Activism in mental health

Action campaigns to challenge and transform the mental health system.

News Item Candlelight vigil remembers Jim Chasse, Jr.
James P. Chasse, Jr. was a resident of Portland, Oregon, USA diagnosed schizophrenic who died in police custody. Psychiatric survivors and mental health consumers marched from the Alternatives 2006 conference to a memorial on 27 October 2006.
Folder 2003 Actions
Read about the MindFreedom Hunger Strike and march on the APA.
News Item Toronto Star Covers “Mad Pride” Movement
The mainstream newspaper Toronto Star in Canada published an article about the international psychiatric survivors and allies in the “Mad Pride” movement.
Folder Psychiatric Survivor Movement History
The current era of psychiatric survivor and ally activism is generally considered to have begun in about 1970.
Folder IAACM – Creative Maladjustment
International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment – Fulfilling Martin Luther King’s Vision
Folder Eastern Europe
Activism regarding Eastern European psychiatric human rights violations.
Event Madness, Citizenship and Social Justice: A Human Rights Conference (Vancouver, B.C., Canada, from Jun 12, 2008 12:00 AM to Jun 15, 2008 12:00 AM)
The Institute for the Humanities at Simon Fraser University, in Vancouver, B.C., is hosting conference on madness and society, to be held on June 12-15, 2008. MindFreedom director David W. Oaks is giving a keynote speech at the conference.
Event Asylum! Conference and Festival (Elizabeth Gaskell Campus, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, from Sep 10, 2008 12:00 AM to Sep 12, 2008 12:00 AM)
From the organizers: “The conference will bring together organisations, activists, campaigners and academics working for radical challenge and change in mental health. It will showcase critical work on psychiatry and psychology (‘Big Psy’) and the pharmaceutical industry (‘Big Pharma’), and alternatives to diagnostic medical labels like ‘schizophrenia’ and ‘paranoia’.” This event is being held on the Elizabeth Gaskell Campus, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.
News Item Al Galves Receives Humanitarian Award
MindFreedom sponsor group International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology (ICSPP) awarded Al Galves, PhD with a special award at their annual meeting in Arlington, Virginia. Al is a board member of MindFreedom International.
News Item A plan for a national mental health consumers memorial
Mental health consumer Larry Fricks describes a campaign to build a USA national memorial in Washington, DC in memory of mental health consumers and psychiatric survivors.
Article Acceptance Speech for “Award in Advocacy” from the Mental Health Legal Committee
Delivered at the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health, Queen Street site, Toronto, Canada. Dedicated to my close and lifelong friend, editorial consultant, and brilliant advocate Carla McKague.
Event Alternatives 2008 (Buffalo, New York, USA, from Oct 29, 2008 12:00 AM to Nov 02, 2008 12:00 AM)
Since the 1980’s, the US federal government helps fund a large conference of several hundred mental health consumers and psychiatric survivors, many of whom are leading consumer-driven projects such as support groups and drop-in centers. This year’s conference is being held in Buffalo, New York, USA.
Folder Archive of some of the past MindFreedom human rights alerts
Here are a few of the activities from the past of MindFreedom International.
Event Alternatives 2009 (Omaha, Nebraska, USA, from Oct 28, 2009 12:00 AM to Nov 01, 2009 12:00 AM)
The 23rd annual Alternatives conference has begun..
Image Help Not Harm
The Emergency Room Rights Committee logo.
Event Critical Psychiatry Network Conference 2009 (Dunstan Hall, Norwich, United Kingdom, from Jun 22, 2009 12:00 AM to Jun 22, 2009 12:00 AM)
The Critical Psychiatry Network is hosting its tenth annual conference, entitled “Promoting the critical mental health movement.”
Folder Info on Annual “Alternatives Conference” Sponsored by US Government
Each year for the past two decades, the US mental health agency Center for Mental Health Services funds an annual conference bringing together hundreds of mental health consumers and psychiatric survivors who are working on peer run and peer directed services in their local community.