MINDFREEDOM/WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW ACTION CONFERENCE

 

APRIL 29, 30 & MAY 1, 2005

 

Conference Design

 

 

 

          The purpose of the Conference is to provide a setting in which participants can design actions to promote human rights and weaken the domination of biopsychiatry in the mental health system.

 

          Thus, the work of the Conference will be done by the participants and the participants are responsible for the success of the Conference.

 

          The Conference has been divided into the following six tracks:

 

International Action

U.S. Congress/Federal Agencies

Legal Action

Choices in Mental Health

Media and Public Education

Open

 

          Descriptions of each of the tracks can be found by clicking on the Action Conference Information Center link at www.mindfreedom.org.

 

          Participants in each track will be assisted by facilitators.  The job of the facilitators is to mobilize the energy and creativity of each of the participants in the common task of designing actions to which all of the participants will commit and setting the foundation for effective follow-through.

 

         

 

 

 

We want to invoke the spirit of the following principles of Open Space Design:

 

§        Whoever is here is the right people.

§        Whatever happens is the only thing that could have.

§        Whenever it starts is the right time.

§        When it’s over, it’s over.

 

The Law of Two Feet: If a participant is not feeling good about the Track he or she is in, they are encouraged to move to another Track and enter it in a careful, non-disruptive way and to continue moving until they find a Track in which they feel they can participate effectively.

 

          Each Track will be expected to design at least one action to be taken in the months immediately following the Conference.  Descriptions of the actions to which the participants commit will be printed in a hard copy that will be distributed to all participants at the end of the Conference.