Mad in America

12:00 pm - 3:00 pm ET

One synonym for crisis is “crossroads.” This moment offers us a significant opportunity to transform what crisis is, and what care can look like. The number of innovative programs and services (e.g. respite centers, psychiatric advance directives) that nurture autonomy and self-determination is growing, as is the understanding our trauma has multiple roots. We ask: What could happen if our crises were widely understood not as a personal failure, but as a symptom of a world that is suffering? What if our care systems prioritized resourcing communities, rather than “outsourcing” to professionals? What if we met these global inflection points with a vast spectrum of collective care tools and networks?

IDHA’s Fall 2022/Spring 2023 Training Series, Crossroads of Crisis, reimagines the crisis continuum – interrogating what crisis is, where it comes from, how to respond to it with curiosity and compassion, and the role of providers and communities. Building on former IDHA offerings Crisis as Catalyst and Cultivating Community, we will ground our learning in the voices of lived experience and approach the theme of crisis from multiple lenses and dimensions. Drawing inspiration and lessons from current community-based efforts, we will practice how to disrupt paradigms of coercion, create personal codes of ethics, and attune to the needs of those we support in professional and nonprofessional roles. We hope you will join us in building a world beyond 988.

Time Zone: Eastern Time

Poets with lived experience with mental distress who are critical of the drug-based paradigm of psychiatric care are invited to perform their poetry live at MIA’s Mad Poetry Slam on Zoom on May 7th, 9AM PDT/12PM EDT/9AM PT/5PM BST/6PM CEST. Two to three poets will be featured and there will be an open mic for the last half hour of the event. Signing up for the open mic will be first-come, first-serve at the time of the event.