Rozelle Hospital

About the Book

In the 1960s, psychiatry was entering a new phase of its development. However, many people were uncomfortable with these changes and fought against what they saw as apostasy, dangerous, and unprofessional decisions by the bureaucracy. The role of Nurses before 1960 was task-oriented, to control behaviour, give somatic treatments when ordered, and provide the daily personal needs of their patients, a custodial model. Since 1960, the nursing profession, ancillary staff and Doctors have been forced to reassess their traditional involvement and develop new skills. All previous somatic treatments were abandoned or rarely used in mainstream psychiatry. The only tools left for nurses were consciously using self in a therapeutic relationship, communicating, sharing, developing empathy and compassion, and helping the patient gain insight, self-awareness and problem-solving skills. No longer were the staff seen as the ‘boss’, demanding obedience. Nurses had to learn how to work in alternative environments, halfway houses, day clinics, community clinics, night hospitals, acute units, work with mixed sexes, and learn new skills through family therapy, TA, cognitive behaviour modification, encounter groups, gestalt therapy, reality therapy and a therapeutic community and adapt to different age and cultural groups. Management of wards and staff presented a challenge to administrators. In-patients attained much more freedom and self-government with these developments. The hierarchy was flatter, industrial democracy was expected, and workers had to cope with changing organisational structures. Government decision-making was a constant source of conflict. A new approach to management emerged, trust replaced control, and self-government replaced regimentation. Where were all these developments leading? What of the future? Volume Two explores the sequel and exposes the intrigues, promises, hypocrisy, lies, neglect, social engineering, and the fate of long-term residents and people with acute psychiatric episodes.

About the Author

Edward Moxon. CPN, CGN, CMRN, Cert Recreation, DNE, DNA, MNA, Bed, Postgrad Dip Sp Ed, Registered Nurse, educator, and author. In 1964, Ted was registered as a psychiatric nurse in NSW. Promoted to Recreation Officer and later transferred to Callan Park in 1965. He trained at Hornsby District Hospital and Rydalmere Hospital in the following years. He returned to Callan Park to experience ward administration, area supervision, and lecturing at the Psychiatric Nurses Training School. In 1975 he accepted the position of Principal Nurse Educator at Riverglade Mental Retardation Nurses Training School. During these years, he gained formal qualifications in Administration and Education. The closure of the school prompted a transfer to TAFE in 1986. He was appointed Head Teacher (enrolled nursing course) at Meadowbank TAFE from 1987 to 1989. In the following years, Ted worked at the University of Technology as a Clinical Supervisor, a Senior Lecturer at Avondale University, and a Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) at Macquarie Hospital. After further study in 1996, Ted transferred to the New South Wales Education Department as a teacher of emotionally disturbed children at Redbank School, Westmead Hospital. On retirement, he accepted a position as a behaviour consultant to schools on the North Shore of Sydney. After this position became redundant in 2015, he worked as a community psychiatric nurse, retiring in 2020. Ted has produced three major research papers, journal articles, a hospital magazine, and many hospital discussion papers. For most of his life, he was a voluntary youth worker with the Boy’s Brigade, Pathfinders, and the Aboriginal community in Redfern. Professionally, he has been a member of AIM, President of the Rozelle Hospital Branch of the NSWNA, crown delegate, NSWNA, member of the Government Crown Employees Appeal Tribunal (GREAT), member of the Chairman’s Consultative Committee, chair of the Hospital Standards and Patient’s Rights Committees, and many others. Ted is listed in the Who’s Who publication. In 2015, he was a founding member and director of The Way Community Services Ltd. His broad experience and intimate knowledge of Callan Park enabled him to produce this in-depth three-volume history of Callan Park in a sympathetic, in-depth, sometimes controversial, provocative style. The book’s detailed events and reference material will add considerably to Callan Park’s history, the Jewel of the West.