How Goes the “Revolution” in Mental Health?
Maybe you missed it, like I did. But this weekend I finally read the little report, about 20 pages, by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Dainius Pūras. Wow! It is amazing! The official UN news release actually calls for a “revolution” in mental health. The actual report is here, 21 pages that reads like we psychiatric survivors wrote it, see attachment: un-report-on-mental-health-2017 For example, he says “Mental health policies should address the ‘power imbalance’ rather than...
read moreDouble Deck Memorization by David W. Oaks, Perfectly, Today!
5 September 2018 by David W. Oaks Memorizing Two Decks of Cards: Why? This morning, one of my main home care workers, Ian, shuffled two decks of cards together a few times and then cut them. Each deck has the usual 52 cards, plus Jokers in both black-and-white and color. So the total number of cards is 108. Ian laid out 18 at a time, and I memorized their order. He did this six times. Without looking at the cards again, I then recited all 108 cards, the entire two decks, in the same order, from memory. Ian carefully validated this and my...
read moreThere is Now Mainly Only ONE (1) Mental Health Issue: Climate
For more than four decades I have worked as an independent activist for human rights in the mental health system. This independence is rather rare. Many of my good friends and colleagues in the mental health advocacy field work for nonprofits that are funded mainly by the government, local state or federal. My friends often do great work, but several of us have warned about dependence on money from the very system we are trying to change. As many readers know, I worked as executive director of MindFreedom International for more than 25 years,...
read moreFour Great News Items About MindFreedom & Winning Human Rights in Mental Health
I do some consulting for the independent nonprofit, MindFreedom International, which is one of the main coalitions focusing on human rights in mental health. Here are four positive news items about MFI: 1. MindFreedom will be doing another free webinar later this Summer 2018, on choice in mental health. On August 19, 2018, MindFreedom will be holding a new free online webinar about empowering options for people needing mental and emotional support. The title of the webinar: “Voices for Choices: Organizing for Alternatives to Forced...
read moreWe’re finishing “Creative Maladjustment Week” 2018, Get Ready for 2019!
We just finished another Creative Maladjustment Week. In case you are new to that phrase, for more than a decade, Martin Luther King talked about “creative maladjustment.” MLK would say that he was proud to be creatively maladjusted to problems like militarism, poverty and racism. A number of years ago, MindFreedom International began a Creative Maladjustment Week to celebrate this idea, and to challenge what is falsely called “normal.” Of course, there are 8 days in Creative Maladjustment Week. I suggest we add a...
read moreAre You a Psychiatric Survivor in the USA? What Helps Us Speak Up?
Those of us who have experienced human rights challenges because of the mental health system, have often been marginalized and silenced. Our viewpoints are diverse, and need to be part of the national conversation. Here in the USA, the debate over gun safety often involves mental health, yet we in the public seldom hear from psychiatric survivors. Personally, what is very horrifying to me is the USA federal government currently has programs in 17 cities to support court-ordered involuntary outpatient mental health. That is right, USA taxpayers...
read moreHelp Wanted in Eugene: Join Our Amazing Homecare Team!
Paid Home Care Worker Wanted Spring 2018: Part-Time, Eugene, OR Have a Current S&DS Home Care Provider Number? Here in southwest Eugene, on a quarter-acre of wild garden, in our little creative home, I have a great team of five fantastic folks. They provide about 85 hours per week to help me get out of bed, do hygiene, eat, get back to bed and various activities of independent living that allow me to live in our community with my amazing wife, Debra. My workers all say they love this job. But one is leaving for a full time position:...
read moreYour Vision for Thanking Leaders Under 30: How Should We Nominate Youth for Awards?
Let us thank young people for their leadership, vision, creativity and for just putting up with the bullshit that is piling up all around us! Yes, we should give everyone an award, just for existing! But where do we start? I agree with the philosophy shared by many and credited to the Iroquois Confederacy: think ahead seven generations. How about we start with folks under 30, the ones we in the counterculture are supposed to trust. I figure that seven generations from now would be a few years after the turn of the century, 2200. That might...
read moreHappy Groundhog Day! Friday, Feb 2, 2018, Win Human Rights in Mental Health!
Especially for those of you who live in Eugene, this Friday you are invited to join us at the LILA Peer Support Club, free. We will build MindFreedom Oregon and then have fun on the stage with folk singer David Rogers and others. Here is more info, and you can download this flyer: 2018-02-02-mf-oregon Facebook event here. Text: HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY! Win Human Rights & Humane Alternatives in the Mental Health System in Lane County! Where: Cuckoo’s Nest Stage LILA Peer Support Club 990 Oak St, Eugene (NW corner 8th & Oak) Date:...
read moreDocumentary on Involuntary Mental Health Has Interview with Me: Free Showing in Eugene 1/30/2018
I’ll go to free showing tomorrow of new documentary about controversy of involuntary mental healthcare. Movie is appropriately called “Crazy” and appropriately I am one of those interviewed in the flick. If you are in Eugene Tues 1/30, more info about the 5:30 showing is here on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1078812778925476/ Here is a PDF of the flyer: crazy-eugene-20180130-flyer (1) Please note that you can help prep for the showing and chat with me after 4 pm tomorrow. See...
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