the butchers, there was a little queue
But people turned and smiled and said “Hello there how are
you?”
I felt really empowered and didn’t mind the wait
It’s odd just what a little smile or kind word can create
So Mrs Olivetti, thanks for being there
For even just your one lone voice, taught others how to care
As Mental Health’s an issue that affects all creeds and classes
Then let us all with one voice try to educate the masses
And if we all shout long enough and loud enough
They’ll hear
Then maybe we can dissipate the ignorance and fear.
Written by Hazel McLeod
It was published in the NTW Foundation Trust News Issue 11 Winter Edition - February 2013 via the Gateshead Mental Health Carer Involvement Group, who noted that ...
There is unfortunately still a significant amount of stigma associated with mental ill health and this can affect carers and family members, as well as
the person who is unwell. Indeed, there have been circumstances where the level of abuse and victimisation from neighbours has become so unbearable that families have felt that they had no option but to move house.
This poem by Hazel McLeod goes right to the heart of this problem with wit and insight
and ends on a rousing note. Hazel is a Carer, who has recorded some of her work and a
CD entitled, Why Me? dedicated to her deceased son Glenn.
Please contact Joe Lewis at Crossroads Care Gateshead on: 0120 7549780 for more
information. Bill Harrington at Bliss Ability in South Tyneside has recorded, edited and
produced the CD which is partly funded by money from the Department of Health.
Mrs Olivetti
There goes Mrs Parker, who lives up our street
She always seems to cross the road
And so we never meet
She doesn’t even look at me, her nose up in the air
She totally ignores me as if I wasn’t there
When my son Teddy first fell ill, we went through a bad time
And all our friends just dropped us as though we’d done a
crime
But one thing that I didn’t know was I still had a friend
In Mrs Olivetti who lives right at the end
Whilst standing in the butchers, just the other day
She overheard old nosey Parker in her vicious way
Telling all her cronies “they’d be murdered in their bed”
As folk with schizophrenia (meaning our Ted)
Are brutal and they’re dangerous and should be locked away
She’d read it in the paper, just that very day
Well Mrs Olivetti, bless her little heart,
waded in amongst them and tore them all apart
“Now listen Mrs Parker, everybody knows,
your sister had depression and took an overdose
And then you tried to hush it up, by saying she’d the ‘flu
In case your sister’s illness, reflected back on you
And Sarah Green, you know you really ought to be ashamed
Your son committed Arson and although he took the blame
They said he’d had a breakdown, didn’t know what he had
done
So you’ve no need to vilify another mother’s son
Instead of spouting rubbish, use a bit of tact
Young Ted’s a really nice lad; I know that for a fact
So give that family some support, their life is hard enough
And stop buying those newspapers that peddle that vile stuff
They don’t print any articles on folk who overcame
Their illness to lead useful lives, they just apportion blame
Why even Winston Churchill, you’ve heard of him I’m sure
Had problems with his Mental Health
Yet led us through a war
I heard that Mrs Parker’s face went very red
She sniffed, but didn’t say a word, just simply dropped her
head
When I went back to the butchers, there was a little queue
But people turned and smiled and said “Hello there how are
you?”
I felt really empowered and didn’t mind the wait
It’s odd just what a little smile or kind word can create
So Mrs Olivetti, thanks for being there
For even just your one lone voice, taught others how to care
As Mental Health’s an issue that affects all creeds and classes
Then let us all with one voice try to educate the masses
And if we all shout long enough and loud enough
They’ll hear
Then maybe we can dissipate the ignorance and fear.
Written by Hazel McLeod