Tag: Civil rights
Civil Rights Advocates Call U.S. Child Welfare System a ‘National Problem’
From The Imprint: A new report says the child welfare system fails to adequately address the needs of families and often harms the very kids it's designed to protect.
Creative Maladjustment: An Interview with Donzaleigh Abernathy
Donzaleigh Abernathy—goddaughter of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—shares her thoughts on the civil rights movement and the legacy of racism in the United States.
Bernie Sanders’ ‘Revolutionary’ Disability Plan Opposes Expanding Involuntary Treatment
Candidate Bernie Sanders' 'disability rights as civil rights' plan is distinctive in its explicit inclusion of people with psychiatric disabilities and diagnoses, an orientation that runs counter to prevailing policy discourse in the U.S.Â
Defeating Goliath: Mental Health is a Social Justice Issue, and People...
While I have lived just a few miles away from the Capitol for the last fifteen years, I have been unsure about getting involved in legislative advocacy. I’ve been intimidated by the complexity of the legislative process, and more inclined to leave it up to others who I perceive as having more experience than me. And honestly, I haven’t felt very hopeful about effecting change. My cynicism had turned to “learned helplessness.” And then along came a mental health bill so destructive, so regressive, that I had to step out of my uncomfortable comfort zone.
Backsliding in the Bay State
The drumbeat for more "Risk Management" just gets louder. And nowhere is this so alarmingly evident as a new policy proposed by the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health (DMH) in November 2012.
Common Sense, Deferred: Lessons From the “Fresh Air” Fight, Part Two
How and why the right to fresh air is continuously blocked by money, politics and ignorance. Plus, personal reflections on how nature heals.
Common Sense, Deferred: Lessons From the “Fresh Air” Fight, Part One
How does a straightforward, common-sense idea - guaranteeing the elemental pleasures of fresh air and access to nature to those in inpatient and residential psychiatric/mental health facilities – repeatedly fail on a policy level?
Launching the Beyond ‘Anatomy’ Forum
When I first read Anatomy of an Epidemic in 2010, something inside of me ignited. I had no idea that such a sensation was...
New York State’s Assisted Out-Patient Treatment Program: Racial Myths & Other...
New York State’s out-patient commitment program, termed Assisted Out-Patient Treatment (AOT), was instituted in 1999 to protect the general public from treatment non-compliant and...
On Creative Maladjustment and Rethinking Psychiatry
On this day January 16 2012, we commemorate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Â and as such, many thoughts are...
