Melting straitjackets

A description of the author's psychiatric breakdown is offered, and a discussion of how such wounded experiences can help in mental health work. Wounded healers are currently under attack in the National Health Service in the UK, following the Allitt affair. The author offers strong warnings against all forms of desiccated and detached professionalism in both nursing and social work. Material on Zen training, and how that relates to Shamanism, is discussed and Podvoll's Buddhist principles of 'basic attendance' are outlined.