Programs & Services

- West Virginia Recovers

WV Recovers affiliates with a network of peer-run Wellness and Recovery Resource Centers & Recovery Community Organizations providing peer support and recovery-oriented services within their communities.

Recovery Community Organizations:?

• Hampshire County Pathways dba WVCORR.ORG- Estella Garber, director@wvcorr.org?
• Milan Puskar Health Right- Laura Jones, ljones@mphealthright.org
• Aspire Services Center-Brian Crist briancrist15@gmail.com
• Ohio Valley Recovery (Unity Center)-MaryHess, theunitycenter4all@gmail.co
• Seed Sower-Jay Philips- jay@seedsowerinc.or
• Calhoun County- calhounfrn@gmail.com -  dickwittberg@hotmail.com?????

Wellness & Recovery Centers:

• ???BoMar Club--Donna Coleman, bomarclub@yahoo.com
• First Steps--Terry Collinson, terry.collison@harmonyhousewv.com
• Hampshire County Pathways--Estella Garber,  director@wvcorr.org
• Milan Puskar Health Right (Fairmont Friendship Room) - Laura Jones, ljones@mphealthright.org
• NAMI of Greater Wheeling --Julia Gomez, namigraterwheeling@gmail.com
• PAAC Peer Center--James Patterson, patterson@paac2.org
• Berkeley County Council--Tracey Guilliams, tguilliams@berkeleywv.org?????

- Global Alliance of Mental Illness Advocacy Network Europe (GAMIAN-EU)

MasterMind is the management of mental health disorders through advanced technology and services – telehealth for the MIND” The MastermMind Consortium to avoid dispersing efforts has narrowed the scope of the services to just one, non-organic, mental disorder: depression. This because of its high incidence, social cost and proven clinical effectiveness of ICT in its treatment.

MasterMind intends to implement at scale (almost 5.000 patient overall) evidence based computerised Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (cCBT) services for depressed adults across 9 EU and Associated Countries, 6 of which participate through Authorised National Representatives, and from
this implementation: identify the barriers and success factors to implement cCBT on a large scale in different political, social, economic and technical health care contexts and from the perspective of different stakeholders such as patients, professionals and health insurances; recommend successful strategies for implementing cCBT in these different contexts/settings.

MasterMind further aims to Implement video conference enabled blended care for patients with depression treated in General Practice where the patient and GP have an interview with a specialist to support diagnosis, treatment planning, follow-up and education of both the patient and the GP. Using the lessons learnt, the Consortium will develop guidelines for promoting and facilitating the broader implementation across Europe of a safe, effective and efficient service supported by relevant stakeholders. The project will also explore the implementation of language and culture specific cCBT services for foreign citizens living in EU countries and will produce localised version of cCBT (4 in total) for countries non represented in the Consortium to prepare the roll-out of cCBT in other areas of the EU. The outcome of the service will be evaluated using a widespread HTA-based rigorous multi-dimensional evaluation methodology, MAST, already in use in other Pilots A. The Consortium provides a balanced mix between pioneer and early followers and between Nothern and Southern, Eastern and Western Europe.

Grow Residential Rehabilitation Program - Grow

The Grow Residential Rehabilitation program has been successfully providing a structured rehabilitation service for people with co-existing drug, alcohol and mental health issues for over 30 years. GROW has been successfully providing residential rehabilitation services to people with a dual diagnosis in South West Sydney for more than 30 years. Located in Hoxton Park, NSW, our methods have enabled us to identify areas of need and improvement, which in turn has assisted in providing an effective program to combat mental health issues, as well as drug and or alcohol addiction. This unique facility successfully provides structured recovery and rehabilitation services to individuals first and foremost with mental health issues and further services if an individual presents with the co-morbidity of alcohol and drug addiction, or dual diagnosis as it is known. 

The GROW Residential Community offers a safe space where people can recover both their mental and physical health, their belief in their own personal value, go through drug referral, learn to live in community with others and establish habits that will support their transition to a full and purposeful life. The GROW Program is the foundation of all that occurs in the GROW Residential Community. The commitment of our staff and the lived experiences of Residents and Growers are the key resources that demonstrate the GROW Program philosophy. All the daily activities are designed to activate the proven features of recovery as developed for more than 60 years.

0800 ANXIETY HELPLINE - Anxiety NZ

40 Hour PSS Training Sessions - North Carolina Certified Peer Support Specialist Program

A History of The Consumer Movement - Mindfreedom International

A.I.R Conference - Wings Across Alabama

The Alabama Institute for Recovery (A.I.R.) holds an annual conference around Alabama that has become one of the year's highlights for many consumers in Alabama. Over 800 attendees from around the state gather for three days of education and fellowship. The conference features nationally known speakers and several workshops on consumer issues and interests. Social activities include a talent show and dance. Most attendees are consumers, and the conference often includes consumers from other states and international attendees. The Alabama Institute for Recovery is planned and coordinated by individuals in recovery from mental illness. The Office of Peer Programs of the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Division of the Alabama Department of Mental Health and Wings Across Alabama presents it.

ABC's of Advocacy - California Association of Mental Health Peer-Run Organizations (CAMHPRO)

“CAMHPRO’s ABC’s of Advocacy” is a series of three webinars on the basics and details of how you can participate in the California community program planning process in a meaningful and effective manner. These three webinars are interactive through polling, questions and answers, and prompt you to take the next steps. 

ABHPAC Peer Institute - Personal Empowerment Recovery Coalition (PERC)

Five full days of PRSS Training and four days of Peer Tools and workshop information, networking and enjoyment. Keynote speaker Sharon Wise. There will be plenty of vendors and presentations that support PERC's mission of advocating for persons with lived experience.  We plan for this institute to be one that promotes and educates the public that recovery is possible through a compassionate, person-centered, peer supportive environment! 

About Consumers - Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council (VMIAC)

Consumer is a common term used to describe people who have used mental health services as a patient or client. VMIAC welcomes any person who identifies as a consumer (or similar). Traditionally, the people who use our services have: 

• Experienced mental health problems or emotional distress  
• Been consumers of public clinical mental health services (inpatient and/or case management) 
• Been consumers of community mental health services and/or the NDIS  
• Tried to access the above services and been unable to do so 

This group of people makes up around 3-5% of the population. Most of us, but not all, have experienced profound distress, trauma, violence and abuse, socioeconomic disadvantage, discrimination and breaches of human rights. 

About Disccociation - Dissociative Network Initiative

Dissociation is a psychological term for a whole range of experiences. Put simply, dissociation is a disconnection of some kind. You can think of it as being unplugged in some area. Dissociation happens on a continuum, it can be very mild or all the way to very severe.

About Multiplicity - Dissociative Network Initiative

People with multiplicity have many different understandings of the origin and function of other personalities, alters or ‘selves’ – here we’ve called them parts. For some common terms and language about multiplicity, please see Language, definitions, and common terms. Of course, each part may have their own understanding of the multiplicity (or be unaware of it, or reject it) and these may contradict each other. It’s extremely important to make room for these contradictions and respect the right of each part to understand and articulate their experiences in their own way.

Multiplicity is a very broad term meaning any experience of more than ‘self’ in your mind or body. People have very different understandings of what it means to experience this ‘more than one’. In some cultures these experiences are considered sacred and valuable, in others they are seen as extremely negative and dangerous. People’s experiences vary widely from extremely distressing and life threatening through to deeply precious and life saving or enhancing. Some people’s experiences includes both extremes. Some people may see these selves outside of their body as people they can talk to, but others do not. Multiplicity may be a temporary situation but for some it is enduring – this can be a good or bad thing. It can be confusing to become aware of the many different ways people can understand experiences of multiplicity, but it can also help to broaden our understanding and connect with others with a diversity of meanings and experiences.

Abuse In Mental Health - Mindfreedom International

Abuse in Mental Health System is a page on issues related to abuse. These include:

• Psychiatric Labels: harm caused by unscientific psychiatric diagnoses.
• Electroshock: information about electroconvulsive therapy.
• An Overview of Psychiatric Abuse
• School of Shock: Inside a school where mentally disturbed students are jolted into good behavior. The Village Voice looks at an institution that openly uses pain to try to control behavior of people labeled with mental disabilities.
• Psychiatric Coercion: techniques ranging from pressure to out right force in the mental health system.
• Racism
• Psychiatric Institutionalization: stories and information challenging the use of coerced lock-ups in psychiatric institutions.
• Veterans Mental Health: present and former military personnel and their family are often denied adequate alternatives and advocacy for mental and emotional well being.
• Brain Altering Technology Experiments: psychosurgery, vagus nerve stimulation, and rTMS (repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation) are all examples of brain altering technology that may be used for psychiatric purposes and that are currently openly used internationally.
• Prescription Abuse Seen In U.S. Nursing Homes: a 4 December 2007 article in the Wall Street Journal, by Lucette Lagnado, describing the massive over-drugging of senior citizens.
• Restraint: information about restraint.
• E. Fuller Torrey: One of main opponents of human rights of mental health consumers & psychiatric survivors. One of the main crusaders to make it easier to forcibly administer psychiatric drugs to mental health consumers and psychiatric survivors — including in their own homes — is psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey, and his extremist organization Treatment Advocacy Center.

ACAPS - California Association of Mental Health Peer-Run Organizations (CAMHPRO)

The Alameda County Accelerated Peer Specialist Program (ACAPS) is a training and placement program of the California Association of Peer Run Organizations (CAMHPRO.)

Action Planning for Prevention and Recovery (APPR) - Vocal Virginia

Action Planning for Prevention and Recovery (APPR) is a self-directed recovery and wellness program designed to promote personal awareness, health, and life transformation. In APPR groups, individuals learn more about APPR and how to complete their own plan from trained APPR facilitators, who share self-help concepts, skills, and strategies.

Active Monitoring Wales - Mind Cymru

Anyone over 18 in Wales can be referred to Active Monitoring by a GP, other health professional, or by contacting us directly. Within a week, they can start the six-week guided self-help course on anxiety, depression, self-esteem, stress, feeling alone, managing anger, grief and loss. Each week, an Active Monitoring Practitioner will send information and workbooks and call to offer support and guidance.

Activism In Mental Health - Mindfreedom International

Action campaigns to challenge and transform the mental health system. These the boots on the ground launching human rights campaigns in communities throughout the world.

• 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.
• 2003 Actions: the MindFreedom Hunger Strike and march on the APA.
• 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.
• Psychiatric Survivor Movement History: the current era of psychiatric survivor and ally activism is generally considered to have begun in about 1970.
• IAACM – Creative Maladjustment: International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment – Fulfilling Martin Luther King’s Vision
• Eastern Europe: activism regarding Eastern European psychiatric human rights violations
• 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.
•  Asylum! Conference and Festival: 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.
•  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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Alternatives 2008: 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.
• Alternatives 2009: the 23rd annual Alternatives conference has begun.
• Help Not Harm
• Critical Psychiatry Network Conference 2009 (Dunstan Hall, Norwich, United Kingdom, from Jun 22, 2009 12:00 AM to Jun 22, 2009 12:00 . The Critical Psychiatry Network is hosting its tenth annual conference, entitled “Promoting the critical mental health movement.”

Advance Medical Directives - Mindfreedom International

An advance directive is a written document that expresses your wishes in advance about what types of treatments, services and other assistance you want during a personal mental health crisis. A directive provides a clear statement of your medical treatment preferences and other wishes or instructions. You can also use it to grant legal decision-making authority to another person to be your advocate and agent until the crisis is over.

Advancing Successful Peer Inclusion and Readiness for Employment (ASPIRE) Project - Consumers of Mental Health Western Australia (CoMHWA)

The ASPIRE Project is led by Consumers of Mental Health WA (CoMHWA), in partnership with 360 Health and Community (360), and in collaboration with a network of employers in the disability and health sectors. The ASPIRE Project is an innovative partnership program between people with psychosocial disability and employers to:

• Boost employable skills and employment outcomes for individuals with psychosocial disability
• Create new employment pathways for Peer Workers
• Drive inclusive practices by employers
• Increase the confidence and motivation of employers to employ Peer Workers.

Individuals will be supported through access to a new skills-based training pathway for Peer Work in disability settings, work-based placements and coaching in employment goals. Employers will be supported with workplace readiness and inclusion through the development of a Peer Workforce Readiness Toolkit, access to skilled disability Peer Work student placements and support to provide students with safe, meaningful work placement experiences that are of value and benefit to employers.

Advocacy - Mindfreedom International

Mindfreedom have mapped a number of advocay activities in the mental helalth consumer movement. These include:

• Court ruling on Illinois warehoused psychiatric inmates: Federal Court Advances Challenge to Illinois Policy Warehousing Residents Labeled with Mental Illnesses

• Psychiatric Advance Directives: “Advance directives” on mental health topics can sometimes help prevent forced psychiatric treatment, but too often the psychiatric industry is allowed to override these documents.

• US Supreme Court on Freedom of Mind and Irrational Thought: a couple of brief quotes in US Supreme Court rulings about how the First Amendment guarantees freedom of thought and freedom of mind, even to have so-called “irrational” beliefs.

• Information about Illinois court case regarding “deterioration” standard: an Illinois court struck down a commitment from 2008.

• Advocacy to Encourage More Openness at US Mental Health Agency (SAMHSA)

Advocacy - Consumers of Mental Health Western Australia (CoMHWA)

CoMHWA is a systemic advocacy organisation that advances the rights and interests of people with lived experience. Our work includes member-based consultations and campaigns, and advocating for consumer rights and interests to politicians, government and services.  We also work with and assist lived experience groups and leaders at a local and regional level to help bring about change. 

• Self-advocacy: Helping people to feel informed and confident to speak up for their own rights and interests;
• Individual advocacy: Assisting individuals to speak up for their personal rights and interests. Individual advocacy is when a person is helped to speak up about their rights and interests, such as through information and advice about their situation, help with writing letters or going to meetings, or having someone speak up on their behalf. Unfortunately, CoMHWA is unable to provide individual advocacy services, however we can point you in the directions of organisations who provide this service.
• Systemic advocacy: Collective advocacy to speak up and solve the issues that impact many people’s lives. Systemic advocacy is when a group of people work together to advance their collective rights and interests, such as by campaigning and speaking with politicians and the government. CoMHWA’s work lies mainly around improving the lives of people with a lived experience of mental health distress by advising on systems, attitudes, laws and rules in Western Australia. 

Advocacy Organisations - National Mental Health Consumer's Self-Help Clearinghouse

Advocacy organizations vary in focus and may include:

• Individuals getting what they need from mental health and other systems or providers
• Creating change and shifting resources at the local level to better serve consumers and the public.
• Working to counter the effects of stigma, discrimination and the negative stereotypes of people with mental illnesses.
• Moving governmental systems forward
• Supporting civil rights through legislative or policy advocacy.

Afiya - Western Mass Recovery Learning Community (RLC)

Afiya is the first peer-run respite in Massachusetts. Afiya strives to provide a safe space in which each person can find the balance and support needed to turn what is so often referred to as a ‘crisis’ into a learning and growth opportunity. Afiya is located in a residential neighborhood in Northampton, Massachusetts and is central to a variety of community resources.  It is available to anyone ages 18 and older who is experiencing distress and feels they would benefit from being in a short-term, 24-hour peer-supported environment with others who have ‘been there.’  Typical stays at Afiya range from one to seven days.

The majority of people you will meet  (including in leadership roles) at Afiya identify as having lived experience that may include extreme emotional or altered states, psychiatric diagnoses, trauma histories, living without a home, navigating the mental health and other public systems, addictions and more.  They have come together because they believe that the wisdom they have gained from their lived experience is invaluable and sharing their story has great potential to create connection and support for others on their own journeys.

Afiya Peer Respite - Wildflower Alliance

Afiya is the first peer-run respite in Massachusetts and one of only a few dozen in the country. Afiya (A-FEE-yah) is a Swahili word that means “physical, emotional and spiritual health and wholeness.”

Africa American Mental Health Awareness Campaign - Peers Envisioning and Engaging in Recovery Services (PEERS)

The I’m Good Campaign is a campaign to bring awareness of mental health services, resources, and tools available to the African American community. I’m Good is a project of the Everyone Counts Campaign and PEERS, an Oakland-based mental health advocacy nonprofit organization. The goal of the Everyone Counts Campaign is to inform the public about mental health, empower those living with mental health issues, and put an end once and for all to stigma and discrimination. The Campaign is funded by Alameda County Behavioral Health Care Services and the Mental Health Services Act (Prop 63).

All Recovery meetings - Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network

All Recovery meetings provide a place where all pathways to recovery are welcome, including members of twelve-step groups, faith-based groups, and people in medication-assisted recovery, but we only have one purpose, and that is supporting each other on our recovery journeys. Meeting schedule for Y'All Recovery meetings at Georgia's Peer Support, Wellness, and Respite Centers:

• Online Meetings
• Bartow County (Friday Noon-1pm)  
• Colquitt County (Friday 2pm-3pm) 
• Decatur (Friday 2:30pm-3:30pm) 
• Henry County (Tuesday 2pm-3pm) 
• White County (Friday 12:30pm-1:30pm) 

Alternatives and Human Rights in Mental Health - Mindfreedom International

Events related to alternatives & human rights in mental health are conferences, meetings, congresses, gatherings related to the topics of human rights in mental health. 

• Are We Mad? Critical Perspectives on the Canadian Mental Health System 
• Recovery from Psychosis: Healing through Relationship with keynote by Ron Bassman  
• International Conference on Self-Determination: the conference organizers announced: “International perspectives on progressive notions of mental health recovery, family supports, community membership, ending forced impoverishment and system change requirements will be part of the focus of the conference. The meetings will feature leaders from across disability and aging and relate the efforts being made across the world to make freedom a reality for individuals with disabilities.”
• David Oaks Lecture on the Mad Pride Movement: a free lecture by David Oaks at Harvard University.
• An Evening with David Oaks
• Petaluma Progressive Festival 
• Flyer for David Oaks Lecture
• PsychOUT: A Conference for Organizing Resistance Against Psychiatry: Toronto conference includes variety of speakers, workshops, plus protest about electroshock. David W. Oaks, Director of MindFreedom International, is one of the speakers.
• Celia Brown Moderates Panel on Mental Health, UN and Human Rights: on Human Rights Day, the Celia Brown will moderate and participate in a panel in United Nations Plaza about human rights and mental health.

Alternatives to Suicide (Alt2Su) - Wildflower Alliance

Alternatives to Suicide (Alt2Su) was first developed in Western Massachusetts by members of the Wildflower Alliance. The approach began with Support Groups and has grown to include a model for conversations about suicide that anyone can use. In the Alternatives to Suicide approach, people are welcome to talk about anything, including wanting to die. No one will call the police, crisis, or other involuntary interventions. Nor do we offer any advice or assessment of experiences unless a person specifically asks for that. Participants are encouraged to use “I”-statements and make meaning of their own experience. Using this approach, people can explore the context of their experiences around suicide, their reasons for wanting to die, and work to change their relationship to their thoughts, feelings, and circumstances.

• Alternative to Suicide Group Charter
• Information
• Upcoming Trainings
• Survey
• Experience Survey
• Calendar Change Requests
• Australian Groups

Alternatives to the Traditional Mental Health System - Mindfreedom International

Alternatives to the Traditional Mental Health System include:

• Consumer-Driven Resources
• Non-Drug Alternatives for Label of Schizophrenia
• Mental health system due for radical reform: a guest column by dissdent mental health worker and MindFreedom Lane County activist Ron Unger says that a range of real choices in mental health care is crucial for for recovery.
• Trauma model as alternative: viewing emotional distress through a trauma perspective can be one alternative to the domination of the medical model.
• ecopsychology: alternatives to the traditional mental health system that involve nature and the environment.
• yoga-for-depression
• Easy access to acupuncture: Freedom Center in Northampton offers free treatments.
• Alternative Healing: How to navigate the psychiatric system if you’re caught, and how to present yourself as “normal.”
• Positive Psychology is Getting a Tryout at McLean Hospital: the major psychiatric institution McLean Hospital in Massachusetts, a Harvard teaching facility, announced it is introducing “positive psychology” as an alternative approach to assist in mental and emotional well being recovery.
• Recovery and Mental Health: full and complete recovery — meaning re-integration into society without dependence on the mental health system, is an achievable goal for every known problem labeled as a “psychiatric disorder.”
• Consumer-Driven Services – International: international consumer-driven resource
• Inspiration for a Creative Revolution” by Janet Foner
• Nutritional and Orthomolecular: this is a folder about alternatives to the conventional mental health system that involve supplements, vitamins, nutrients, orthomolecular approaches, herbs., etc.
• Peer support: peer mutual support is now proven through studies to, in many circumstances, add to the likelihood of recovery following a diagnosis with some mental health problems.
• Hearing Voices: there are a range of alternatives that individuals have successfully used to address the problem of experiencing extremely distressing voices, thoughts, visions, etc. that others do not experience. While some individuals choose a medical model approach, such as psychiatric drugs, many others have reached recovery or manage their challenges with a wide variety of options and choices. For example, the peer support network Hearing Voices USA is a sponsor group of MindFreedom International. There are many Hearing Voices peer support groups in Europe.
• Alternative Medicine Resources: links to websites providing alternative medicine resources
• Review: “Alternatives Beyond Psychiatry” reviewed by Mary Maddock: Mary Maddock of Cork, Ireland reviews the new book “Alternatives Beyond Psychiatry” co-edited by Peter Lehmann and Peter Stastny. Mary is co-founder of MindFreedom Ireland.
• BBC News: “More funds for talking therapies: the English government will spend millions more on “talking treatments” for depression and anxiety.
• Finland Open Dialogue: a Finnish alternative to the traditional mental health system for people diagnosed with “psychoses” such as “schizophrenia” is “Open Dialogue.” This approach aims to support the individual’s network of family and friends, as well as respect the decision-making of the individual. Here are two follow-up studies: One is a two-year follow-up and the other, which is the recommended study, is a five-year follow-up.
• Bruce Levine’s New England Book Tour: a New Englnad tour to promote Bruce Levine’s new book: “Surviving America’s Depression Epidemic: How to Find Morale, Energy, and Community in a World Gone Crazy”
• Link to info on Chinese herbal psychiatry: a link to a simple “pharmacopoeia” of traditional Chinese medicine herbal blends for mental heath diagnoses from depression to psychosis.
• Brainstorm of our favorite alternatives from Opal Meeting in Lane County, Oregon, USA: psychiatric survivor and vet Hugh Massengill addressed the sixth meeting of the Opal Network in Eugene, Oregon on 29 July 2008 about moving from madness to mental wellness. The Opal Network brings together advocates for empowerment of people in mental health system in Lane County. Moderators Bjo Ashwill and Tom Wilson led a brainstorm about our favorite methods to reach and maintain mental and emotional well being. Here is a draft based on notes by David Oaks
• A New Group for People Who Hear Voices Celebrates Mental Illness Diversity: a weekly newspaper in Portland, Oregon covers “mad pride” alternative medicine, and profiles MindFreedom member Will Hall.
• Mental health: Out of the cuckoo’s nest: UK Guardian is one of the most influential English-speaking newspaper in the world. They ran an article about psychiatrist and psychiatric survivor Dan Fisher, and his work for more empowering alternatives in the mental health system such as peer support.
• Therapy Without Force: A Treatment Model for Severe Psychiatric Problems: this paper offers real-world examples of how therapists can avoid resorting to coercive interventions while attempting to respectfully help those in severe distress.
• Events to Promote and Support Humane Alternatives to Conventional Mental Health System: these are calendar event entries about changing the mental health system through approaches different than the traditional mental health system. These are listed for informational purposes only, author responsible for content, and publicizing these does not necessarily mean endorsement of all or part of the event.
• Panel on life: Dr. Brent Potter has organized a panel to speak about the life and work of R.D. Laing, the controversial psychoanalyst, psychiatrist, and human rights advocate, who Dr. Potter states, “laid the groundwork for therapeutic households, mental health law reform, and the peer recovery movement.”

Alternatives to the Traditional Mental Health System - Mindfreedom International

Amigos Writing Group - Amigos

Annual World Hearing Voices Congress - Intervoice

Each year, with the support of Intervoice, a different national network or organisation hosts a World Hearing Voices Congress. These congresses are a wonderful opportunity to bring together people who hear voices, family members, supporters, mental health professionals, researchers, academics and other allies to think, share, learn and connect with one another. This section of our site provides a summary of past congresses, along with details of future congresses when they are available. If you would like to find out more about an individual congress, you can either contact us at info@intervoiceonline.org or e-mail the hosts (who will have the most updated information).

Antidepressants - Mad in America

Antipsychotics - Mad in America

Anxiety New Zealand Peer Support Groups - Anxiety NZ

Art Across Alabama - Wings Across Alabama

Here we showcase artist, musicians, writers and artistic expression of various media. Peers have shared their creative works with us for the pleasure of your viewing. Share this page and email us your comments on the art you see here. Processing the feelings we have during this trying time can sometimes be difficult to express in words. Here you will see work from those who are managing the stress of isolation and anxiety through creative expression.

Art Expression Group - The Web

The Art Expression Group provides a weekly art workshop on Fridays @ 10:30 AM. Weekly a Peer mentor leads the workshop to help enrich the lives of those who have an artistic gift. Share, learn or practice a variety of art forms including: 

• Traditional carving
• Painting
• Sketching
• Beading
• Crochet and more.

Artists - Poetry For Personal Power

Poetry for Personal Power has a powerful cadre of artists and advocates who deliver resilience messaging at any place imaginable! Our Sponsored Artists/Advocates range in talents and demographics but all have one thing in common - they believe in helping the community (Yes, they actually DO the work they speak about!).  They have presented our special message of recovery in prisons, schools, parks, bars, churches, mental health facilities, etc.  They deliver these messages with their own stories, art, and life experiences in conjunction with the evidence-based advocate training received from P3.  Resilience messaging events are related to substance use treatment, mental health recovery, advocacy, community engagement, research, and social determinants building and can be presented in many different forms (workshops, open mics, poetry slams, shows, interactive arts, lecture, etc.).  To view our Spotlight Artist/Advocates or the entire roster, click the buttons below or scroll down.

Arts in Mental Health - Mindfreedom International

A sight focused on the role of art, music, dance, writing, theater in challenging psychiatric human rights violation and in assisting in the emergence of emotional and mental well being and recovery.

• Mad arts news: a few links, news items, announcements related to the ‘mad arts.’

• Mad Poetry: poetry cannot be silenced by psychiatric oppression. Here are some examples. Also, MindFreedom Journal has usually had a column of excerpts of Mad Poetry, edited by Bonnie Schell; see info about the journal elsewhere on this web site. You may submit poetry to that column at poetry(at)mindfreedom(dot)org. Please note that by submitting your poem you agree to MindFreedom publishing the whole poem, or excerpts of it. The MindFreedom poetry column is meant to give glimpses of the wonderful poetry out there, and so portions of poems are often used to illustrate this.

• Humor: nothing like humor to help challenge mental health oppression.

• Mad Theater: use of theater in ways that may help human rights and alternatives in mental health system.

• Mad Music: a few songs and musicians celebrating free minds, and challenging psychiatric human rights violations.

• Essay

• Audio activism: use of radio and other audible media to promote human rights and alternatives in the mental health system.

• The Art of Felice Debra Eliscu: some of the artwork of Felice Debra Eliscu.

• New Featured Products in the Mad Market: new products in MindFreedom’s online “Mad Market” store: DVD & CD. Plus there are books, brochures, and more. All proceeds benefit MindFreedom’s human rights work!

• New Mad Pride Jewelry: information about MindFreedom’s new ‘mad pride jewelry.’ You’ll find news release, photos, and more. Sale of these products benefits human rights campaigns by MindFreedom International.

• Celebrities who speak out about human rights in mental health: while many ‘cultural leaders’ in the film, TV, music and theater world have spoken out about having had mental and emotional problems, it seems most stories end simply with finding conventional mental health care they felt worked. These stories are often moving, and represent a segment of the public. But what about those who experienced some kind of trauma or human rights violations caused by their mental health care? What about celebrities who found recovery through less conventional alternatives than psychiatric prescriptions or electroshock? Why do we not hear more of their perspectives?

• Films and movies of interest to ‘mad movement’: activists in the mental health consumer and psychiatric survivor movement have found that showing movies that help inform the public about our issues can help. This folder is not meant to be comprehensive at all, but it’s a start about using various films to campaign for human rights and alternatives in mental health. There’s something fun about a film. (Listing film is not necessarily endorsement of all of it, the producers are responsible for content.)

ASCA Scene - National Association of Peer Program Professionals

Asylum Associates - Asylum Magazine

Asylum associates is the action arm of Asylum Working towards a social firm for training, conferences, publishing, advocacy and community facilitation

Australian Coalition of Clubhouses - Clubhouse International

Bayside Centre - BrookRed

Tge Bayside Centre offers a number of recovery-focused activities, groups, and workshops, as well as individual peer-support. Support at Big RED looks different for everyone; for some it is about building connections with others, or building skills which support their recovery.​

Become a Campaigner - Mind

Mind has a team of over 40,000 campaigners to help us get respect and support for people with mental health problems. Mind campaigners work with us to campaign for a better deal for people with mental health problems. Become a Mind campaigner today. You'll be supported to speak out and take action on one or all of our campaigns. As a Mind campaigner, you can get involved in a range of activities like lobby politicians, sharing information about Mind campaigns and building pressure for change in your local area. We'll ask for your views when we respond to government proposals and we'll let you know about opportunities to feed into Mind's policy work.

Beenleigh Centre - BrookRed

The Beenleigh centre is a bright and airy shopfront space located just a short walk from the Beenleigh train station. We are a relaxed, diverse, friendly, and welcoming bunch of people who love music, art, physical activity, sitting down for a meal together and having a good chat.  They offer a number of recovery-oriented groups and activities and one-on-one peer support in our centre or out in the community - wherever life takes you. 

Being Consulted - BEING

BEING Supported – Mental Health Peer Support Line is a warm line service staffed by trained and experienced Peer Support Specialists all with their own lived experience of mental health issues. If you are feeling isolated, lonely, depressed and/or anxious or simply want someone to talk to, we are here to listen with empathy and without judgement. From the moment you call our BEING Supported warmline, you will be greeted by one of our friendly Peer Support Specialists who will provide support, information or referrals in an empathic and non-judgemental way.

Ben Druss on Peer Support - Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network

Benjamin Druss is Professor and Rosalynn Carter Chair in mental health in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University.  As one of only a handful of psychiatrists in the country based in a school of public health, Dr. Druss is working to integrate mental health, physical health, and public health.  His research has focused on understanding and improving access, quality, and outcomes of care for populations with serious mental illnesses and medical comorbidity. This work has included epidemiological studies; intervention trials; and health policy and public health research.  Dr. Druss serves on the Editorial Boards of JAMA Psychiatry and the American Journal of Psychiatry, and was a member of the NIMH National Advisory Mental Health Council from 2014-19. In 2018, he was awarded the American Public Health Association's Carl Taube Award for Lifetime Contribution to the Field of Mental Health. The Statement and Evidence Base below were provided to GMHCN in response to proposed State of Georgia behavioral health budget cuts.

Benefits Campaign - Mind

The Benefits Campaign run by being is a group of people campaigning for a fairer benefits system that better understands and supports you.

• Back-to-work: see the right support available when anyone with a mental health problem wants help to stay in their job or return to work after an absence.
• Sanctions: the threat of having your benefits stopped when you're too unwell to work can be incredibly damaging. We want Jobcentres to be there for support, not sanctions.
• The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) isn't fit for purpose. We're pushing for a change to the way people with mental health problems are assessed for out of work benefits.
• Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is replacing Disability Living Allowance. We're concerned about what that means for people with mental health problems
• Universal Credit is a new single benefit payment replacing several benefits. But the way it's been rolled out is causing real problems for many people with mental health problems.
• Briefings

Black Movement History Leaders: Past & Present - Wildflower Alliance

Blogs - Mindfreedom International

Mindfreedom International has collaborated a number of blogs on the topic of human rights and/or alternatives in the mental health system. 

•  A Little Local Color: A local oddball’s colorful quips: this Milwaukee, Wisconsin blogger is a mental health system survivor who writes about a variety of local activist fields, including mental health. The blogger wrote to MindFreedom that, “I am a peer specialist and an army veteran. I am one of the people participating in re-designing the mental health system of Milwaukee to be more community based. So I write a lot about mental health.” 

• Anti-Psychiatry Web Log: Livejournal provides web space for a number of communities, in this case one calling itself “Antipsychiatry.” It’s entries are like a blog, along with other resources. This is from their self-description: “This is a community for people who are opposed to the practice and theory of psychiatry. It is a place for people to post information about patient’s rights, the dangers of psychiatric drugs, personal experiences, questions, and thoughts. Please stay on-topic, and please do not join or post if you are just going to laud the ‘benefits’ of psychiatry. There are plenty of communities for that already.”

• Asylum Squad Side Story: a blog from a young artist with a psychiatric label, focusing on her comics. In her words: “This blog serves as a space to post text entries both related and unrelated to the subject matter my comics touch on.” A July 2010 post covers a Mad Pride event in Toronto.

• Bad Psych: the psychiatric survivor blogger focuses on the psychiatric drugging of children, and the dangers of benzodizapine psychiatric drugs.

• Beyond Meds

• Beyond the Psychiatric Box

• Bipolar Burbles of Natasha Tracy

• Bitchmagazine Guest Blogger Anna Palindrome: “We’re All Mad Here”

• Bitchmagazine Guest Blogger SE Smith on : “We’re All Mad Here”

• Blog by Canadian journalist Rob Wipond: Canadian journalist Rob Wipond of Canada has a blog on various issues, including monitoring analyzing current events, media coverage and scientific research surrounding ‘mental health’ issues in Canada and globally.

• Blue Hackers: By and for people labeled both “geek” and “psychiatrically disordered”

• Bruce E. Levine: Bruce E. Levine, PhD has been a practicing psychologist for decades, and he’s a dissident. Perhaps it’s that Bruce was raised working class, but he connects the dots between social change and societal despair. Bruce has several books in the MindFreedom MADMARKET. Bruce blogs via Arianna Huffington’s site.

• Cape Town Mad Pride

• Church of Schizophrenia

• Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault in Toronto, Canada: CAPA is an organization committed to dismantling the psychiatric system and building a better world through strategic activism. We see the very concept of mental illness as flawed. We object to incarceration, electroshock, and the vast array of brain-damaging drugs. We oppose the violation of human rights which is endemic to psychiatry. Currently, CAPA members are working on developing strategies and actions aimed at curtailing the use of psychiatric drugs and electroshock.

• Corinna West Blog: Blogger Corinna West of Kansas is a Certified Peer Specialist and her blog focuses on changing the mental health system, and she is “actively working to transform the mental health system into a recovery-focused community of hope.” Corinna has an MS in pharmaceutical chemistry from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. She was on the 1996 Olympic Judo Team and is a three-time National Champion and silver medalist at the Pan American Games.

• CounterPsych (Canada) Blog Talkspot

• Depression Mental Health: a support web-site based on depression and mental health problems constructed from a former sufferer.” Includes alternatives to conventional mental health system, and some human rights info.

• Different Thoughts: this blog is in English though it originates in Denmark.

• Discover and Recover: Resources for Mental Wellness

Blue Light Support For Team 999 - Mind

Blue light support for team 999 is Mind's emergency services save lives every day. Research shows blue light teams will always need support with their mental health, because of the pressures they face in their roles. Access our targeted support for staff, volunteers and employers across ambulance, fire, police, and search and rescue teams here.

Blue Rose - Beyond Empathy

Blue Rose was a project created with people of diverse abilities and their families about the experience of those who do not use verbal language as their primary way to communicate.

Blueprint for Learning - Te Pou (Aotearoa/New Zealand)

Blueprint for Learning is one of New Zealand’s largest training providers in mental health and addiction. 

• Find a Workshop near you
• Workshops for your Workplace
• Addiction 101
• MH101
• Rural MH101
• Leading Wellbeing At Work
• Stress, Resilience and Wellbeing
• Weathering the Storm

Bridge Collective (Exeter) - Asylum Magazine

Bridge Collective (Exeter) are a democratic community where people who have experiences, beliefs, and feelings that have sometimes been labelled as mental illness are welcomed and can talk about these experiences freely, safely and without judgement; a place to participate in friendship, support, learning, teaching, discussion, being active, and making a valid contribution both within the collective and the wider community.

Bristol Time to Change Hub - Bristol Independent Mental Health Network (BIMHN)

Time to Change are a growing movement of people changing how we all think and act about mental health problems. Time to Change Bristol Hub is a partnership of local organisations and people who are committed to ending mental health stigma and discrimination. Time to Change Bristol is made up of the city council, Bristol Independent Mental Health Network (BIMHN), Wellbeans Initiative CIC and Rethink Bristol; with support from partners across the city – including employers, unions, universities, police and the NHS.

The Hub actively campaigns against mental health stigma in the Bristol area, delivers campaigning and anti-stigma training, funds anti-stigma work and activities of local individuals. The Time to Change Bristol hub is run by people with lived experience of mental health issues alongside organisations committed to challenging mental health stigma and discrimination. These organisations  form the Bristol Anti Stigma Alliance (BASA), and is hosted as part of Thrive Bristol (which is a wider programme to improve the mental health and wellbeing of everyone in Bristol). The hub has a steering group made up of a wider partnership, with a Time to Change Champions group and hub co-ordinators group ensuring the work of the hub has lived experience of mental health leadership at its heart.

The Bristol Time to Change Hub frequently runs free training sessions for registered Time to Change Community Champions. Being a champion is a flexible and voluntary commitment. You can do what you have time for, and what you’re comfortable doing. Once you’ve become a champion, you’ll have access to Time to Change’s campaign portal and free training.

• Social Contact Training: the aim of this workshop is to develop participants’ skills, knowledge, understanding and confidence in opening up a conversation in everyday life to improve negative attitudes surrounding mental health. After completing this training you should be able to explain what social contact is and how to start conversations with others in everyday life; explain what lived experience is; challenge stereotypes and negative attitudes to mental health; use different ways to end conversations and to ask for help if necessary; use relevant resources on the Time To Change website and establish your own personal boundaries when having conversations.
• Speaking Out Training aims to build the confidence and skills of Time to Change Champions to speak out to an audience about mental health, including their own experience of mental health problems, and why we need to continue to challenge stigma. At the end of the course you will have prepared an outline of what to include about your personal experience when speaking at events about mental health and stigma, have identified some strengths as a public speaker ancd explored ways you can best prepare and protect yourself when speaking out about mental health stigma.
• Resources

Building ENUSP Together - European Network for (ex)-Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (ENUSP)

But For The Grace of God - Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network

“But for the Grace of God: Milledgeville!” written by Dr. Peter G. Cranford, is a remarkable work of nonfiction, simply by its existence as a work of nonfiction. A chronicle of the history of Central State Hospital in Milledgeville, Georgia, it illustrates one of the darkest chapters in the history of Georgia, and in doing so describes conditions and behaviors that are as shameful as they are seemingly unbelievable. But as anyone who grew up as a child in Georgia for generations can attest, the threat of being sent to Milledgeville sent shivers down the spine of anyone who had ever visited there, and who could attest to the reality of the depravity displayed there.​

Cafe Groups - Amigos

California Association of Peer Supporters Academy (CAPS.academy) - Project Return Peer Support Network

The California Association of Peer Supporters Academy (CAPS.academy) is built on the foundation of one of the oldest and best Peer Trainings in California. Their training prepares those who identify as peers for roles in the public mental health system as employees or volunteers able to support individuals on their road to recovery through intentional and skillful use of lived experience. The CAPS Academy is a statewide joint venture between two peer run agencies in California: Project Return Peer Support Network (PRPSN) and Mental Health America of California (MHAC) and is uniquely poised to be the vendor of choice.

This collaboration for the Medi-Cal Peer Support Specialist Training is an approved vendor with CALMHSA under the umbrella of Project Return Peer Support Network (PRPSN). Our combined experience, history, expertise and capacity meet the Peer Specialist training needs of CalMHSA throughout California. This training includes 80 hours of classroom instruction in-person and via Zoom.

Callington Road Hospital Bus Service - Bristol Independent Mental Health Network (BIMHN)

BIMHN launched a campaign to reinstate a regular bus service for Callington Road Hospital in South Bristol, which serves people with mental health problems. Since First bus terminated the number 36 in March 2015, and Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust withdrew its free bus shortly after, there has been no regular service stopping directly outside the hospital. A number of buses stop near the site, but require users to walk along a main road and through a poorly lit wooded area, which Avon and Somerset Police has actively discouraged people to walk though in low light. The lack of suitable transport to the site, which is a base for inpatient services, as well as the Crisis Service, Assessment and Recovery, and Complex Psychological Intervention, has affected many users, including patients, visitors and staff.

Career Initiatives Grant Project - Wildflower Alliance

Every year the Wildflower Alliance offers people in our communities the chance to apply for money to support a small business dream, creative endeavor or educational opportunity.  We’ve offered up to $2,000 for each person awarded a grant.  The project takes place over the course of 9 months and, though set up to be very independent, grantees work with our grant Coordinator or other Project Consultant.  In past years, these funds have been used for a range of projects including:

• Setting up a small business offering technology assistance to elder folks individually and in groups.
• Expanding the creation and sales of artwork to be featured online.
• Establishing a car detailing business with more equipment, supplies and advertising.
• Completing an intensive yoga teacher training to become a certified yoga instructor for folks who live with trauma.
• Getting talk-to-type technology to help write and publish stories.

What’s unique about our Career Initiatives Grant Project is that each grantee has access to big dreams but little access to conventional financing or funds to make these dreams reality.  One grantee shared that with a fixed income barely providing for enough food each day this grant–which helped them start a small business they’d dreamed of for years–meant they had a future to look towards with excitement rather than dread.

Carers Forum - Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia (Northern Territory)

The Carers Forum is for people who care about someone with complex mental health issues. 

CCAR (Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery) Peer Recovery Coach Training - Poetry For Personal Power

A national certification that focuses on preparing peer recovery coaches to provide peer support with an addiction recovery focus. This training is a benefit to anyone actively working in the recovery field. The CCAR Recovery Coach Academy© is a 5-day intensive training academy focusing on providing individuals with the skills need to guide, mentor and support anyone who would like to enter into or sustain long-term recovery from an addiction to alcohol or other drugs. Provided in a retreat like environment, the CCAR Recovery Coach Academy© prepares participants by helping them to actively listen, ask really good questions, and discover and manage their own stuff.

?

Centre for Public Engagement (CPE) - Service User Research Enterprise (SURE)

Centre for Public Engagement (CPE) at Kingston and St George’s University of London: The Dragon Café in South London and Maudsley clinical records. The Dragon Café, a user led space in Southwark is mentioned over 2,000 times within South London and Maudsley clinical records. This project seeks to explore how the Dragon Café is perceived by SLaM staff and service users. 

Centre-Based Training - Centre for Innovation in Peer Support (CIPS)

Changing the Language of Self Care - South Australia Mental Health Commission

Chat Meetings - Recovery International (RI)

Recovery International have a number of chat meetings.

Childhood and Adolescence Psychopathology (CAPICE) - Global Alliance of Mental Illness Advocacy Network Europe (GAMIAN-EU)

CAPICE (Childhood and Adolescence Psychopathology) is a project unravelling the complex etiology by a large Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Europe), is a project funded by the European Commission under the HORIZON 2020 Research and Innovation programme, Marie SkÅ‚odowska Curie Actions – MSCA-ITN-2016 – Innovative Training Networks. In the Roadmap for Mental Health and Wellbeing Research in Europe (ROAMER), top-priority is research into child and adolescent mental health symptoms. CAPICE  will address this priority. This network will elaborate on the EArly Genetics and Lifecourse Epidemiology (EAGLE) consortium, a well-established collaboration of the many European birth and adolescent population based (twin and family) cohorts with unique longitudinal information on lifestyle, family environment, health, and emotional and behavioral problems.

Phenotypic and genome-wide genotypic data are available for over 60,000 children, in addition to genome-wide genotypes for over 20,000 mothers and epigenome-wide data for over 6,000 children. Combined with the enormous progress in methodology, the results of the research performed in this network will greatly expand our knowledge regarding the etiology of mental health symptoms in children and adolescents and shed light on possible targets for prevention and intervention, e.g. by drug target validation. Moreover, it will provide Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) with an excellent training in the psychiatric genomics field given by a multidisciplinary team of eminent scientists from the academic and non-academic sector highly experienced in e.g., gene-environment interaction and covariation analyses, (epi)genome-wide association studies, Mendelian Randomization (MR) and polygenic analyses. With a focus on common and debilitating problems in childhood and adolescence, including depression, anxiety and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, CAPICE will contribute to improving later outcomes of young people in European countries with child and adolescent psychopathology.

Choice Forum - Mental Health Forum

The Choice Forum has been been the place to discuss issues affecting the lives of people with learning disabilities in the UK. Members include people with learning disabilities, parents, friends, relatives, people working in the field, national and local policy makers, service providers and commissioners. The Choice Forum is a neutral, friendly place where we can come together online ti:

• Ask questions about supporting people with learning disabilities
• Exchange knowledge, experiences and information
• Highlight and discuss concerns
• Support each other
• Find out the latest learning disability related news, events and information, and
• Connect with other like-minded people.

The Choice Forum incorporates the PMLD Network. You can find out more about their history here.

Circles of Resilience (CR) - Resilience Collective (RC)

Circles of Resilience (CR) is a safe space where peers, or persons with lived experience of mental health conditions, come together to support each other thrive and lead authentic lives. These peer support circles exist to form tight-knit communities of peers who believe in the value of connection. During the monthly sessions within their consistent and familiar groups, members develop courage and confidence to share vulnerably through the structured discussion of their lived experiences. By showing up for themselves and each other, they support each other to progress in their mental health journeys together.

Club House - National Mental Health Consumer's Self-Help Clearinghouse

A clubhouse is a structured rehabilitation program focusing on developing vocational skills.  Participants are members of the clubhouse and are involved in many decisions and in day-to-day operations of the clubhouse.  Many clubhouses have paid staff members who are consumers.  The International Center for Clubhouse Development oversees certification of clubhouses that follow the “Clubhouse Model” pioneered by Fountain House in New York City. 

Clubhouse Canada - Clubhouse International

Clubhouse Canada is dedicated to the recovery of people living with mental illness. We promote, assist and strengthen Clubhouse development across Canada, in accordance with the philosophy and standards of Clubhouse International. They aim to: 

1. Promote the Clubhouse International approach to recovery
2. Support the development of new Clubhouses
3. Support the enhancement of existing Clubhouses
4. Facilitate networking,  knowledge exchange, and promotion of best practices within the  Clubhouse Canada network
5. Ensure Clubhouses across Canada are accessible to everyone living with mental illness so that they can achieve their potential and are respected co-workers, neighbours, and friends in their communities.

Clubhouse Coalitions - Clubhouse International

Clubhouse Coalitions represent strong, regional organizations that support the Clubhouse community. Clubhouse International recognizes the following regional/national Clubhouse Coalitions whose member Clubhouses are committed to:

• Comprehensive Clubhouse Training at a Clubhouse International Training Base
• Adherence to the International Standards for Clubhouse Programs (TM)
• Participation in the Clubhouse International Accreditation (TM) Process
• Nurturing new regional Clubhouse development

1. Australian Coalition of Clubhouses

• Nina Bozanic - Diamond Clubhouse - 618 8244 5525 - nina@clubhouse.org.au
• Kim Smith - Diamond Clubhouse - 08 8244 5525 - kim.smith@internode.on.net

2. Canadian Clubhouse Coalition

• Canadian Clubhouse - Criss Habal-Brosek - Progress Place - 416 323 0223 - chabalbrosek@progressplace.org
• Ontario Clubhouse Coalition - Joe Kennedy - Hope House - Club 84 - 705 942 9561
• Dan Morgan - Hope House - Club 84 - 705 759 0458, ext. 226 - dan@cmhassm.com

3. Danish Coalition of Clubhouses

• Hanne Gingold - Regnbuehuset - 45 26152 673 - hg@fhdk.dk
• Erik Pedersen - epd@outlook.dk

4. Finnish Clubhouse Coalition

• Markku Törnblom - Klubbhus Fontana - 358 45 8511 990 - markku.tornblom@suomenklubitalot.fi
• Sanna Rinkinen - Imatran Klubitalo - 358 50 469 8586 - klubi@klubitalo.imatra.fi

5. Irish Clubhouse Coalition

• Warren House - 1 Main Street Blanchardstown Dublin 15 - 00 353 1 805 34 72 - conaiclubhouse@eve.ie

6. Fontenehus Norge / Clubhouse Norway

• Svein Jacobsen - Hagegata 25 0653 Oslo - 0047 924 85 410 - svein.jacobsen@fontenehus.no
• Torhild Stimo - 0047 99 57 92 05 - torhild.stimo@fontenehus.no

7. Scottish Clubhouse Coalition

• Annette Callow - Flourish House - 44 141 333 0099 - annette.callow@blueyonder.co.uk
• Charlotte Smith - Flourish House - 44 141 333 0099 - charlotte.smith@flourishhouse.org.uk

8. Swedish Clubhouse Coalition

• Inger Blennow - 46 766 31 23 53 - inger.blennow@gmail.com
• Jeannette Andersson - Fontanhuset Malmö - 46 705 66 16 36 - moderatortv6@gmail.com

9. United States Clubhouse Coalitions

• Clubhouse Indiana - Rich Meyer - Elkhart County Clubhouse - 574 202 3920 - info@ecclubhouse.org
• Clubhouse Maine - Carrie Lemos - Unlimited Solutions Clubhouse - 207 404 8383 - 207 404 8384 - clemos@pchc.com
• Clubhouse Michigan - Jama Moffett - Petoskey Club - 231-347-1786 - jmoffett@norcocmh.org
• Clubhouse New York Coalition - David Plotka - 718 658 7201 - dplotka@venturehouse.org
• Colorado Clubhouse Coalition - Renee Schell - Frontier House - 508 831 0100 - renee.schell@northrange.org
• Florida Clubhouse Coalition - Luis Rivas - Club SUCCESS - 863 519 0874 - 863 686 2336 - lrivas@peacerivercenter.org
• Hawaii Clubhouse Coalition - Michelle Chow - Ko'olau Clubhouse - 808-233-3778 - michelle.chow@doh.hawaii.gov
• Massachusetts Clubhouse Coalition - Reva Stein - 781 788 8803 - mccinfo.maclub@verizon.net
• North Carolina Clubhouse Coalition - Jodi Lorenzo-Schibley - Sanctuary House - 336 275 7896 - jschibley@sanctuaryhousegso.com
• Oklahoma Clubhouse Coalition - 918 749 2141 - jwineinger@crossroadsok.org
• Pennsylvania Clubhouse Coalition - Stephanie Visti - Clubhouse of Lehigh County - 610 433 9910 - svisi@yourgoogwill.org
• Utah Clubhouse Coalition - Matt Reed - Reflection House - 435-882-4845 - matthewr@vmh.com

Clubhouse Directory - Clubhouse International

There are nearly 300 Clubhouses in over 30 countries offering hope and opportunities to people living with mental illness. If you know someone living with mental illness, Clubhouses can help! Find all of our Clubhouses on: 

• The Map
• The Search Tool
• Clubhouse Coalitions

Clubhouse Indiana - Clubhouse International

Clubhouse International Accreditationâ„¢ - Clubhouse International

Clubhouse International Accreditation™ is a symbol of quality – a clear demonstration of a Clubhouse’s commitment to excellence. Today, 75% of Clubhouses are Accredited, compared to just 46% in 2014. These Clubhouses proudly display this icon and are universally recognized as operating with a high level of compliance with the International Standards for Clubhouse Programs.™ In 2018, Clubhouse International developed and distributed Wellness Guidelines to all member Clubhouses, and extended the focus on wellness efforts in our Accreditation process, disseminated the annual Clubhouse Profile Questionnaire, to measure mental health recovery outcomes across our Clubhouses globally and helped 29 Clubhouses achieve Accreditation for the first time, including Clubhouses in Michigan, New Jersey, Argentina and Taiwan.

The Accreditation process is both evaluative and consultative. Accreditation is awarded for either a one- or three-year period, subject to the degree of adherence by the Clubhouse to the Standards. It is conducted by members of the Clubhouse International Faculty, which is composed of veteran members and staff from Accredited Clubhouses around the world. Together, we oversee a rigorous process that includes:

1. The Self-Study: the entire Clubhouse works together to prepare for the Accreditation visit, evaluating the Clubhouse performance in relationship to the Standards. Each area of the Clubhouse is reviewed and discussed at community meetings, unit meetings, and other special forums. The result of the self-study process is a written report from the Clubhouse to Clubhouse International and the Accreditation team, describing the Clubhouse and its areas of strength and relative weakness as seen by the members and staff.

2. The Site Visit: accreditation visits are made by members of Clubhouse International's Faculty and last 3-4 days. The Faculty team confirms the information presented in the Self-Study, and meets with members, staff, board members and other stakeholders of the Clubhouse. At the end of the visit, the Faculty team presents their findings, highlighting both areas of strength for the Clubhouse and making recommendations for improvement. This report becomes the foundation for the written report submitted to Clubhouse International.

3. The Findings Report: upon completion of the Clubhouse visit, the Faculty team prepares and submits a written report to Clubhouse International, which includes: a detailed description of the Clubhouse, a review of the Clubhouse's strengths, specific recommendations as to how the Clubhouse can improve and more fully comply with the Standards, and a recommendation to Clubhouse International regarding Accreditation status for the Clubhouse.

4. Accreditation Status: after reviewing the report and reaching agreement, the faculty team awards one- or three-year Accreditation, or defers Accreditation, and forwards a letter indicating this Accreditation outcome, along with the written report, to the Clubhouse. Accreditation by Clubhouse International is a credential which affirms that a program is in fact operating as a Clubhouse, and is in substantial compliance with the International Standards for Clubhouse Programs.

5. Ongoing Consultation: ongoing consultation and technical support may continue with the Clubhouse International Faculty team even after the Accreditation process ends.

6. Employment Guidelines: the Employment Guidelines are used by the Faculty team as part of the process of reviewing the entire spectrum of opportunities provided by a Clubhouse.

Clubhouse Michihan - Clubhouse International

Clubhouse Norway - Clubhouse International

Clubhouse Ohio - Clubhouse International

Clubhouse Scotland - Clubhouse International

Clutter Support - Peers Envisioning and Engaging in Recovery Services (PEERS)

Buried in Treasures (BiT) is a peer-led, evidence-based group that blends support and skill-building to give participants the tools they need to manage moderate to severe levels of clutter. Over 15 weeks, we work together to develop an understanding of our personal relationships with stuff and how those relationships affect our impulse to acquire and our difficulty with discarding. We also create a non-judgmental community of support based on a shared understanding of what it’s like to live with too much stuff.

PEERS is keenly aware of the power of language, and we recognize that there is a great deal of stigma around clutter issues. While the word “hoarding” accurately describes the behaviors this group was created to address, we also know it is a word not everyone identifies with. If you do, that’s great – and if you don’t, that’s great too! We will use a variety of language in the group to talk about these issues; in our outreach, we consciously use descriptive alternatives in order to connect with those who may not identify with the word “hoarding”.

Co-Facilitation Training - ACT Mental Health Consumer Network

The Co-Facilitation Training is training to provide an opportunity for participants to use their expertise of lived experience as co-facilitators in the Network’s training programs. The workshop consists of 4 training modules, as well as the opportunity for the workshop participants to put into practice the skills learned during the training by having a go in facilitating a range of activities.

• Module 1 – Why Peer Work?
• Module 2 – Group Facilitation Skills 1 (How We Learn and Introduction to Facilitation)
• Module 3 – Group Facilitation Skills 2 (Facilitation and Co-facilitation Skills)
• Module 4 – Self Care

Collab Chats - Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion

The Temple University Collaborative's "Collab Chats" is our podcast series to introduce listeners to research findings and its application for increasing opportunities for individuals with mental illnesses to live and participate in the community. We will feature work from the Temple University Collaborative as well as research from other NIDILRR funded Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers.  The Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion for Individuals with Psychiatric Disabilities, a research and training center located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, is dedicated to the full and meaningful participation of individuals with serious mental illnesses. Funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), the content of these podcasts does not constitute its endorsement or recommendation by the US Federal Government, HHS, the ACL, or NIDILRR. 

Colorado Clubhouse Coalition - Clubhouse International

Community Bridging - Wildflower Alliance

The Wildflower Alliance has Community Bridgers. People who can ease the transition from hospital back to community for those who would like additional support. This support can look different ways. Some examples are:

• Information about your rights while still in the hospital or after you’ve left
• Advocacy and support getting your voice heard
• Going out for a cup of coffee together
• Support at a meeting or appointment
• Brainstorming and thinking through next steps
• Support with paperwork and steps necessary for food stamps, social security, paying bills and more
• Explore community resources together—such as support groups, cultural spaces or other places to find community.

Community Bridging - Western Mass Recovery Learning Community (RLC)

The Western Mass RLC now has funding for ‘Community Bridger’ roles to ease the transition from hospital back to community for those who would like additional support during that process. This support can look different based on the people involved. Some examples of what this support could be include (but are not limited to):

• Information about your rights while still in the hospital or after you've left
• Advocacy and support getting your voice heard
• Going out for a cup of coffee together
• Support at a meeting or appointment
• Brainstorming and thinking through next steps
• Support with paperwork and steps necessary for food stamps, social security, paying bills and beyond
• Exploring local resources

Community Integration Project (CIP) - Project Return Peer Support Network

The Community Integration Project was created 15 years ago with the goal of expanding peer support and support groups for individuals in more restrictive living environments?. CIP engages with clients in IMDs, board and cares, hospitals, and jails. Through CIP, we can implement peer support clubs inside a wide variety of restrictive living environments. Additionally, our peer mentors:

• encourage individuals to identify community based housing options that might serve them when they leave institutions;  
• help prepare individuals to move into their housing choices;
• connect individuals to existing local self-help and other recreational/social activities; and,
• provide support and training in important life skills such as active listening, interpersonal communication, self-advocacy, crisis intervention, and stress reduction.

Community Planning Process - California Association of Mental Health Peer-Run Organizations (CAMHPRO)

The Community Planning Process is to help consumers be stronger advocates and stakeholders in front of lawmakers, local, regional, or state entities, and for personal growth as a consumer. The audience for these community meetings are stakeholders, especially transition aged youth clients, older adult clients and clients of multicultural diversity, but absolutely open to other participants in Community Planning Processes.

Community Training - National Mental Health Consumer's Self-Help Clearinghouse

Community Education educate the community at large about mental health issues, in an effort to reduce stigma and discrimination and to inform people about the availability of services.  Often, these efforts rely on people sharing their personal experiences with mental illness. 

Community Treasures - Recovery Empowerment Network (REN)

REN's Community Treasures Program is a source of help & hope for people in our community. We provide the means to connect individuals to resources while make a difference to residents of Maricopa County! 

Connect to a Peer - Indiana Association of Peer Recovery Support Services (IAPRSS)

Connect to a Peer is a database of career workers by the Indiana Association of Peer Recovery Support Services. 

Consultancy Services - Mind and Body Consultants

Mind & Body works with organisations and peer workers to support Aotearoa’s growing peer-to-peer services. As New Zealand’s largest peer-led organisation, we see the positive impact these specialist services have for people, their wh?nau and communities. It makes us proud to provide consultancy services to help people thrive. They support other peer organisations; train and supervise peer workers; and deliver workshops that address stigma and discrimination still faced by those experiencing mental distress or addiction.

• Peer Worker Supervision: external supervision to mental health and addiction service providers for their peer workforce. Peer services are a specialist field. They come with unique experiences for the peer support workers who assist others managing or recovering from mental distress and/or addiction. Our highly trained supervisors assist peer support workers to reflect on the successes and challenges in their role, identify their goals, and work with them to resolve any issues they may be facing.
• Peer Support Training: Mind & Body Peer Support Training will give you insight into the ways your lived experience can help others to build self-determination, autonomy and hope for a life they find worthwhile.

Consultations - BEING

Being regularly visits towns across the NSW to hear about the experiences of people who use mental health services. This information is used to inform the government about what needs to be done to provide better support and services for people with mental illness in NSW. The consultations are run quite informally, and provide mental health consumers with an opportunity to have their say about the mental health system – what they do and don’t like about the system, and what they think needs to change to ensure that all consumers experience equality in accessing services. Occasionally we will also host consultations which focus on specific issues, which will then influence BEING’s advocacy work.

Consumer & Carer Leadership Colloquium - National Register of Mental Health Consumer & Carer Representatives

Consumer & Carer Leadership Colloquium is a partnershup between The Consumers Health Forum of Australia (CHF), the National Rural Health Alliance (NRHA) and Mental Health Australia worked together to hold a Consumer and Carer Leadership Colloquium on 21 March 2017 in Canberra, which included a preliminary dinner on 20 March 2017 and two lead-in webinars on 8 and 15 March 2017. Colloquium participants were selected from CHF, NRHA and Mental Health Australia networks.

Mental Health Australia sought expressions of interest through the National Register application process, from mental health consumers and carers who were interested in participating in the Colloquium, and who would benefit from its focus on emerging consumer / carer leaders. Mental Health Australia had 6 positions available. The three host organisations all work with consumers / carers who are interested in advocating for a better Australian health system. Their ways of working with these leaders may differ and we may use different terminology, but we have a shared interest in:

• Identifying and nurturing emerging consumer / carer leaders with potential and interest to participate in and shape health reform at the national level;
• Supporting consumer / carer leaders to act with impact and influence;
• Providing opportunities for cross-fertilisation of ideas from consumer / carer leaders with different perspectives on the health system; and
• Growing and diversifying our pools of consumer / carer leaders.

The Colloquium was held at a time when the value of people-centred approaches to policy was gaining currency and the health and social care horizon was rapidly changing, with many challenges as well as growing opportunity for reform and innovation. Their aim was to involve individuals who were emerging consumer / carer leaders. By this we meant individuals who have started to be involved in health consumer / carer representation or advocacy work, perhaps at a local, regional or state / territory level, and who were enthusiastic and interested in doing more or different roles, particularly at the national level.

Consumer Participation - BEING

BEING works with consumers to speak at events and to educate others about consumer issues and experiences. Being support consumers to speak in a variety of places including NSW Parliament, GP training workshops, a national conference on the NDIS and a forum held by the NSW Ministry of Health of restraint and restrictive practices.

Consumer Representative Service (CRS) - Mental Health Lived Experience Tasmania (MHLET)

MHLET’s Consumer Representative Service (CRS) was established with Tasmanian government support to formalise the participation of mental health consumers in the Tasmanian Government’s mental health system, especially in decision-making fora such as working groups and committees. This ensures that the voice of lived experience is heard and understood at all levels of the Tasmanian Mental Health Service. The CRS also provides mental health consumer representation for the Australian Government (through Primary Health Tasmania) and for community-run and private mental health service providers, on a fee-for-service basis.

Consumer Voices - Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council (VMIAC)

Consumer Voices is a safe space for consumers to have their say and their voices heard. Consumer’s share their stories through short film series, talking of traumas, recovery, advocacy, and how their mental health challenges have made them who they are today.

Consumer-Driven Programs - National Mental Health Consumer's Self-Help Clearinghouse

Consumer-Driven Service Programs include a significant contribution from mental health consumers in design, administration, executive leadership, service provision and/or day-to-day program decision-making. Some, but not all, of these organizations have consumer involvement as an essential part of their charter or mission statement, requiring, for instance, a majority of consumers on their Board of Directors or staff.

• Advocacy: advocacy organizations vary in focus. Some help individuals get what they need from mental health and other systems or providers. Others focus on creating change and shifting resources at the local level to better serve consumers and the public. Many work to counter the effects of stigma and discrimination such as NIMBYism (Not-in-My-Back-Yard) and sensationalist media coverage that reinforce negative stereotypes of people with mental illnesses. Still others seek to move governmental systems forward and support civil rights through legislative or policy advocacy. Many organizations and individuals do several of these.
• Clubhouse: a clubhouse is a structured rehabilitation program focusing on developing vocational skills.  Participants are members of the clubhouse and are involved in many decisions and in day-to-day operations of the clubhouse.  Many clubhouses have paid staff members who are consumers.  The International Center for Clubhouse Development oversees certification of clubhouses that follow the “Clubhouse Model” pioneered by Fountain House in New York City. 
• Community Education: many mental health consumers are involved in efforts to educate the community at large about mental health issues, in an effort to reduce stigma and discrimination and to inform people about the availability of services.  Often, these efforts rely on people sharing their personal experiences with mental illness. 
• Crisis Prevention/Respite: a common goal of consumer-delivered services is to reduce hospitalizations and the use of emergency services.  Some services seek to prevent people from reaching the crisis stage.  For example, “warm lines” offer a supportive voice to people who are not in crisis and for whom a hot line would be inappropriate.  Other services are designed to help people approaching or experiencing crises.  Examples include crisis response teams that have consumer staff and respites, which on a voluntary basis provide a supportive environment as an alternative to hospitalization. 
• Drop-in Center: a drop-in center provides a welcoming environment for mental health consumers, as well as a wide range of activities, including support groups, recreational and social events, and linkages with support services.  For more information about drop-in centers, see the Clearinghouse technical assistance guide on the topic. 
• Employment: in many programs, consumer staff members provide employment supports that enable clients to choose, get, and keep jobs.  Examples include resume preparation, benefits counseling, job readiness, skills development, computer training, and job coaching. 
• Homeless Outreach: outreach to consumers who are homeless can help link them with mental health services, health care, housing, and other supports, but mistrust of the system often poses a barrier to successful outreach.  Some outreach programs employ formerly homeless consumers, whose personal experience can help to build trusting relationships. 
• Housing: consumer staff members are employed by housing providers, including housing that is part of a more comprehensive service program.  Consumer staff members also provide housing-related services, ranging from assistance in finding and securing housing, to providing supportive services.
• Peer Case Management: in many areas, consumers are employed to provide case management services, and published studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of consumer case management teams. 
• Peer Companion: recognizing that friendships and social relationships are key to recovery, some programs involve matching people with similar interests who spend significant amounts of time together in a supportive relationship.  Often, volunteers and staff are themselves consumers. 
• Peer Support & Peer Counseling: in peer support programs, consumer staff members receive extensive training in critical areas such as benefits acquisition, goal planning, and self-care.  However, unlike traditional case management services, the peer counselor’s own recovery experience is central to the relationship with clients, through shared experience and mentorship. 
• Recovery Education: some programs have as their focus training people how to take personal responsibility for recovery through techniques and plans.  These educational programs can take the form of intensive training retreats or ongoing classes.  Often, participants have the opportunity to join ongoing support groups. 
• Recreation/Arts: in addition to traditional services and supports, recovery and a meaningful life in the community require opportunities for relaxation, socializing, and fun, and recreational programs help to fill this need.  Art programs can also provide opportunities for self-expression, and some programs even help consumers sell their artwork.
• Support Group: support groups meeting on a regular basis offer opportunities for mutual support at little cost.  Some groups follow well-established models, while others operate based solely on the input of group members. 
• Technical Assistance: to foster the growth of consumer-delivered services, state and national organizations offer technical assistance to programs and groups at the local level, as well as helping individuals start new services. 
• Other Programs

Consumer-Run Statewide Organizations - Doors To Wellbeing

NEC works to keep this list up to date. If you know of a statewide consumer organization that should be added to this list, please send it to NEC. Consumer-runs organizations are defined as organizations in which consumers make up the majority of the staff and the board of the organization. These consumer-run organizations encompass the entire state or large parts of states. These organizations can be contacted for consumer support groups or programs in their respective states.

Consumer-Run Statewide Organizations - National Empowerment Centre (NEC)

Consumer-runs organizations are organizations in which consumers make up the majority of the staff and the board of the organization. These consumer-run organizations encompass the entire state or large parts of states. These organizations can be contacted for consumer support groups or programs in their respective states.

Consumer/Survivor History Project - National Empowerment Centre (NEC)

Consumers and Carers - National Mental Health Commission

Consumers Workers Annual Forum - BEING

The Annual Consumer Workers Forum is an annual event that brings together the NSW’ Consumer Workers. The Forum is held in November each year to support the professional development of the NSW Consumer Workforce.

Contributing Lives, Thriving Communities - National Mental Health Commission

The Contributing Life framework is – whole?of?person, whole?of?system, whole?of?life approach to mental health and wellbeing. This means we consider people across the lifespan – from pre?birth to old age. A contributing life can mean many things. It can mean a fulfilling life enriched with close connections to family and friends; good health and wellbeing to allow those connections to be enjoyed; having something to do each day that provides meaning and purpose – whether it be a job, supporting others or volunteering; and a home to live in, free from financial stress and uncertainty. In short, it means thriving, not just surviving.

The Commission will work to support individuals to: live a contributing life; have equitable opportunity; have the best possible mental health and wellbeing; participate in community, education and employment; have knowledge, assurance and respect; and be able to contribute to socially and economically thriving communities.

Cool Program - Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia (Northern Territory)

The Cool Program assists people living with a mental illness to engage in social and recreational activities within the community. The program is designed to motivate, build confidence, encourage the development of new friendships and prepares participants to continue their recreational and social activities independently.Involvement in the program can provide a sense of fulfilment and belonging, it can improve your self-esteem and social skills and assist you to stay connected with your community. The Cool Program is currently offered each Tuesday afternoon and on a weekend day (see calendar) Membership is free but participants may be asked to meet their own costs, such as entry fees and bus tickets. Staff are sometimes able to secure discounts on entry fees, however most activities are low cost or free. All activities are chosen by participants and have included trips to Coolalinga Markets, explore Adelaide River, Museum and Art Gallery and Op Shopping.

Copeland Center Trainings - Doors To Wellbeing

Coronavirus and Your Mental Health - Mind

Coronavirus and your mental health provides information and support for people who are struggling from Corona Virus and the changes that it has made for the world.

Covid-19 - Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council (VMIAC)

VMIAC has created a number of resources to help people throughout the Covid-19 period. This includes information on a number of topics including:

• Online events, exhibitions and training
• Cooking
• Coping With Mental Health Challenges
• Exercise
• Good News Stories
• Helping Others
• Keeping Your Mind Active
• Arts & Crafts
• Books
• Films
• Humour
• Music
• Nature
• Online Courses
• Podcasts
• Video Blogs
• More

COVID-19 Resources - Lived Experience and Recovery Network (LERN)

The Lived Experience and Recovery Network is compiling a list of resources available within the north east region of Ontario, this list is being updated on an on going basis.

CPS Networking - Wings Across Alabama

Wings hosts monthly online networking events for Certified Peer Specialists to connect and share resources. All Alabama Certified Peer Specialists are welcome to join our monthly event. The monthly networking events are held on the third Monday of each month at 6 p.m.

CPSA Training - California Peer Support Association

California Peer Support Association provides various training opportunities form mental health consumers. Some of their training topics include:

• Need for Peer Support: an introduction to peer support that will show why it is imperative for each department to have peer supporters and the cost savings of a strong peer support team.
• Setting Up a Peer Support Program: this class goes into the details of what should be included in a department peer support policy and the participants will receive sample policies. Vital information on team structure and team member selection for a successful peer support team will be covered. The need for confidentiality will be discussed. Wrap up will include how to find reliable professional services in your community.
• Basic Peer Support: this class is structured towards giving the new peer supporter the skills they need to work with an individual after a traumatic call or critical incident. Some of the skills taught and practiced will be improving listening skills, dealing with a grieving or depressed coworker, critical incident stress management, how to set up a peer support program, when to call in a mental health professional, alcohol and addictions, suicide, and caring for yourself.
• Basic Peer Support Refresher: this class is designed for the individual who is currently a peer supporter, has had the basic peer support class and desires a review and practice of the basic skills. Some of the skills that will be reviewed are CISM, listening skills, addictions, role of the mental health professional, grief, loss, depression and taking care of you.
• ICISF Group Intervention: certified by the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, this class teaches the 7 step, “Mitchell Model” as well as the many options available in critical incident stress management that is appropriate for group settings.
• Critical Incident Stress Management: this class covers the multi-faceted options for assistance in CISM. This class explains the continuum of interventions available from pre-incident education to mental health referral and all the available options in between.
• Dealing with Grief and Loss: this class teaches the 5 stages of grief as well as the types of grievers. You may identify some of your own unresolved losses as you discover how best to help others through their grief and loss.
• Improving your Listening Skills: this is an interactive class that will give you the tools for becoming a better listener. How to help peers open up about what it is that is troubling them without feeling like they are being interrogated. 
• Difficult Debriefings: class will help the experienced peer supporter improve their CISM debriefing skills. The Mitchell Model debriefing concept is reviewed and then participants will be conducting debriefings from realistic scenarios.
• Defusing Scenarios: this class will help the experienced peer supporter perfect their CISM defusing skills. The ICISF CISM strategies will be reviewed then participants will be asked to perform defusings using realistic scenarios.
• Death Notifications: this class will assist the peer supporter when making death notifications.
• Helping a Peer with Alcohol Addiction: this class is taught by a member of law enforcement or fire service who has been there and back. They will relay their journey and open your eyes to that dark place and what it takes to help someone out of that place. You will receive information on confidential resources available for the alcoholic who works in law enforcement or fire service.
• Chaplain vs. Clergy: this class explores the differences between a member of the clergy and a chaplain. It explains why a chaplain is a valuable member of the department and why a member of the clergy may not ever really fit in your department .
• Role of a Mental Health Professional: a class that discusses the differences between an employee assistance program and a mental health professional who understands the stress management needs of police and fire personnel. We will discuss when it is appropriate to call in a mental health professional and how to find reliable resources in your community.
• Eye Movement Desensization and Reprocessing (EMDR): this class explains the EMDR process which helps individuals process a traumatic event that has effected them. The instructor, trained in EMDR, will go through the process so participants will understand the benefits and be able to make referrals of peers to trained EMDR specialists.

Creative Spaces Network - MIX

Criminal Justice Programs - Hope Inc.

HOPE works in collaboration with law enforcement, managed care providers, community organizations, and family members to support individuals as they transition from the criminal justice system into the community.  The goal of peer support services is to help overcome reentry barriers that may result in parole or probation violations, relapse, homelessness, loss of employment, and healthcare.

Crisis Alternatives - National Empowerment Centre (NEC)

Crisis Diversion Research - Peer Respites

The Crisis Diversion Research page features high-quality research studies on interventions that are not peer respites, but aim to divert individuals experiencing crisis from psychiatric emergency services. While not the focus of PeerRespite.net, these programs provide alternatives to inpatient and emergency departments.

Crisis Prevention & Respite - National Mental Health Consumer's Self-Help Clearinghouse

Crisis Prevention/Respite include consumer-delivered services that aim reduce hospitalizations and the use of emergency services.  Some services seek to prevent people from reaching the crisis stage. 

1. Warm lines offer a supportive voice to people who are not in crisis and for whom a hot line would be inappropriate
2. Help people approaching or experiencing crises.  
3. Ccrisis response teams that have consumer staff and respites, which on a voluntary basis provide a supportive environment as an alternative to hospitalization. 

Critical and Creative Approaches to Mental Health Practice - Asylum Magazine

Critical and Creative Approaches to Mental Health Practice is for Critical and Creative Approaches to Mental Health Practice all who are passionate about sustaining creative and critical practice in mental health.

Crossing Paths Tour - Pathways Vermont

Crossing Paths tour allows people to meet Pathways Vermount staff provides stories about how Pathways is providing access to choice, connection and home to thousands of Vermonters in this one hour tour.

Cultural Tour - National Organization of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry in Rwanda (NOUSPR)

Today NOUSPR has 14 member groups in Rwanda, and we work in the communities to find solution to the challenges our members face in overcoming trauma, anxiety and depression. People with psychosocial disabilities experience social isolation and stigma. By visiting our groups and sharing in some of their daily activities you will help us in our journey to overcome such problems. NOUSPR believes that everyone benefits by sharing his or her common humanity. All income from our cultural tours supports people with psychosocial disabilities. Activities include:

• Walking to a nearby well and collect water for daily use
• Assist with digging the fruit and vegetable garden
• Get hands on and learn how to milk a cow                                             
• Mill grain and make flour the Rwandan way
• Learn how to weave baskets and create jewellery

Current Legislation - California Association of Mental Health Peer-Run Organizations (CAMHPRO)

Danish Coalition of Clubhouses - Clubhouse International

DC YouthLink Service Coalition Member Directory - Doors To Wellbeing

Defeat Depression Virtual Walk/Run - Lived Experience and Recovery Network (LERN)

The Defeat Depression Campaign provides hope and reduces stigma for people who are affected by depression and other mood disorders. Across Canada, mental health organizations, community groups, caring companies and concerned volunteers are planning walks, runs, rides and other physical and social activities to raise awareness and funds for mental health initiatives. The objectives of the Defeat Depression national campaign are to:

• Fundraise in support of mental health services
• Raise awareness, knowledge and acceptance of mental illness
• Reduce stigma and create an environment that encourages people to come forward for early intervention and treatment
• Build a mental health network and increase collaboration across communities
• Provide resources and supports for individuals living with mental illness and their families
• Grow the campaign to new communities across Canada

Defeat Depression Walk/Run - Lived Experience and Recovery Network (LERN)

Diabetes and Mental Health Peer Support Program - Ontario Peer Development Initiative

Diabetes and Mental Health Peer Support Program is a two-year partnership project led by Canadian Mental Health Association and funded by the Lawson Foundation. Recognizing the significantly elevated risk factors for diabetes among the population affected by mental health issues, and knowing the power of peer support, it was felt that peer workers, armed with knowledge about diabetes, would be ideally positioned to support people with prevention, recognition and self-management of diabetes. The project undertook to create a two-day training using the same consultative approach as the Core Essentials program used, and leveraging from trainers that OPDI already has in place.

Diagnosis and labeling of mental health and illness - Mindfreedom International

Contemporary and historical approaches to the art of mental health diagnosis:

• Psychiatry: Medical Fraud or Incompetence: this artricle is a critique of psychiatry’s diagnostic practices, extracted from the work of Bonnie Sigren Busick, RN, MA and Martha Gorman originally published in 1986, delving into issues surrounding the fact that there are (still, to this day) no evidence of biochemical markers, biological tests, or hard evidence to “prove” the existence of “mental illness.”
• Psych meds drove my son crazy: a Salon.com article by Ann Bauer, in which she describes a story of hope and recovery in the wake of her son’s experiences with depression and psychiatric misdiagnosis.
• Rethinking the Potential of the Brain in Major Psychiatric Disorders: this article, by Steven Morgan, is a critical reevaluation of the theory that the brain is permanantly diseasedin psychiatric disorders, and an exploration of the role that neuroplasticity plays in healing and reviving its functioning. It was published in February 2008
• Psychiatric leaders note lack of science for psychiatric theories: a MindFreedom member forwards these quotes from leaders in the psychiatric profession who point out that science is still lacking for the neurobiological theories in the mental health field that many falsely assume have been proven.
• Pathologizing Your Period” by Paula Caplan, Ms. Magazine, December 2008: psychologist and author Paula Caplan, a long-time member of MindFreedom International, examines the fraud and sexism involved in creating psychiatry’s “label bible,” it’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM).
•  Should bitterness become a mental disorder: tn the magazine Psychology Today, Professor Christopher Lane has a brief essay skewering one of the latest misadventures of the psychiatric industry, in which the American Psychiatric Association is seriously considering adding “bitterness” to one of their so-called scientific list of labels. Why not just add “dissent” and be done with it? Professor Lane is the author of Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness.
• EleMental – First USA Meeting: the first meeting in the United States of EleMental, an international organization introducing and developing the elements of Recovery and Thriving. 
• Mental health Trojan horse – It’s enough to make anyone sick: the conservative newspaper Washington Times published this guest column by two professors concerned that psychiatry’s unscientific labeling may harm attempts to implement universal health care in the USA.
• Dr. Allen Frances: “Vocal Opposition” to MindFreedom Protest: Dr. Allen Frances was a key architect of the current American Psychiatric Association “label bible” the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV (DSM IV). Dr. Frances became one of the main critics of APA’s proposed DSM 5. But a MindFreedom investigation revealed that – behind the scenes – Dr. Frances has “vocally oppose” the protest led by psychiatric survivors in front of the APA on 5 May 2012.

Directory of Alternative Providers - Mindfreedom International

The Directory of Alternative Providers is a searchable online database for mental and emotional support. 

Directory of Consumer-Driven Services (CDS) - National Mental Health Consumer's Self-Help Clearinghouse

Rhe Directory of Consumer-Driven Services (CDS) is a project of the National Mental Health Consumers' Self-Help Clearinghouse that provides consumers, researchers, administrators, service providers, and others with a comprehensive central resource for information on national and local consumer-driven programs. Such programs have a proven track record in helping people recover from mental illnesses. The CDS Directory highlights the vital role consumer-driven programs play in the continuum of care and allows programs to share their successful innovations with others. Through the CDS Directory:

• Mental health consumers can find local services and supports that best meet their needs.
• Managers and staff of consumer-driven services can examine the practices of other programs, borrow solutions to common challenges, and network with people running similar programs.
• Organizations operating consumer-driven services have a forum to promote their programs' accomplishments.
• Systems administrators and peer specialists exploring the creation of new programs can compare the merits of existing programs and identify useful resources.
• Researchers studying consumer-driven services can locate and contact programs they wish to study (e.g., multiple programs matching a particular service model) and will be able to review existing research.

Directory of Consumer-Driven Services (CDS) - Doors To Wellbeing

he Directory of Consumer-Driven Services (CDS), a project of the National Mental Health Consumers' Self-Help Clearinghouse. The purpose of the Directory is to provide consumers, researchers, administrators, service providers, and others with a comprehensive central resource for information on national and local consumer-driven programs. Such programs have a proven track record in helping people recover from mental illnesses. The CDS Directory highlights the vital role consumer-driven programs play in the continuum of care and allows programs to share their successful innovations with others. Through the CDS Directory:

• Mental health consumers can find local services and supports that best meet their needs.
• Managers and staff of consumer-driven services can examine the practices of other programs, borrow solutions to common challenges, and network with people running similar programs.
• Organizations operating consumer-driven services have a forum to promote their programs' accomplishments.
• Systems administrators and peer specialists exploring the creation of new programs can compare the merits of existing programs and identify useful resources.
• Researchers studying consumer-driven services can locate and contact programs they wish to study (e.g., multiple programs matching a particular service model) and will be able to review existing research.

Directory of Peer Respites - National Empowerment Centre (NEC)

The National Empowerment Centre (NEC) has a database of peer respites, voluntary, short-term, overnight program that provides community-based, non-clinical crisis support to help people find new understanding and ways to move forward. They operates 24 hours per day in a homelike environment. Peer respites are staffed and operated by people with psychiatric histories or who have experienced trauma and/or extreme states. 

Disability - Mindfreedom International

These documents explore the intersection between the disability movement and the movement to change the mental health system.

Disaster Planning and Recovery - CAFE Technical Assistance Center - The Family Cafe

The Café TAC provides links, information, tools, and training on disaster planning and recovery for consumers of mental health services, providers, and community first responders about Disaster Planning and Recovery. This may be a tornado, hurricane, floods, fire, or man-made disasters such as those resulting from the Gulf Oil Spill.  These disasters can leave entire communities traumatized and countless individuals with mental health care needs as a result.

Discord Community - Wildflower Alliance

Discord is a social platform that the Wildflower Alliance use to host an online peer support & community space.

Distress Support - BrookRed

PAUSE (Peer, Acceptance, Support, Understanding, and Empathy). supports people who have experienced suicidal distress or crisis.  Referrals to PAUSE are made by the Logan Hospital Emergency Department.

Doors To Wellbeing National Youth Advisory Council Members - Doors To Wellbeing

Double Trouble in Recovery - Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network

Double Trouble in Recovery is a 12-step fellowship of people who share their experience, strength, and hope with each other so that they may solve their common problems and help others to recover from their particular substance use and behavioral health challenges. DTR is designed to meet the needs of the dually diagnosed, and is for those who have been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder. They address the problems and benefits associated with psychiatric medication, and we recognize that for many, having addiction and mental health challenges represents Double Trouble in Recovery.​

In our fellowship, we band together for common good and recovery. With open-minded understanding of each other, and with honesty, we share our problems and our challenges, and celebrate our accomplishments. The humility we show will never mask or cover the courage it takes to admit who and what we are. Together, we find the hope and strength that lead to serenity, and lives of purpose and meaning.​

The DTR meeting format is similar to other 12-step meetings. Meetings typically last an hour or an hour-and-a-half, and participation is entirely voluntary, though visitors and newcomers are given the opportunity to introduce themselves. The facilitators of DTR meetings organized by the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network are also dually diagnosed, have between 6 and 22 years in recovery, are encouraged to take care of their mental health and work on their own personal recovery.​ There are no dues or fees for DTR membership or participation. Meetings are held across Georgia and in the metropolitan Atlanta area. Please see the schedules below for the time and location nearest you. For additional information, please contact:

• Statewide Gena Garner, CPS, CPS-AD, Statewide Director, DTR Double Trouble in Recovery, email: peermentoring@gmhcn.org
• Atlanta Gail Herrschaft, CPS, CARES, Director, Double Trouble in Recovery, email: dtr@gmhcn.org

​

Drop In Social Connections - Centre for Innovation in Peer Support (CIPS)

Drop-In Social Connections are free, drop-in, virtual social connection opportunities are open to anyone aged 16 and older.  The virtual waiting room opens 15 minutes before the session begins, and our groups will start on time.  

Drop-In Centers - National Mental Health Consumer's Self-Help Clearinghouse

A drop-in center provides a welcoming environment for mental health consumers, as well as a wide range of activities including:

• Support groups
• Recreational and social events, and
• Linkages with support services.  

E-COMPARED - Global Alliance of Mental Illness Advocacy Network Europe (GAMIAN-EU)

E-COMPARED conducted comparative effectiveness research in routine specialised mental care settings on the (cost-) effectiveness of internet-based treatment for depression in comparison with standard care. Health care systems and policies and existing ICT infrastructures and their uptake will be taken into account.

E-COMPARED aims to evaluate EU mental health policies/guidelines for standard and internet-based care for depression in specialised care settings in countries with different health care systems and access levels of standard and internet-based care; compare clinical efficacy and cost-effectiveness of internet-based treatment and treatment as usual within controlled research settings; carry out pragmatic randomised controlled trials to study how internet-based depression treatment can be effectively implemented within routine specialised care settings; predict which patient groups could benefit from internet-based treatment vs. standard treatment by modeling patient characteristics; develop evidence based recommendations on how internet-based depression treatment can be cost-effectively integrated into routine specialised care systems for depression in EU mental health care systems, and develop a business case to ensure structural implementation of these services. E-COMPARED is multidisciplinary (psychology, HTA, ICT, care) and its members are leaders in internet-based treatment for common mental health disorders, e.g. through participating in FP7 projects (ICT4Depression, ROAMER)

Economic Empowerment - National Organization of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry in Rwanda (NOUSPR)

NOUSPR encourages the participation of all and believe that no one should be excluded because of their disability. People with psychosocial disability are frequently excluded from society in Rwanda due to misplaced briefs about their capabilities and ability to positively contribute to society.vBy creating income-generating activities we can help people suffering from psychosocial disabilities in a number of ways by:

• Increasing their sources of income and thereby their livelihoods and standard of living
• Addressing feelings of low self-esteem leading to a lack of confidence
• Enhancing their standing in the local community by showing that they are capable of organizing into groups and running a small busines
• Showing to local authority officials that given the right support and encouragement people with disabilities can positively contribute

Different income generating activities include:

• Sewing machines: With the introduction of sewing machines from September 2014 NOUSPR groups are running small tailoring businesses. Three approaches to generating income have been adopted: repairs and alterations; speculative making for stock/selling from stock; and making for order. Customers are local people as well as schools and parents needing school uniforms.
• Culture Tour: By bring people from other cultures to spend a day participating in the daily lives of NOUSPR members a positive outcome is available for all. Not only does the group benefit from the fees collected from the visitors but they also have a great opportunity to sale to them their beautiful handicrafts. For more information about participating on a culture tour, click here
• Farming: some groups are growing vegetables and fruits like pineapple, potato, beans that they sell at the marked
• Pig keeping: One group has pigs that they breed, and sell.
• Beading: Some groups make paper beads and sell jewellery.

Eden Recovery Centre - Tough Love South Africa

eGrow Groups - Grow

eGrow Groups run the same as the Grow Program. The only difference is we meet using Zoom and the program is offered online. You can join a group and participate in the Grow Program from the comfort of your own your house. If you’re unable to attend a physical GROW group you can access meetings across Australia at a time that is suitable to you by using eGrow. Over the course of each meeting, the group engages in a series of group discussions that follow the same structure and format as a face-to-face meeting. Any member from any location can now receive mental health support and connecting with others at a time most convenient to you. It is important to register for your online meeting.

Embedding LLE workforces - Queensland Mental Health Commission

Emerging Proud Press - Emerging Proud

Emerging Proud now has a not-for-profit Publishing Company that publishes only inspirational Pocket Books

Emotional CPR (eCPR) - National Empowerment Centre (NEC)

Emotional CPR (eCPR) is an educational program designed to teach people to assist others through an emotional crisis. eCPR is based on the principles found to be shared by a number of support approaches:

• Trauma-informed care
• Counseling after disasters
• Peer support to avoid continuing emotional despair
• Emotional intelligence
• Suicide prevention and
• Cultural attunement. 

Emotional CRP Project - Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council (VMIAC)

Emotional CPR (eCPR) training brings together a team of highly experienced and qualified eCPR trainers from across Australia to deliver accessible online certificate level Emotional CPR Training.  This training is free to all staff (lived experience and non-lived experience) working in DHHS funded Mental Health and Alcohol and other Drug Services services operating within Victoria.

Emotional CPR (eCPR) is designed to teach people how to assist others through an emotional crisis. eCPR is based on the principles shared by a number of support approaches: trauma-informed care, personal recovery approaches, counselling after disasters, peer support, and cultural and social atunement. It was developed by a diverse cadre of leaders who themselves have learned how to recover and grow from an emotional crisis. Ultimately, eCPR is a holistic, hopeful and empowering approach to assist people through an emotional crisis. With an emphasis on building strong, resilient and cooperative communities, this training will help you in providing help for others through: 

• Connecting: the deepening of listening skills, and creating a sense of safety and respect for person in crisis.
• emPowering: helping people with finding their own power, working with them to shift away from anger and distress.
• Revitalising: helping people identify their way forward, towards their own support, and purpose.

Employent - Alliance for Rights and Recovery

The Alliance for Rights and Recovery has a long history of working with states and organizations to support the cultural shift that is essential if we are to support people moving from lives where one’s illness defines their identity to a life where they thrive through employment, economic self-sufficiency and all that comes with it—family, housing, and most importantly, a life beyond poverty.

The Alliance for Rights and Recovery fully supports the adoption of Individual Placement & Support (IPS) strategies into all Supported Employment programs and mental health systems across the country and has even helped to do so in such states as Utah, Wisconsin, and Colorado. Grounded in a belief that the work for organizations starts much earlier than when a person enters an employment program, the Alliance for Rights and Recovery helps states and organizations transform their culture to one where individuals say “yes” to employment. Their program partners include:

• the Boston University Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation
• The Cornell University Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability
• SAMHSA’s Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center (BRSS TACS)
• the Northeast & Caribbean Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC).
• TThe Alliance for Rights and Recovery works with hundreds of individual organizations across the nation to help them increase their capacity to optimize employment.
• The North American Housing Conference
• California Association of Social Rehabilitation Agencies (CASRA)
• Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey (CSPNJ)
• The National Coalition for Mental Health Recovery Alternatives Conference.

Employment Services - The Web

A JPeer Employment Mentor is available at The Web 5 days a week to assist you reach your employment goal. Jeri assist with writing or updating your Resume, identifying employers who are hiring, help in finding clothing for your interview. Jeri has experience in how to effectively answer the interview questions, explain gaps in your employment history, which assist you reaching your goal.

Employment Supports - National Mental Health Consumer's Self-Help Clearinghouse

Employment provide programs that enable clients to choose, get, and keep jobs including: 

• Resume preparation
• Benefits counseling
• Job readiness
• Skills development
• Computer training, and
• Job coaching. 

Engage Coping Tools - Engage Aotearoa

Engage Psychologist - Engage Aotearoa

Dr. Miriam Larsen-Barr is a registered clinical psychologist who provides psychological assessment and therapy can help you find a path through the tough times. I offer both individual and family therapy for children (6 years +), adolescents and adults facing a range of different troubles.

Environmental scan: Lived experience engagement and participation - National Mental Health Commission

The National Mental Health Commission has been undertaking a program of work to strengthen our capability for meaningful engagement with mental health consumers and carers, families and kinship groups.   While engagement with lived experience has been a core aspiration of the Commission since our establishment in 2012, we recognise that we can improve the ways we engage with consumers and carers to be more purposeful and effective.  To strengthen our capability in engaging with lived experience expertise, the Commission has funded a review of current approaches and emerging practice developments related to lived experience engagement and participation within public sector contexts. This was conducted by Lived Experience consultant Carrie Lumby.

Ethics & Mental Health - Mindfreedom International

Mindfreedom provides information in Ethics and Mental Health. Resources include:

• Swiss Court Ruling Allows Euthanasia For Mentally Ill: a ruling by Switzerland’s highest court has opened up the possibility that people with serious mental illnesses could be helped by doctors to take their own lives.
• Revealing Quotes on the Goals of Psychiatry and Psychology: this web site has quotes critical of psychiatry’s views on everything ranging from conservatives, education, religion, creating a slave society, world government, to morality and families. An example: “The reduction of intelligence is an important factor in the curative process… The fact is that some of the very best cures that one gets are in those individuals whom one reduces almost to amentia (feeble-mindedness)…” Dr. Abraham Myerson, Harvard Psychiatrist, 1942
• Psychiatry residents often skip informed consent: an investigation into the practices of 108 psychiatry residents revealed an excessively passive approach to informed consent discussions with patients. Asked to participate in hypothetical clinical vignettes, only 3% of the students managed to provide responses that met the criteria for adequate informed consent.
• Psychiatry and Freedom: 11th International Conference for Philosophy and Mental Health International Network of Philosophy and Psychiatry

Everyday Living - Mind

Everyday Living provides tips and guides to help people cope with everyday things like money, work, university and more.

• Supporting Someone Else
• Food & Mood
• Insurance Cover & Mental Health
• LGBTIQ+ & Mental Health
• Loneliness
• Mindfulness
• Nature & Mental Health
• Online Mental Health
• Parenting With a Mental Health Condition
• Physical Activity & Your Mental Health
• Relaxation
• Sleep Problems
• Managing Stress
• Coping With Student Life
• Mental Wellbeing
• Mental Health at Work

Explorations of User-led Research: Impact, Knowledge, and Historical Approaches (EURIKHA) - Service User Research Enterprise (SURE)

Explorations of User-led Research: Impact, Knowledge, and Historical Approaches (EURIKHA) is mapping the history of research, advocacy, and activism by persons with psychosocial disabilities, mental health service users, and survivors. What we understand as ‘mental ill-health’ is usually defined by authority figures such as doctors, psychiatrists/psychologists, priests, lawyers and governments. For many years, however, people who have been deemed ‘mad’ or ‘mentally ill’ by society and psychiatry – variedly known around the world as users, survivors, consumers, clients, patients, persons with psychosocial disabilities, etc. – have been involved in challenging these understandings and creating new knowledge from their perspectives. This knowledge has taken different forms and histories influenced by the contexts within which they emerged.

Mental health service users, survivors, and persons with psychosocial disabilities have created knowledge through rights-based activism, community organising, advocacy, peer support, the arts, user involvement in research, and in some parts of the world through the developments of user/survivor-led research. Some work focuses not only on mental health, but also on intersecting issues such as disability, poverty and sustainable living, racism, gender-based violence, and other forms of marginalisation and oppression.

EURIKHA is led by Professor Diana Rose and is based at the Service User Research Enterprise (SURE) at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London. A supplementary project, titled Still We Rise, will focus specifically on the history of activism, advocacy and research by African, African Caribbean, and Asian mental health service users and survivors in the UK. This project aims to work against the marginalisation and/or mythologisation of minority histories into the terms of a mainstream world view by focusing on the intersectional nature of challenging both the mental health system and institutional and structural racism within broader society. 

Exploring the potential of civic engagement to strengthen mental health systems in Indonesia (IGNITE) - Service User Research Enterprise (SURE)

IGNITE: Exploring the potential of civic engagement to strengthen mental health systems in Indonesia is a collaborative project with Jakarta, St Georges and Liverpool universities to investigate the possibilities of civic engagement, conceived in terms of rights, in Indonesia. The team worked with an NGO in Jakarta and also two rural sites. The idea was well received in the NGO but other issues took priority in rural areas and there was little interest in taking on board this notion. The project is in write-up stage. Professor Diana Rose was PI for King’s in this study. 

External Training - Centre for Innovation in Peer Support (CIPS)

Families and Friends of Psychiatric Survivors - Mindfreedom International

Mindfreedom International provides information that defines the role do parents, siblings, children, relatives, colleagues, friends on supporting psychiatric survivors. 

• Linda Mulinix on her daughter Michelle’s battle in the mental health system: Linda Mulinix is a mother of a psychiatric survivor, Michelle, who is 30 years old at the time Linda told her family’s story at the quarterly “Opal Network” meeting in Eugene, Oregon. MindFreedom Lane County is one of the sponsors in this coalition. 
• Linda Mulinix is mother of a psychiatric survivor Michelle: Linda Mulinix is the mother of thirty-year-old Michelle who has experienced abuse and neglect in the California mental health system. Linda told the family story at an Opal Network meeting in Eugene, Oregon.

Family Peer Support Services - Psychiatric Survivors of Ottawa

Psychiatric Survivors of Ottawa provide support family and friends of people experiencing mental health and/or addiction challenges.

• Online Family Peer Support Group: is a group for friends and family of people experiencing mental health and/or addiction challenges. The atmosphere is very relaxing, supportive and non-judgmental. Every week they offer various discussion topics such as communication strategies, boundaries, codependency, letting go of control etc. They occur Mondays 6:30-8:00pm.

• Telephone and Email Family Peer Support work Mon-Fri and our hours are flexible. Beata Z. beataz@pso-ottawa.ca, 613-567-4379 ext. 123 or Sean D. seand@pso-ottawa.ca, 613-567-4379 ext. 221

• Family Support eNewsletter is a monthly Family Support eNewsletter that includes community resources, workshops, events, information about what's going on at PSO and other mental health organizations, wellness tips and strategies and much more.

Fideility Measures - Wildflower Alliance

One of the most challenging aspects of implementing peer-to-peer approaches is making sure that what gets implemented has integrity to what peer roles are intended to be (and stays that way).  Although imperfect, there are a few 'fidelity measures' out there that can provide some guidelines.  

Fighting for the Crisis Line - Bristol Independent Mental Health Network (BIMHN)

Fighting for the Crisis Line is the Bristol’s Crisis Line, a 24-hour telephone service that offers support and, if appropriate, immediate care pathways to those experience a mental health crisis, was to close. This was later revised to a ‘service re-design’, where the line remained open, but could only be made use of by people who have been referred to the line by professionals, or for people as part of their previously identified support.

Find a Grow Group - Grow

Frow meetings take place in a safe, caring and confidential way, whether the meetings are face-to-face, or online, known as eGrow groups. Their members meet weekly and follow the Group Method. The meetings run for about two hours and the groups vary in size from 3-10 members. We are a peer-to-peer led support group, where newer members are supported and mentored by experienced members who have worked through the Grow Program and have taken on a leadership role within the group.

• Mt Gravatt Grow Group - St Marks Lutheran Church - 71 Newnham Rd Mt Gravatt Australia
• West End Grow Group - A Place to Belong - 69 Thomas St West End QLD Australia
• Chermside Grow Group - Uniting Church - Cnr Gympie & Rode Roads Chermside QLD Australia
• Crestmead Grow Group - Crestmead Community Centre - 6 Gimlet Street Crestmead QLD Australia
• Bridgeman Downs Grow Group - Church of the Resurrection - 30 Ridley Road Bridgeman Downs QLD Australia
• Eagleby Grow Group - Eagleby Giants Rugby League Football Club Eagleby Australia
• Pine Rivers Grow Group - Neighbourhood Centre - 865 Gympie Road Pine Rivers QLD Australia
• Palm Beach Grow Group - 1 /19 Fifth Avenue Palm Beach QLD 4221 Australia
• Tweed Heads Grow Group - Anglican Church - Cnr. Florance & Powell St Tweed Heads NSW Australia
• Maroochydore Grow Group - Uniting Church - 6 Millwell Road Maroochydore QLD Australia
• Toowoomba Grow Group - 121 Russel Street Toowoomba QLD Australia
• Lismore Grow Group - Grow Centre18 Union Street Lismore NSW Australia
• Casino Grow Group - Casino Community Centre - 35 Walker Street Casino NSW Australia
• Gympie Grow Group - Gympie Community Health - 20 Alfred Street Gympie QLD Australia
• Ballina Grow Group - CWA Rooms River Street Ballina NSW Australia
• Yamba Grow Group - Treelands Community Centre - Treelands Drive Yamba NSW Australia
• Grafton Grow Group - New School of Arts - Neighbourhood House Corner of Spring & Skinner Street Grafton NSW Australia
• Port Macquarie Grow Group - Colonial Meeting Rooms - Cnr William & Hay Sts Port Macquarie NSW Australia
• Yeppoon Grow Group - Yeppoon Community Centre - 80 John Street Yeppoon QLD Australia
• Wyong Grow Group - McKinnon Hall - Bakers Lane Wyong NSW Australia
• Bateau Bay Grow Group - Baptist Church8 Yakalla St Bateau Bay NSW Australia
• Dubbo Grow Group - St Brigit’s Parish198 Brisbane St Dubbo NSW Australia
• Woy Woy Grow Group - Anglican Church Hall151 Blackwall Road Woy Woy NSW Australia
• Hornsby Grow Group - Fusion Centre 5 Jersey Street Hornsby NSW Australia
• Chatswood Grow Group - Chatswood Adventist Church Johnson St & Devonshire St Chatswood NSW Australia
• West Ryde Grow Group - West Ryde Community Hall - 3-5 Anthony Rd West Ryde NSW Australia
• Blacktown Grow Group - St Patricks Parish Church - 51-59 Allawah Street Blacktown NSW Australia
• Mt Druitt Grow Group - The Hubat Ayers Grove - Mt Druitt NSW Australia
• Penrith Grow Group - C3 Church Penrith1/450 High Street Penrith NSW Australia
• Camperdown Grow Group - Common Ground Building31 Pyrmont Bridge Rd Camperdown NSW Australia
• Lidcombe Grow Group - Lidcombe Community Centre - 3 Bridge Street Lidcombe NSW Australia
• Burwood Grow Group - Baptist Church - 23 Conder Street Burwood NSW Australia
• Newtown Grow Group - Newtown Neighbourhood Centre - 1 Bedford Street Newtown NSW Australia
• Newtown Grow Group (Greek Speaking) - Greek Welfare Centre - 378A King Street Newtown NSW Australia
• Bathurst Grow Group - The Wellways Building - 129 Piper Street Bathurst NSW Australia
• Orange Grow Group - Senior Citizens Centre77 Kite Street Orange NSW Australia
• Jannali Grow Group - See Change Church Hall, Level 140-42 Railway Parade Jannali NSW Australia
• Warrawong Grow Group - Warrawong Community Health Centre - Greene Street Warrawong NSW Australia
• Cowra Grow Group - Mission Australia Building - 87 Brisbane St Cowra NSW Australia
• Nowra Grow Group - Wellways, Morrison Arcade, 103 Junction St Nowra Australia
• Nowra Grow Group - Community Health Centre - 5 Lawrence St Nowra NSW Australia
• Belconnen Grow Group - Belconnen Community Centre - Cnr of Swanson Court and Chandler St Belconnen ACT Australia
• Queanbeyan Grow Groups - Queanbeyan Baptist Church - 1-3 Munro Road Queanbeyan NSW Australia
• Narrabundah Grow Group - Grow House - 9 Anembo St Narrabundah ACT Australia
• Leeton Grow Group - Community Health Centre - Seminar Room 2C/- Leeton Hospital-Palm Ave Leeton NSW Australia
• Griffith Grow Group - Griffith Neighbourhood Centre - 80 Benerambah St Griffith NSW Australia
• Townsville Grow Group - Ryan Community Centre - Morindo Drive Townville QLD Australia
• Wangaratta Grow Group - 41 Ovens St41 Ovens St Wangaratta VIC Australia
• Benalla Grow Group - Waminda Community House - 19 Ballintine St Benalla VIC Australia
• Shepparton Grow Group - South Shepparton Community Centre - 11 Service St Shepparton VIC Australia

Find a Peer - National Association of Peer Supporters (NAPS)

Find a peer is a database of peer specialists. It is possible to search by state, city, specialty and additional training.

Finding Your Voice - California Association of Mental Health Peer-Run Organizations (CAMHPRO)

The Finding Your Voice workshops are designed for small, informal roundtable discussions for consumers. It’s a place to learn what’s going on in your community as well as sharing your voice.

Finnish Clubhouse Coalition - Clubhouse International

Florida Clubhouse Coalition - Clubhouse International

Forced Drugging Defense Package - Mindfreedom International

The Forced Drugging Defense Package developed by the Law Project for Psychiatric Rights for the MindFreedom Shield program. The Forced Drugging Defense Package is built around the written expert testimony of Grace E. Jackson, MD, and the award winning author of Mad in America, Robert Whitaker, which PsychRights has successfully used to stop forced drugging in one of its cases.

Forensic Peer Mentoring Training Project - Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network

Georgia-specific Forensic  Peer Mentoring Training Program allows Georgia to expand the success in reducing recidivism. This three-year project is currently underway. In March 2019, GMHCN concluded a series of six listening sessions across the state, where we heard from Georgia's communities about what they need to improve the lives of our justice-involved citizens, including those who are returning to their communities from correctional facilities. One listening session was held in each of the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities six regions. Based on what was learned on those sessions, a curriculum for a Forensic Peer Mentor Training is now being developed, and will be implemented over the course of 2019-2021.

Framework for Recovery-Based Service System - Mary O'Hagan

Fresh Hope for Living Free - Fresh Hope For Mental Health

Fresh Hope for Living Free is a Christian support group that empowers those who have been incarcerated to live free in spite of their past, addictions and/or mental health challenges.

Fresh Hope For Teens - Fresh Hope For Mental Health

Fresh Hope for Teens is a Christian support group for teens who have a mental health challenge and for their teen friends.

Friendship Community Center Peer Support Program (Mental Health America of Greater Augusta) - Mental Health America Center For Peer Support

Friendship's Peer Support program is a self -directed recovery based program assisting adults living with chronic mental illnesses with re-establishing and developing essential skills needed to reintegrate into the community. The program is designed to assist these individuals in gaining skills and recovery modes that enable them to maintain their mental health recovery, eliminate mental health crises, minimize hospital visits, stay out of jail, and move into the community with sustainable employment.

Gender, Dissociation, & Multiplicity - Dissociative Network Initiative

Diverse gender identity can overlap with experiences of dissociation and multiplicity. This does not necessarily mean that people have a mental illness. Having an experience of diverse gender identity is simply part of the normal variation of human experience, and occurs in cultures throughout the world. ‘Transgender’ is often used as an umbrella term for the many different ways a persons gender identity may be different from the gender they were thought to be at birth. It doesn’t mean anything about who a person is attracted to, it’s about their own sense of self. For more about sexuality and multiplicity, see Sexuality and Multiplicity. Some trans people strongly identify as male or female when they’ve previously been identified as the other. Some trans people don’t feel comfortable about the gender binary of only male/female. People may prefer other terms such as non binary, genderqueer, agender and so on.

Trans people often experience significant forms of dissociation, particularly where severe gender dysphoria, trauma, abuse, or anxiety are present. For many people, access to peers, safe places to live and work, and connection with accepting communities are key to reducing the chronic stress that drives these experiences. Tools to manage dissociation and language to communicate about it can also be very helpful particularly when people are in distress. It’s extremely important for mental health resources to be trans-friendly without pathologising the experience of being trans, or the perfectly normal dissociative responses to transphobia.

It can also be extremely helpful when trans supports are aware of the vulnerability of anyone experiencing trauma, shame, identity confusion, and isolation and are able to provided tailored support for these issues, or work in collaboration with mental health and trauma recovery organisations. For more information about dissociation and strategies to manage it, see About Dissociation or our Crisis Page.

Many trans people experience no sense of multiplicity whatsoever. Many people with multiplicity have no trans experiences at all. However, it’s not uncommon for both to be present together. Some trans or queer supports are aware of this and extremely helpful, but others can be limited and cause distress, particularly when only one gender identity is treated as ‘real’. There are many ways gender diversity and multiplicity can be experienced, for example

• Some people have a sense of a male and female versions of themselves
• Some people have different personalities who identify differently with regards to gender – perhaps someone who is non-binary, 3 men, a boy, a child who doesn’t identify with either gender, and a woman all sharing the same system and body
• Some people find that their sense of gender identity is fluid, changing from day to day, in some cases because of co-conscious switching between parts

There’s quite a spectrum! It can be helpful to be aware that trans experiences are common for people with multiplicity, and multiplicity experiences are common for people who are trans.

The presence of multiplicity may change the needs of someone who is trans a little, but it doesn’t have to be a bad or frightening thing! There’s many different ways this can be experienced, explored, or resolved. Some people find that their sense of multiplicity reduces as they accept and begin to live congruently as their real gender. Sometimes a part may be a social construct – a kind of mask worn due to social pressure rather than an authentic separate self. Sometimes different gendered parts may agree to allow the part who is out to use their preferred pronouns or to present the way they feel – male parts wearing male clothes, sometimes multiples permanently transition to allow their primary day to day part/s to feel most comfortable in the body. Sometimes a trans part is integrated or retires and is no longer a independent self sharing the mind or body.

Genetics & Uegenics - Mindfreedom International

Mindfreedom Information provides information on Genetics and Eugenics. This includes:

• Conference: Eugenics and Sterilization in Alberta

Georgia Consumer Council - Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network

Since the opening of the Georgia Lunatic Asylum in 1842, some 25,000 patients were buried on the grounds of what is now called Central State Hospital. To maintain the patients’ confidentiality, their graves were marked with iron stakes bearing numbers instead of names. Over time, many markers were removed or covered by growth. In 1997, the Georgia Consumer Council adopted the Central State Hospital Cemetery Memorial Project as a tribute to those who faced behavioral health in a less enlightened time; as an effort to reduce stigma and increase community understanding about mental illness; and as a symbol of the progress the peer movement has made. As a result of its restoration efforts, new cemetery gates were installed, and a bronze angel was erected as a memorial. Buried beneath the angel are a time capsule of the hospital’s history, and a digital recording of the names of the dead.

The Council continues to meet twice each year, once in the spring, typically in Atlanta, to plan for the memorial service held when it meets again in the fall at the cemetery in Milledgeville. Peers, advocates, allies, family members, and the general public are invited to the memorial service each fall, and again to the placement of wreaths on the cemetery gates each December. Membership of the Georgia Consumer Council includes behavioral health peers from across the state of Georgia​​​.

Georgia's Forensic Peer Mentoring Project - Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network

Georgia's Forensic Peer Mentoring Project provides support, linkage, and care coordination to promote the successful community reintegration of adults with behavioral health diagnoses returning to the community following incarceration. Forensic Peer Mentors have had personal lived experience with the criminal justice system. The Forensic Peer Mentor works with returning citizens/participants who are within 3-18 months of their release date/tentative parole month. They work together onsite within an assigned state correctional facility, or in a Georgia Day Reporting Center, as well as in the community after release. The Forensic Peer Mentor provides support, including linkage and assistance in developing transportation plans to community services to facilitate access to entitlements, community based behavioral health supports and other services. 

​

Georgia's Peer Mentoring Project - Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network

Georgia's Peer Mentoring Project provides mentoring, peer support, and community-resource linkage to promote the successful transition of adults with behavioral health diagnoses returning to communities of their choice following psychiatric in-patient hospitalization. Peer Mentors work in each of the five Georgia Regional Hospital catchment areas

• Central State Hospital in Milledgeville
• East Central Regional Hospital in Augusta
• Georgia Regional Hospital in Atlanta
• Georgia Regional Hospital in Savannah
• West Central Georgia Regional Hospital in Columbus
• In Crisis Centers throughout Georgia,
• Mobile Crisis Teams
• The Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network's Peer Support, Wellness, and Respite Centers. 

Peer Mentors assist identified adults receiving psychiatric inpatient care with their transition back into community living. Initially, Peer Mentors meet their peers in a Georgia Regional Hospital inpatient setting or other venue, and then assist them as they re-enter various community settings. Peer Mentors may assist with resource linkage, discharge planning, and social connections. Peer mentors support the implementation, by the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, of the United States Supreme Court Olmstead decision, mandating transition of consumers from psychiatric institutions into the community. 

​

​

​

Get Growing Program - Grow

The Get Growing program is a specialised mental health program for school aged participants aged from 11 to 17 years old. This program has been developed to meet the needs of young people, where early intervention can help to prevent mild depression which can often develop into deep despair. The program runs over 10 weeks with a new topic explored each week including:

• Resilience
• Feelings
• Friendship
• Problem solving
• Safety
• Personal value
• Strengths
• Goals
• Stress
• Dealing with a crisis

There’s often only help available to young people who have sever and urgent needs. Get Growing is targeted at young people who ma be at risk to prevent or minimise mental health issues before their mental health declines or reaches crisis point.

Global Issues - Mindfreedom International

Mindfreedom International provides information on international activist concerns on human rights and alternatives in the mental health system. These include:

• Globalization of psychiatry: concern about expansion of the mental health industry to poor & developing countries.

• Report documents human rights violations in Turkey psychiatric facilities: Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) released a 2005 report about human rights abuses in Turkey, including electroshock of children. MDRI is a sponsor group of MindFreedom International.

•  World Health Organization (WHO) Exposes a Global Emergency of Human Rights Violations in the Mental Health System: the World Health Organization announced they are dedicating International Human Rights Day, 10 December 2005 to all people diagnosed with mental disorders “and the all-too-prevalent violations of their basic human rights.”

• A MindFreedom Delegation in the United Nations for Meetings on Disability and Human Rights: this essay celebrates the MindFreedom delegation once again entering the United Nations, in this case on Martin Luther King, Jr. day, 16 January 2006.

• Report by John McCarthy — MindFreedom delegate in the United Nations: John McCarthy flew in from Cork, Ireland to help represent MindFreedom in 2006 meetings in the United Nations to create a successful “Convention” or treaty about disability and human rights. Here’s John’s first hand report about the experience.

•  wpa-dresden: a number of psychiatric survivor and mental health consumer organizations have united to speak out directly inside a special conference by the World Psychiatric Association on the topic of ending coercion and force in the mental health system

• IAACM: watch for upcoming news about the launch of the International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment, with support from Mad Pride 2007 and MindFreedom International.

• Russian psychiatry: mental health system human rights abuse in Russia is gaining international attention.

• Torture: this material is on the controversial intersection between torture and the mental health system, such as the presence of mental health professionals during extreme interrogation of prisoners.

• Belgium Psychiatric Survivor Group Celebrates 10th Anniversary: the following news announcement was forwarded by European Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (ENUSP) about one of their member groups in Belgium, UilenSpiegel, which is celebrating their 10th anniversary. UilenSpiegel is also planning a Mad Pride celebration. Dan Taylor, secretary from MindFreedom Ghana in Accra, Ghana, Africa, intends to attend.

• United Nations and Disability Rights: MindFreedom’s team in the United Nations worked hard for years with activists from all over the world to create a treaty on disability and human rights.

• World Health Organization Study Comparing Mental Health Recovery in Developed & Developing Nations: the World Health Organization (WHO) sponsored major studies comparing how people recover in poor and more developed nations. The people in the poorer developing nations, on average, recovered at a far higher rate. Here is information about those studies. MindFreedom asked Professor Norman Sartorius to briefly summarize these studies, which he was directly involved in leading. The views expressed are those of Dr. Sartorius.

• Norman Sartorius: Norman Sartorius, MD, past Director of the Division of Mental Health of World Health Organization, retired in 1993. Dr. Sartorius helped conduct studies comparing mental health recovery rates in poor and more developed nations.

• Healing Angola’s Mind: The Medical Rehabilitation of Those Affected by Civil War

  A paper by Samantha Figueroa, available here as an MS Word document, on transitional justice and pychosocial rehabilitation in the aftermath of the civil war in Angola, Africa

• Nepal: tnformation regarding mental health human rights in Nepal.

• Freedom from Torture or Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment: a piece by Kate Millett, read at the United Nations Ad Hoc Committee on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in New York City on January 18, 2005.

• Norway: information on mental health human rights in Norway.

• Human Rights for All” Tour: MindFreedom is one of the co-sponsors of a national tour by the US Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry. Here is current information available.

• The Americanization of Mental Illness: in this New York Times article, Ethan Watters explores the impact of the spread of American culture on the understanding of mental health issues outside of the United States.

• Americanizing the global mind: this is a review by Andrew Rasmussen of the book “Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche” by Ethan Watters. The review is published by STATS, affiliated with George Mason University in Virginia, USA.

• Bendetto Saraceno, MD – Psychiatrist: Dr. Benedetto Saraceno is a psychiatrist trained in public health who served as Director of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse of the World Health Organization (WHO) until February 2010. While at WHO, Dr. Saraceno has made a number of supportive statements about MindFreedom International and its director, David Oaks. Dr. Saraceno had WHO call the current human rights situation in mental health an “emergency,” and agreed there should be no forced electroshock. On 1 March 2011, Global Initiative on Psychiatry (GIP) announced that Dr. Benedetto Saraceno has become chairman of its board.

Global Peer Support Celebration Day (GPSCD) - National Association of Peer Supporters (NAPS)

Global Peer Support Celebration Day (GPSCD) is an annual celebration of peer supporters, peer support, and recognizing their work in helping their peers with mental health, addictions, and or trauma-related challenges move along the continuum of recovery and inclusion into communities of his/her choosing. This annual, worldwide event takes place annually on the third Thursday in October.

The Global Peer Support Celebration Day (GPSCD) committee members developed this toolkit to assist peer supporters in crafting, creating, and developing a unique and personal event in his/her country, state, region, or city; however, peer supporters are welcome to develop his/her own materials. The information and examples contained in this Toolkit can be mixed and matched or customized to fit the look, feel, and needs of peer supporters, organizations, and the like.

Grit - Beyond Empathy

Grit is a podcast series developed by young people about resilience and creativity.

Grow Better Together - Grow

Grow's Carer Program, Grow Better Together, encourages and supports caregivers of people experiencing mental illness. It utilises the same key elements of the Grow Program encouraging carers to further develop their own personal resources, friendships and supports to overcome barriers they experience as part of their caring role.

Grow Program - Grow

GROW is a community-based national organisation that has more than 60 years’ experience in developing a unique program for improving and maintaining mental health. Grow’s programs are based on lived experience meaning Grow groups are a meeting of peers, made up of people who are striving to develop and maintain good mental health.

The Grow Program is based on a 12-step program of personal growth of mutual help and support. The Grow Program is all-inclusive and draws on many principles for mental, social and spiritual health. At each meeting, members share about how they came to GROW and how they are exploring self-improvement strategies on their road to recovery. It’s not a straight road, and that’s where the support of other GROW members helps – everyone in the group has opportunities to share their experiences of coping with mental wellness. You’ll be motivated by the stories you hear from Growers, and you’ll soon realise you’re not alone.

Joining a Grow group is free – you don’t need to have a referral or a doctor’s diagnosis. Groups are confidential and members can choose to remain anonymous. Our meetings take place in a safe, caring and confidential way, whether the meetings are face-to-face, or online, known as eGrow groups. Our members meet weekly and follow the Group Method. The meetings run for about two hours and the groups vary in size from 3-10 members. We are a peer-to-peer led support group, where newer members are supported and mentored by experienced members who have worked through the Grow Program and have taken on a leadership role within the group.

At each meeting, GROW members will have opportunities to share any of their life challenges or issues, but this is your choice. Some first-time members may choose not to speak or share, and that’s okay. What makes GROW so special is the practical advice and the lived experiences that are shared every week by our members, also known as Growers. This peer-to peer style of support has been proven to be a positive way of helping you remain on the road to recovery. Meetings are free with voluntary contributions welcome.

Growing a Peer Workforce - Peer Work Hub

Growing a peer workforce is about making sure peer workers have the opportunities and training they need to perform well in their role. Employee development includes the acquisition of knowledge, skills and behaviours that improve a peer worker’s capability to meet changes in job requirements and in client and customer demands. Employee development also includes career planning and performance management and review.

• Training
• Recruit & Develop
• Manage Performance

Guiding Council of Western Mass - Wildflower Alliance

The Guiding Council (GCOW) serves as the advisory board for the Wildflower Alliance. The council is made up primarily of individuals who have lived experience with mental health diagnoses, extreme states and/or trauma who live and/or work in our home region. GCOW members gather every month to represent each county of Western Mass and hold the ‘big picture’ of the Wildflower Alliance’s development, helping to shape its direction and growth. All GCOW meetings are open to anyone from the community who themselves has personally experienced those sorts of life-interrupting challenges described in our mission statement, or who is a friend, family member or ally to the Wildflower Alliance and our work, although only Council Delegates are able to participate in any formal votes.

H.E.R.O Discovery Center - Recovery Empowerment Network (REN)

A HERO is someone who inspires and is a role model to many. Heroes fill hearts with hope and empower others to explore recovery within every opportunity faced. We walk together on our path of learning. We will triumph over our mental health and substance challenges. The road ahead may hold obstacles and certainly successes. Discover the path to wellness now and be a HERO to others. HERO Discovery center teaches skills and helps build a strong foundation for independent living. We provide a community for those ages 18-25 years old.

Hacienda of Hope - Project Return Peer Support Network

Hacienda of Hope is a peer-run respite house located in Long Beach, California. It has a wing of four men’s rooms and a wing of four women’s rooms and two ADA compliant genderless rooms downstairs. Every guest has their own bedroom and shares a bathroom and can receive peer support 24 hours a day. Stays are free for individuals and typically last 3-7 days. Each guest develops an individualized recovery plan with the help of one-on-one peer support. Guests may also attend 15 different support groups, get assistance accessing additional resources, participate in a variety of recreational activities and receive 3 meals a day. Laundry and computer facilities are on site.

Hacienda of Hope is a safe alternative to emergency hospitalization for individuals living with mental health challenges who are experiencing a stressful life event or crisis. This short-term peer respite home offers the space where peer-guests are able to stay short periods of time (usually a few days) to work on their personal growth and wellness in a safe space free of charge.

Hacienda of Hope is a harm reduction based, welcoming, non-clinical environment, staffed by others who are able to relate, empathize and offer hope and support through crisis. The two-story home can accommodate up to ten guests at a time. Guests can participate in cooking and household activities of on site peer support groups, self-help and wellness activities.

The orientation process is simple and each guest works with a peer supporter who helps them set goals for their stay. Guests have the opportunity to create individualized wellness and recovery plans and connect with local resources for employment, housing, financial assistance, and mental/physical health care.

Handbook of Peer Roles - Wildflower Alliance

Part of what makes implementing 'peer' roles so very challenging is that they aren't very well understood by the providers who are trying to implement them, or even by the people who are applying to work in those newly created roles.  All too often, positions that are getting called 'peer' end up being the same old positions with a new title, or marginalized in some way. 

We are pleased to announce that through a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration's (SAMHSA) Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategy (BRSS TACS) project, the Western Massachusetts Recovery Learning Community in partnership with Legere Consulting and the Western Massachusetts Peer Network, has created a handbook to support address this issue. 

The handbook has two different sections.  One section is written particularly for providers who have or are in the process of implementing peer roles ("The Provider's Handbook on Developing & Implementing Peer Roles), while the other is intended for individuals working in those roles ("A Handbook for Individuals Working in Peer Roles.").  In print form, the handbook is set up so that if you start from one side, you are reading the provider version, but if you flip the book over and read from the other side, you are reading the version intended for those working in peer roles.  Although the book is likely to continue to develop and see updated editions in the future, the current edition is available below:

Hawai`i Clubhouse Coalition - Clubhouse International

Heads Together Campaign - Mind

Heads Together has encouraged millions of people to have important conversations about mental health. Money raised by Heads Together is now supporting innovative projects to tackle the challenges we can all face in talking about our mental health. This includes a £2m fund to create digital tools for young people seeking help for their mental health online and new programmes to support mental health in schools, workplaces and the defence community.

Healing Arts - Peers Envisioning and Engaging in Recovery Services (PEERS)

Healing Arts offers a safe space for participants to explore mental health and wellness through art. Art facilitates healing and recovery by allowing group members to express difficult emotions through various mediums. This program encourages participants to utilize art therapy as a tool in their own wellness journeys.This popular series is part of PEERS’ community building efforts, due to the participative nature of art therapy. This program seeks to reach as many people as possible. This popular program has been embraced by the community at large; evaluations testify to the positive impact that art therapy has on consumers. Reflections & Expressions is open to the entire community. Group members of various backgrounds, individuals and families, English speakers and non English speakers, attend on a regular basis.

Healing Connections Peer Support Group - Association for Mental Health and Wellness

Healing Connections Peer Support Groups were created for and by people who experience emotional distress, voices and visions, extreme and/or altered states of consciousness, labels of psychiatry, substance use, and trauma/trauma responses. We come together to share information, hope, joys, fears, successes, and hardships in the “most” safe space we co-create to mutually support, heal, and grow together. We all are collectively responsible for the comfort of our group!

Healing Connections Peer Support Group - Association for Mental Health and Wellness

Healing Connections a support group for and by people who experience emotional distress, voices and visions, extreme and altered states of consciousness, labels of psychiatry, substance use, and trauma/trauma responses. Healing Connections Peer Support Groups were created for and by people who experience emotional distress, voices and visions, extreme and altered states of consciousness, labels of psychiatric diagnosis, substance use, and trauma/trauma responses. We come together to share information, hope, joys, fears, successes, and hardships in the ‘most’ safe space we co-create to mutually support, heal, and grow together. We all are collectively responsible for the comfort of our group! Healing Connections’ facilitators are trained Peer Specialist, who have their own experience with emotional distress. The facilitators are there to guide the support group and offer peer support.

Hearing Voices - Western Mass Recovery Learning Community (RLC)

Hillgate Hill Centre - BrookRed

The Highgate Hill Centre is located just a few minutes walk from Southbank Station, our Highgate Hill Centre (Brook Street) is located in a cosy Queenslander set in a leafy yard. Inside, you'll find a vibrant community of people who will welcome you into whatever is going on that day - which coud be painting, gardening, having interesting discussions, sharing a meal, jamming in the music room, or just about anything at all.  Brook Street mainly focuses on peer-run group activities but is also a great place to just pop into for a catch up or bit of support.  

History of Consumer Lived Experience in Victoria - Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council (VMIAC)

History of The Movement - California Association of Mental Health Peer-Run Organizations (CAMHPRO)

Holding the Past, Handling the Future - Beyond Empathy

Holding the Past, Handling the Future is a creative ageing project for Older people.

Homelessness Outreach - National Mental Health Consumer's Self-Help Clearinghouse

Homeless Outreach provide utreach to consumers who are homeless can help link them with mental health services, health care, housing, and other supports, but mistrust of the system often poses a barrier to successful outreach.  Some outreach programs employ formerly homeless consumers, whose personal experience can help to build trusting relationships. 

Hope Coach Connector - Fresh Hope For Mental Health

Here you can be matched to your own personal Hope Coach. A Hope Coach is someone who has been trained and certified by Fresh Hope for Mental Health to help you move from feeling hopeless or stuck to a place of feeling hopeful. A Hope Coach is not a licensed mental health care provider nor a biblical counselor. Rather, a Hope Coach is a short-term friend specifically trained in “how hope happens” and what hopelessness is, all based upon 25 years of clinical research.  The Hope Coaching program is a Christian/faith-based ministry. (Please note, you do not need to be a person of faith to connect with a Hope Coach. And Hope Coaches are not here to evangelize anyone.)

The friendship between a Hope Coach and one who has requested their help is short-term, meaning three to five times of chatting with your Hope Coach. Although it could be as few as one or two, or possibly a few more than five if necessary. Here at the Hope Coach Connector, you’ll be matched with a Hope Coach that you can communicate via phone, text, Zoom, and email. Everything is confidential. Within the Hope Coach Connector, you’ll also find videos, and even some courses on finding hope and moving forward in life.

Hope Coaching - Fresh Hope For Mental Health

Hope Coaching is a free ministry that Fresh Hope offers by talking with a Hope Coach.

Hope Opioid Outreach - Hope Inc.

HOPE is a proud recipient of the Arizona State Opioid Response (SOR) Grant. Designed to reduce opioid-related deaths, and opioid and stimulant use, this grant affords HOPE the opportunity to conduct outreach to populations in need.  In keeping with HOPE’s mission to deliver recovery-based community services, the Outreach Team will support the goals of the SOR Grant through collaboration with community stakeholders to provide Peer Support Services that will enhance Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) Services Navigation, MAT Services Retention, and overall Recovery Support.

Hope's Door - Recovery Empowerment Network (REN)

Hope’s Door is a peer-run program operated by the Recovery Empowerment Network. In this program, people who may be headed for a crisis can take a look at their circumstances, make a plan to stay safe and out of crisis, and learn ways to achieve whole-person wellness.

Housing & Mental Health Campaigns - Mind

Mind's housing and mental health include a number of issues across the private and social housing sectors which mean not enough people are living in the kind of housing they need. 

Housing first - Pathways Vermont

Pathways Vermont’s Housing First Program believes that housing is a basic human right. We also believe that the best way to ensure this right for all members of our communities is to prioritize access to permanent housing. The Housing First program provides independent housing and community based supports to individuals who are experiencing homelessness and have a history of mental health and other life challenges, many of whom do not or can not utilize more traditional services offered by the system of care.

Housing First is an evidence-based, permanent supportive housing program that supports individuals to maintain independent housing and lead meaningful lives in their community.The program immediately ends homelessness by supporting individuals and families to locate independent apartments in the community. Housing First clients are provided long-term, multidisciplinary community supports, including service coordination, drug & alcohol counseling, employment support, psychiatry, nursing care and representative payee services. The program targets the most vulnerable individuals , especially those who have “fallen through the cracks” of the system of care. 

Housing Services - National Mental Health Consumer's Self-Help Clearinghouse

Consumer staff members are employed by housing providers including:

• Housing that is part of a more comprehensive service program
• Assistance in finding and securing housing
• Provide supportive services.

Housing Services - The Web

The Web’s Peer Housing Mentor is available 5 days a week to assist you making that new apartment a reality. Becky has been with the Web over six years and has developed a strong network of property owners, managers and housing providers to assist you.

How Psychopathic Drugs Act on The Brain - Mad in America

How To Become A Peer Support Specialist - Mental Health America Center For Peer Support

How To Become A Peer Support Specialist is information to share the tools, skills, and information you have learned to transform your own life with individuals going through similar struggles. Not only do you get to contribute to the lives of others, but you also improve your own recovery and wellbeing in the process. As more and more learn about the impact of peer support, opportunities and career paths for peer specialists will grow and expand. The growth of peer support has the potential to radically transform the ways we support people in the behavioral health system.

How-To-Guides - Mental Health Forum

Mental Health Forums guides were written by members of our forum and contain valuable information on how to go about tackling difficult situations, such as navigating Mental Health Services, returning to work, learning to live with voices, supporting a person with dementia, and more. How-to-guides include:

• Mindfulness
• Coming Off Psychiatric Medications
• Dementia
• Living With Voices
• Navigating Mental Health Services
• Returning to Work
• Returning to Work for Managers

Human Library Experience - Resilience Collective (RC)

The Human Library Experience is a platform where persons with mental health conditions take on the role of Human Books to share their innermost thoughts about their mental health journeys and the value of peer support, within the boundaries of a safe space. The human library offers a unique, honest and up-close experience to engage in authentic sharings, normalise conversations surrounding mental health, and break down barriers to reduce mental health stigma.