Summary of Marca Bristo’s keynote address at the SCRA conference in Chicago. Plea for more researchers to start taking on recovery oriented research on peer provided programs. . . . → Read More: Researchers, Please Help Us Get our Outcomes Data!
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Arts KC Inspiration Award
Winner 2009
Charlotte Street Foundation
Exhibiting Artist 2009, 2010
Creative Capital Professional Development Alumnus |
It is better to use human experience language to describe mental illness rather than clinical terms that hide the true suffering or its root causes and possible solutions. . . . → Read More: The reality of emotional distress versus mental illness There are many reasons to question the extensive use of psychiatric medications in the United States. The youth bipolar epidemic, which has expanded 40 fold in the last twenty years, is purely an American phenomenon. There are concerns about the pharmaceutical industry’s use of marketing to create illness where none existed by expanding markets illegally . . . → Read More: What We Can Do about the Overuse of Psychiatric Medications  2 comments  Mental health civil rights, Most popular  bicycle, bicycle commuting, civil rights, consumer movement, consumer run organizations, empowerment, evidence based medicine, medication alternatives, mental health advocacy, mental health recovery, over-medication, overcoming adversity, overuse of medications, peer support, psychiatric medication discontinuance, psychiatric medication withdrawal symptoms, recovery, Robert Whitaker, trauma-informed care, volunteering At least 46 states have now cut budgets that help vulnerable low income people, especially those of us with mental illness. In times of struggle, it’s easy to hunker down and try to keep doing the same things we have always been doing, just with less money. I personally think we need to do more . . . → Read More: Innovative ways to move forward during budget cuts The key challenge: Creating a sustainable and cost effective mental health system is imperative as our society can no longer afford to pay people to remain sick for the rest of their lives. Sharing how extreme emotional states may result from influences outside of the neurobiological model is the stumbling wall and key bottleneck that . . . → Read More: Strategies to tackle the key recovery bottleneck I am a mental health advocate and an artist. I use research information and art to reach into people’s hearts to inspire action changing the mental health system so that we spend money helping people get well instead of paying them to stay dependent. In my performances I use spoken word poetry and motivational . . . → Read More: The Key Bottleneck for Increasing Recovery 3 comments Mental health civil rights bottleneck, budget cuts, consumer movement, disability, employment, hope, medical model, medication optimization, mental health advocacy, overmedication, peer support, placebo effect, recovery, respite care, self-support, SSDI, SSI, unsustainability, warm line, youth empowerment You can have a great life on the other side of a diagnosis. The diagnosis itself is often the most disabling part of the illness. Recovery is hard work. People can help you but no one can fix you. A key element of recovery is taking responsibility. You have to build a new life . . . → Read More: My mental health activist lessons for the general public Recently people have started to become aware that the pharmaceutical industry may not be telling us the whole truth about their medications. One of the most important claims is that the overuse of psychiatric meds might increase the number of people disabled by mental illness in the United States. It is possible that saying that . . . → Read More: Consumers can solve medical waste and scandals I talk about the mental health field because we face large challenges to sustainability just as seen in the energy industry, agriculture, transportation, and other development areas. If I can help figure out the answers for the mental health field, maybe it can also apply to other sectors as well. My friend Ken Braiterman and . . . → Read More: Why the mental health system is unsustainable I have decided that I want to be a seeker after the truth. There a are lot of ideological positions in mental health, and I want to find the truth somewhere in the middle. Some of this is common knowledge in mental health care, but these are some of the topics I have been pondering . . . → Read More: How Mental Health Advocacy Can Save the Planet |
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Copyright © 2012 Corinna West: Intensity - All Rights Reserved |
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