August Line-Up of MindFreedom Free Live Weekly Internet Radio Shows!

Next guest: Ron Bassman - author, psychiatric survivor, psychologist

This Wednesday, 1 August 2007, 4 pm Eastern Time, click http://
prncomm.net

Hear a live interview with Ron Bassman, a psychiatric survivor and
psychologist who has just published a brand new book about his
struggle to live, thrive and change the mental health system:

"A Fight to Be: A Psychologist's Experience from Both Sides of
the Locked Door."

Tags: institutions, abuse, rights

Depression as Weakness

A survey from Mental Health America showed that 22 percent of Americans feel depression is a personal weakness (versus a real health problem), compared to 3 percent for cancer or diabetes.-- The Tennessean, “Stigma Plagues Mental Illness,” 7/15/07

As someone who has had depression, I suspect the percentage may be higher. Even for me, the messages from society and family are so ingrained it's hard sometimes to cut myself some slack. Part of the experience of depression is to beat yourself up anyway so this idea of depression as weakness is a convenient fist to pound yourself with. As I have gotten older, and had more experience with both depression and recovery, I find myself much better able to cut myself some slack, appropriately.

Missing everyone at Higgins this week!! It was great to meet people at the last training!

Kathryn

More from Higgins Lake

It is dark, and I hear the laughter of Peer Support Specialists in the distance who are enjoying the evening. My leadership development training got good reviews. We were very active in exercises, evaluation tools, and discussion. And, I have lots of ideas about the future of leadership development, and, as usual, wish for a fully formed and resource rich program that offers continual coaching support to leaders. Well corporate CEO's have that, MH Consumers should have that also!

I continue to be impressed with the joy of the people at this conference. People who have found some different way of living their lives through this Recovery Movement. Some have become old friends. Some people have been coming to Higgins Lake for a number of years and know to bring their own lawn chair to sit comfortably on the front porch in the evening sharing stories of their lives, and ... laugh.

I met a woman today who survived 10 years in Ypsi State hospital and 4 years in Northville. She now sits on national committees and boards as a consumer representative. She is very wise and humbles me with a reference to the abuse she experienced while in the custody of the State.

And, like in any other learning group that goes on retreat, people here work hard and play hard. There are groups this evening singing kareoke (amazing how much better it sounds without the addition of beer) a group lead by a Native American woman talking story, a beach campfire, and a eurcher game that I found too late! Everywhere I walk into a group I am welcome. The experience of open arms and acceptance is a cultural norm within this group of people who report stories of not easily being understood or welcomed in their workplace.

Transforming a large mental health system does not come easily, but this group is determined, cheerful (while together) and maybe just smart enough to make it happen!

Peer Support Specialists Training

I was asked by Pam Werner to deliver a one and one half day leadership skills workshop at this week long retreat for Peer Support Specialists at the MacMillian Conference Center, Higgins Lake, Michigan.

I arrived about 9:00 PM on Sunday, after a difficult day with my aging mother. I was greeted warmly by Mary Beth, who is, I believe, one of the organizers. Between the registration, being assigned my room, and emptying my car I must have met 10 people who offered to help get my bags to my room. In the first 15 minutes I was engaged in a conversation with 3 people sitting on the steps of the cabin, enjoying the evening. They were talking about their personal experience in this phenomen called Recovery Movment. They were bright, careful, excited, and encouraged. They spoke of their lives being changed dramatically by learning about themselves and trusting that they can manage their illness.

I excused myself from this group, wanting to walk around the grounds and become familiar with the conference center. At every cabin door, there were small groups chatting and enjoying the evening. Following the drive, I came across two men walking in the opposite direction. Gerald was the first person who offered to help me with my bags, and Yuself is a man I know from my work in long-term care reform. After a warm greeting they joined me in my walk to the lake.

At the end of a long boardwalk through the woods, was a campfire with more people chatting. I met Doug who carves wood and spoke of being commissioned to carve an elephant - I did not get the impression that it was life size! Ann, Mo, Heather, and Pam who I know from a leadership mini-grant we were able to offer her program. All are very friendly and engaging.

If this is an example of how the Peer Support Specialists initiative works, I am in for a very delightful week.

More tomorrow,
Carolyn

Recovery Council, Part 3

Members of the Recovery Council received a CD that contains Peer provided materials for a Continuing Education Conference to be held at McMullen Conference Center in Michigan the week of July 23-27. Roughly 200 people will be there. The materials are many and varied. I will be pulling out pieces to give you the flavor of the materials on the CD all this week.

I believe it will be possible to make the CD more available, or, failing that, to put the individual files on a web page for download. I'll ;et readers know sometime in the next couple of weeks.

I am also going to try to find a way to get notes from the conference for inclusion in this blog. I'll let you know how that goes.

Recovery Council 7-20-2007

Part 2:

Great lunch!!

Before Priscilla started in the afternoon, there was a discussion about the uses of symptom based assessments.

Oh, the Kansas book is called Pathways to Recovery. See http://www.socwel.ku.edu/projects/SEG/pathways.html

It is the stories, told and shared, that will prove the concept of Recovery and show its effectiveness.

REE: The Recovery Enhancing Environment Measure. It is intended to be used interactively to develop a real view of the system response.

Priscilla went through the items, including the stages of recovery, Organizational supports for recovery, what aspects of recovery are currently important to the person. There is a page which lists 27 outcomes that mark the evolution of recovery. The markers actually map the stage of recovery.

Priscilla passed out a work-in-progress on the Elements of a Recovery Facilitating System. These items are focused on assessing systems. Priscilla will be holding "ERFS" days for doing the assessment and educating people.

England and Australia are using the REE as the basic instrument for Recovery.

But here in America, the only Federal goals are symptom reduction and utilization reduction.

Priscilla closed by saying that human growth is out of the box and isn't going back in.

Tags: REcovery, culture change, instruments

Michigan Recovery Council Meeting

July 20, 2007 at LCC West

As usual, the RC meeting today has been celebratory and contentious. Right now, Priscilla Ridgeway if talking about the whole context of the Recovery Movement, and how much has to change for that to happen. She talks about recovery as taking responsibility for the whole of one's life and viewing the current system as an environment of potential tools.

Part 1 Notes:

She pointed to the peer focused stories of the Kansas

Many relationships and tools make recovery and transformation light.

"Sitting around campfires, creating a culture."

The tension between the unique nature of the Recovery Journey and figuring out how well we are doing is part of the culture creation.

We are in a construction zone creating the Recovery Culture. Telling our stories is creating and expanding Recovery Culture.

"Brailling the Elephant"

Lots of people have made surveys to find out more about some process of change.

Recovery has always been. Until recently, in this society, recovery knowledge has been suppressed through the ambient stigma.

We need to create ways to be together to heal each other.

Measurement="How are we doing?"

Can we talk about how we are doing clearly enough to share that knowledge?

Right now, there is a negotiation going on over the recovery focus of the OQ45, and the possibility of adding other components. She refers to staff as helpers, a different role.

Priscilla mentioned the paperwork demands of measurement. Also, everyone wants data. And it isn't clear what we do with the data. The Council and its members have some power and don't want to be manipulated.

Learn how to observe the flow of power as you participate in power relationships, discussions, reviews, and whatever else.

No real funding for recovery measurements, so we need 1000 flowers to bloom. If you have an idea, go for it.

Many problems with real uses of measurements. People lose supports because of their score. Maybe we need a Reality Show on geting and losing supports during recovery.

"What you measure matters". Money, power, position, people's lives change because of measurement.

Comments spoke to the light bulb of seeing the recovery process as including power, money, and struggle. And outcomes. And an acceptable measurement doesn't yet exist.

End of Part 1

Poison into Medicine

from Gerald Butler

June 30, 2007

Poison into medicine

I am so encouraged by the optimistic responses to the last Peer 2 Peer that I am certain there is some sort of positive energy and hope flowing throughout the recovering community.

Someone who has never been in an airplane cannot command the Space Shuttle, though he may be world renowned a male cancer surgeon would be in unfamiliar territory at a ‘Breast Cancer Survivors’ support group meeting, a person who has never taken a drink or done drugs is incapable of running a NA or AA meeting. These same principals apply to us, and we must take pride in the fact that we have been where we have been and have chosen to help others. All that pain and suffering we went through was a valuable education and we paid dearly for it. Through ‘Peer Support’ we have the opportunity to turn all of that poison into medicine and help heal others who are where we used to be. As Peers, we do what we do from the heart and that makes us ‘Golden’ in the eyes of God.

In the last letter I stressed the importance of staying on a positive level, and some of you asked ‘How can I stay positive when I work around negative people? First we must clear our hearts and souls of low self esteem, animosity and/or anger, envy, insensitivity, and all the other negative emotions. Then we must put on our spiritual armor, hold our heads high, and walk proudly because through our suffering dues to humanity have been paid. Now it is time to collect our just rewards of respect, honor, truth, and dignity. Take for instance the soldier who is rescued at the last moment from what was certain death and is returned to safety. When that soldier says ‘I must go back and help save my brothers’, he/she is honored as a war hero. True ‘Peers Supporters’ do the exact same thing and that is what makes you Golden. You must appreciate yourself so that you may show others how to gain self esteem.

I have never watched an episode of Star Wars but from my understanding, Luke Skywalker had the ‘FORCE’ on his side, he just had to learn how to utilize it. Chakras, Great Spirit, The Holy Ghost, are some of the religious based concepts referring to some sort of higher power. The common theme is: one must go through ordeals to achieve a higher level of existence. You have been through your ‘Trails & Tribulations’ and as a result you view life from more of a spiritual position. . Keep your heart clean and clear of negativity, turning it over to him/her who handles that sort of thing. Walk in honor that you have garnered through suffering, and do not step down into negative situations, or let negative people pierce your armor. Do unto yourself as you do unto others. Mostly, remember you are golden.

Gerald Butler

CPSS

Connecting Tags; Recovery, peer, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy