News: Oregon Consumer Survivor Coalition Proposal

Update - 6 September 2007

The steering committee teleconference went well. Minutes are posted on this web site. The office of attorney David Atkin has successfully filed articles of incorporation for the OCSC on 31 August 2007. The official name is:

Oregon Mental Health Consumer and Psychiatric Survivor Coalition.

Update - 27 April 2007

This just in about below news release. Following a successfully nine-location videoconference about building the state-wide coalition today, a public "point of contact" to find out about the new Oregon coalition described below has been established. It's Mike Hlebechuk at Michael.Hlebechuk@state.or.us or phone (503) 947-5536. Mike can answer lots of questions, and also make sure the Start-Up Committee is notified with any relevant messagse.

Update - 26 April 2007

For a current list of start-up committee organizers, click here.

NEWS RELEASE - 12 February 2007

Oregon groups of mental health consumers and psychiatric survivors are invited to endorse a proopsal for a state-wide alliance called "Oregon Consumer Survivor Coalition" (OCSC).

After several months of teleconferences, meetings, e-mail and discussions... Oregon groups of mental health consumers and psychiatric survivors are invited to endorse a one-page proposal for an "Oregon Consumer Survivor Coalition."

A meeting was held on a draft of this proposal at the Alternatives 2006 conference, and feedback on the proposal was encouraged. In the most recent step, Oregon advocate Tom Wilson compiled that feedback on the draft, incorporated the suggestions, and made that proposal available.

One source of inspiration for forming a state-wide coalition in Oregon is that a national coalition of state-wide consumer/survivor organizations is forming because of work by the National Empowerment Center based in Massachusetts. Oregon currently has a consumer/survivor "network" and "council" but no organized state-wide coalition.

All of the organizing in Oregon on this proposal has been done by volunteers without funding, so far, from the mental health system.

Groups that are interested are invited to take these two steps:

   1. bring the proposal to your decision-making body for endorsement of the one-page concept proposal.

   2. if there is endorsement, then appoint a representative to apply to be on the Start-Up committee.

Here are three ways you may read and re-distribute the text from the Oregon Consumer/Survivor Coalition Proposal as modified 13 February 2007:

• Text on the web of OCSC proposal.
• Download a PDF file of the OCSC proposal.
• Download an MS Word file of the OCSC propsal.