Article about the Psychiatry Alliance (B.I.L) by K.M

We have been sent an article from one of our former participants, originally written for LARM magazine. This is a magazine for employees in Bergen prison and the author has chosen to write about the Psychiatry Alliance and the role we played in the time until the sentencing began - a time the author himself refers to as "one of the toughest periods of his life". The Psychiatry Alliance is well aware of the author who wishes to publish anonymously. We greatly appreciate the feedback and wish you the best of luck with your further training and welcome back to training!

At Psykiatrialliansen, everyone is welcome without questions or reasons for attending. It's a safe meeting point to attend alone or a neutral arena to renew old acquaintances that may have been put on hold while serving time. With us, you can bring your family or group of friends to an activity, or show up alone and make new friends!

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Here comes the article:
I have a desire to write about and maybe help others who are having a tough time out there, whether it's like me, while waiting for parole or there is a desire for something that can help you get started again after parole.

Personally, I was very down with little desire to live on and contribute to society, but I knew I had to get a grip and find something to live for and something meaningful to fill the waiting time with, and with the help of good friends out there I was tipped about the Psychiatry Alliance. This is a low-threshold offer where everyone is always welcome. Their aim is to get people affected by mental illness active, and to help people out of isolation and loneliness.

Approximately half of Norway's population will develop a mental disorder requiring treatment during their lifetime, most often in the form of depression, anxiety and drug abuse or addiction. For those of us serving time, I would like to believe that this number is likely to be even higher. There is no doubt that there is a strong connection between physical activity and mental health, which you can also find side by side with research on. The Psychiatry Alliance therefore wants to contribute to establishing good exercise habits. They have also developed a collaboration with Haukeland Hospital to emphasize the important link between healthcare and training. It all started as a collaboration between Health Bergen and Bergen Municipality, and this has been continued and developed further.

Loneliness and isolation were mainly what I struggled with myself, but I also have the problem of being afraid and insecure to try new things. Therefore, the excitement and nervousness was palpable on the day I mustered up the courage to show up at the train station in Bergen to join their tour group. At that time, I knew little about who the other participants were, what their form was like and how they welcomed new participants – thus I knew little about how I would fit into the group. When it comes to people's different degrees of physical and mental fitness, they have solved this by dividing the group into long or short trips so that everyone can find something that suits them. In addition, the tour group has an unwritten rule - that it is the "weakest link" that determines the speed and pace of the group. You take a packed lunch with you on both trips and the social aspect is an important part of the concept on both trips.

If you are not a big fan of trips and outdoor life, the Psychiatry Alliance has lots of other offers for you. On their timetable online, one can read, among other things, that they have football with former firefighter and international professional Claus Lundekvam* as one of several coaches - as he wants to "pay back" to society in this way. On the training field you will find patients with mental disorders, relatives, employees in mental health care, the unemployed and, as mentioned, former football professionals - but when the ball rolls on the grass they are all on the same page.

Otherwise, they can tempt you with offers such as yoga, climbing, swimming, jogging, volleyball, zumba, strength training with and without weights, indoor bandy, spinning, martial arts (it may also be that I have forgotten some in the process) - in other words, something for everyone - and all offers are free of charge for the participants. One of the main challenges is that most activities take place during the day and thus cannot be easily combined with a busy day-to-day and possibly professional life, but at the start after serving a sentence, I think this offer can be very important and necessary for anyone and everyone.

Personally, the tour group was my savior with their wonderful tour guides. 1 to 2 times a week (1 from the center and 1 from Fyllingsdalen) we went on hour-long walks together in the Bergen area - a group which, at the time I was with, varied from 4 to 15 members. You gradually get to know each other better and the group thus becomes more and more close-knit, but no more than that it always welcomed new members. Last year the group also went on a joint trip to Gaustatoppen with accommodation and transport. All activities within the Psychiatry Alliance are free, including this trip, as it should not be the economy that sets limits on what you can participate in or not. It was also talked about that they wanted this to become an annual trip in the years to come.

When one first mentions the great leaders they have in the Psychiatry Alliance, it can be mentioned that every year for the past five years both climbing courses* and training contact courses have been organized for the participants and others who want basic training in training and first aid. This further qualifies them to become paid trainers in the Psychiatry Alliance. For me personally, this offer, along with a couple of others, was perhaps the difference between life and death. This made me part of a community, made new friends and became less isolated in society. The days of activities in the Psychiatry Alliance were the highlight of everyday life and it would take a lot for these days to be dropped. The best thing was undoubtedly that no questions were ever asked about why you were there or what problems you had, but if you yourself wanted/needed someone to talk to, at least my experience in the tour group was that the leaders always had time to listen and talk to you. I chose to open up more gradually, which in turn led to the relationships becoming closer and the people even more important to me in this tough time. To this day, I am still in contact with some of the people I met and will undoubtedly make use of this offer also when my sentence is completed.

That this is an important offer for the whole of Bergen was also confirmed in the summer of 2021. Bergens Tidende then had a new selection of Bergens Beste, where the people of Bergen are invited to nominate the best this city has to offer, and what they help to do the city between the seven mountains as beautiful as it is. In the summer of 2021, it was the Psychiatry Alliance B.I.L. which ran away with the award as Bergen's best association, and it was both participants, relatives, health personnel, trainers and many others who contributed to this great victory.

- Section on opportunities for more information and contact information for the Psychiatry Alliance during sentencing has been removed for publication on social media -

Good luck with a new and meaningful life after parole.
- KM

Comments from the Psychiatry Alliance regarding updates in the past six months to avoid confusion in connection with the text;
* Claus has a year's leave from the Psychiatry Alliance and there will therefore be other football coaches present at the training sessions.
* There are no longer climbing courses under the auspices of the Psychiatry Alliance.
* We still conduct annual training contact courses.