Using lived experience to address "pasung" in Indonesia: learning together

Indonesia has among the highest rates of Pasung in the world; the phenomenon of restraint of people with mental illness in the home, usually by their family, in the absence of any formal system of evidence-based mental health care beyond the short-term support provided by large psychiatric institutions. This significant human rights issue is widespread, despite being declared illegal in Indonesia since 2014. In countries, such as Indonesia, where significant structural differences influence mental health care compared with Western mental health systems, including virtually no community mental health services, the legal and ethical markers in place to address seclusion and restraint of people with mental illness are problematic. This presentation reports on a collaboration between Australian and West Java consumer advocates and experts in seclusion and restraint, as part of an Australia Award Fellowship. The purpose of the Fellowship program was to develop skills, knowledge, and capabilities through people-to people and institutional links across academic, government, civil society, and private sectors. Through exchange visits between countries, workshops, and organizational visits centred on mobilizing consumer advocacy, the Fellowship is exploring policy, practice, and translation steps required to establish more effective psychosocial supports to reduce Pasung in the West Java community.