MindFreedom Journal

Issue #46

Choices in Mental Health Campaign

by Janet Foner, MindFreedom board member

The Choices in Mental Health Campaign is about finding, creating, and promoting the activities, lifestyles, projects, places, etc. that would allow psychiatric survivors to find solutions to difficulties, to flourish, to fulfill their dreams. These are alternatives that people would want to use for healing and growth, instead of the mental health system. They might include cooperative living quarters, survivor-owned businesses, places to get off psychiatric drugs, safe houses, holistic healing processes, peer support initiatives, survivor-run arts festivals, etc.

We are forming a committee of MindFreedom members to begin to do the above, and to plan a conference, to be held in 2006 or 2007. The conference would gather together people who lead working alternative centers and projects that are already going, and those interested in creating new alternatives.

One short term goal would be to research such people and projects to create a directory that would become available on the MindFreedom website. Another goal would be to foster networking among such people to encourage the exchange of workable ideas, to inspire new ideas, to share resources.