Breathe in and out slowly and wait.
PANIC IN SENIOR PARK
Take responsibility for your winter years
Peer Specialists: What’s In a Name?
Peers perform the same responsibilities, duties, and tasks as their higher-paid counterparts
Social Connections are Vital for People with SMI
Socializing is a skill set that’s multifaceted
ADULTS SHOULD CRY MORE OFTEN
I suggest adults cry more often
My Role: Receiving and Giving Peer Support
Peer Support changed my life
SPOTLIGHT: CRISIS INTERVENTION AND THE 988 ROLLOUT
I recommend having police, social workers, and peers work side by side
UN COMPLAINT: SPOTLIGHT BRAZIL
He was in mechanical restraint for more than 30 hours.
Using Lived Experience to Adapt Mental Health Language
How can we further refine the language around mental health?”
Common Values of Peer Specialists
Each individual has their unique value and value system
The Dr. Low Chronicles, No. 1
A big part of practicing Recovery, Inc. is spottings
The Original Peer Support Recovery and Coping Skills Workbook & Curriculum
Ushering in a ‘Post-Pat Deegan’ era in recovery rhetoric.
BOOK REVIEW: A PATIENTS NARRATIVE
The writing is lucid, clear, and focused.
What is the connection between mental illnesses and violence?
Humans kill people for a diversity of reasons.
HONEST, AM I LYING?
Honest people are not fake
The CIA and the Belgium Government (AUDIO)
I know nothing about where Dr. H is today.
SCHIZOPHRENIA HAS NOT ROBBED ME OF LIFE’S JOYS
Joy comes in all forms and feels transcendent wherever I experience Life, with or without a mental illness.
MY STORY: MENTAL RELAPSE
I must admit how difficult it has been for me to stay mentally sane.
The Brazil-United States Center for the Promotion of Mental Health
The American School of Human Rights will promote the Mental Health Project in all regions of the world
I’m sixty-four, and I’m alive.
My birthday just passed.
The intersection of the Law, Justice, and Mental Health
Law affirms the sense of Justice to be innate
Establishing the 1st International Treaty for Rights and Duties in Mental Health
Experience makes us see the importance of seeking standardized protocols in the treatment and daily maintenance of people in mental health programs. Research, case studies, and other evidence signals that the world tends to produce knowledge multilateral. The most varied countries can give rise to more adequate and practically experienced management, which can improve the […]
Deputy Director of South American Affairs
Mental Health Affairs has always been an international mission at its core. Our vision is a final solution ⚡️⚡️. After all, the need for better mental health care has become an emergent worldwide crisis. As early as late summer, Mental Health Affairs began assimilating its new international rollout campaign after several activist groups and reformers […]
CELEBRATING MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH
There are significant reasons for having Mental Health Awareness Month.
Resilience is my great love
There are many battles in this war
GOOD SUPPORT IS VITAL FOR YOUR MENTAL HEALTH
People battling extreme conditions need support in their lives
We need Human Rights in Mental Health
Life is the greatest of all Rights
GRIEVING YOUR PAST ‘SELF’
There is a lot in life that we lose as we live
Managing Your Mental Health on the Job
How does this factor into managing your mental health on the job?
Help! Mom and Dad Didn’t Teach Me How to Live in This Crazy World
Religious writing offers emotional and spiritual guidance
SELF MANAGING DELUSIONAL SYSTEMS
Delusions put the ‘crazy’ in madness. Delusions can carve out the imaginary and marry it in misleading ways with a person’s orientation. Symptoms like this complicate and distort our reality and sense of self. Fantasies can remain dormant and not escalate. Other illusions break off and form systems that typically require psychotherapy, psychotropic medication, and […]
MODIFYING A CULTURE THROUGH WELLNESS
what is ‘Culture’?
RETHINKING TREATMENT FOR NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER (NPD)
Psychotherapy’s primary focus should not be symptom management
Little Itty Bits of Fear
There are windows that I fear everywhere in life.
HOW TO BENEFIT THE MOST FROM YOUR MENTAL HEALTH THERAPY
The ‘work’ or doing ‘work’ in therapy makes the difference in treatment every time
FINDING THE COURAGE TO BREAK FREE
I don’t see a lot of people of color in the world of peer support
MARCHING AHEAD
Winter is over and Spring wi
TREATMENT FIT WITH MENTAL HEALTH PROVIDERS
When I arrived at their E&R, I was taken into a room and told I was no longer welcome at the clinic and needed to go elsewhere for services.
TELLING MY STORY
Label me and put me in some “neat” category?
MY BATTLE CRY
You want the motion, you gotta move
Green Grass No More
The foundation you were forged from is forever gone
How do social workers define help
Social work means answering questions in people’s lives without clear resolution.
The Fear of Self-Disclosure🗣
Share, feel free to disclose all aspects of your lived experience and mental health history.
Winter Storm Alert! Are We Prepared?
I try my best to deal with the cold
Winter can be challenging when you have a mental health condition
This article explores the importance of maintaining wellness during the cold winter
Disability Visibility
Give me joy and cheer and hope
A Little Help From My Friends
Red flag! You feel it in your gut. Something is not correct.
HOPE FOR EVERY SEASON
All people need HOPE
HOW DATING APPS WORSENED MY MENTAL HEALTH
it was modern dating
New Freedom, The Manifesto of J. Peters
J.Peters came with his brave experiment. And we all became more human.’
On-and-on-and-on-ymous
Sometimes I rabbit on for far too long. Perhaps there should be a Fellowship for people like me. When an idea takes root in my cranium, I want to tell the world about it. And his wife. Then I wonder why they’re becoming glassy-eyed. I don’t talk about my childhood or my professional life or […]
Recovery and self-Determination
I believe in self-determination
The problem with measuring progress in treatment
Therapists monitor the progress of their patients.
Psychotic ‘Break’ Survival Skill Kit
Most people don’t realize something is wrong with their thinking
STIGMA and DISCRIMINATION ARE HERE, but SO IS HOPE!
Ho, Ho, Ho! Hope is in the air.
Where the Past Meets the Future
And tomorrow, we will be what we are today
Solid Ground and the Rescue Line
Everyone knows you have problems
The ‘System’
I have worked at various levels of the mental health system
When Person-Centered Care takes a WRONG turn
I’ve been in treatment for severe mental illness my entire adult life.
Resentment
We forgive and forget. Mostly.
Issues of Longevity and Mental Health
Issues of Longevity and Mental Health There is no question people with a severe mental health diagnosis die on average 15–20 years younger than the general population; meaning long-standing chronic illnesses throughout a lifespan will impact the body and its longevity and health. I think this makes complete sense. Poorly managed symptoms and tough, difficult […]
Embracing 2022 and living in the ‘Now’
2022 must be a time of change
Language and Mental Health: Living and Communicating our Lived Experience
There is tectonic shift in mental health language
The Communication and Support That Allows Progress in Treatment
Patients are triggered by treatment providers without empathy
Inside the mindset of defeat
Operation Clausewitz was the German solution to the military situation in Europe in 1945
I WANT TO PUT CAHOOTS ON WATCH
We also need to think about what practice means given the current state regulatory instruments
Going to Social Work school with a Schizophrenia diagnosis
Careful about managing my schizophrenia symptoms
Consenting to infection~ HEP C and the Pandemic
My mistake was giving up on life
This is a PRO Tobacco Use Argument in Mental Health Settings
This trend defies the age-old image of ‘mentally ill’ folks pacing around outside their treatment center or a hospital smoking like chimneys
Until when? (Full Translation Espanol/Portugues)
We can learn together that we are stronger even in the face of natural catastrophes—human response and action triumphs in the end.
Partying with a Mental Health Disorder
I told him, point-blank, that Medicaid doesn’t pay for out-of-state trips to the ER
RELATIONSHIP ABUSE and DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Relationship abuse occurs across a broad spectrum of the population
How to Self-Manage Our Frustration
Suppose you cannot maintain safety with yourself or with others.
Targeting the clinical grey areas in mental health treatment
Treating clinical ‘symptoms’ is not the biggest clinical issue
SPECIAL REPORT: Re-thinking ‘Extended Care’ units in State Hospital Centers
Remaining patients in the long-term state psychiatric centres must be discharged and released from the eternal holding
How to Define Recovery A Radical Idea
Here’s the thing: having a normal life shouldn’t be the barometer of how well a person is doing in recovery.
Advocates that stigmatize
At the root of it, they are pathologizing advocates. I have met them.
MYSTERY DUO, WRAPPED IN A MYSTERY
Who is the mystery two-some?
How a brain injury through an accident enabled the help, I deserved but wasn’t getting
I had been searching for 4 years starting in 2003 for a treatment that could help my whole sense of being.
I am a mental health advocate, but still feel shame about my own struggles at times.
Sometimes, I felt guilty about keeping my mental health to myself.
Vitor Sallys Story according to His siter Vitoria Sallys
The mental health system brutally violated Vitor’s rights.
Another September Morn
Do you know where you were on that fateful day?
Healthy fascinations went awry
With thoughts moving at breakneck speed, at 16, I did not see an end to the downward spiral. I was on a band trip with my high school in the nation’s capital. In 1998, I was without sleep for at least 14 straight days. The antics of my hotel roommates were no solace for the […]
Human Rights Coalition for Latin America Mental Hygiene & Social Justice
The OBDH (Observatorio Brasileiro de Diretos Humanos) have been working intensively ever since its creation helping and supporting all Brazilian peopl
The Impact of Words on our Psyches
This is about you doing you, because no one else can do you better.
Peers betraying Peers, and Relapse
The reasons are so multifaceted and nuanced, flagrant, and most assuredly un peers like
Gross Violence Against People with a Mental Health diagnosis in Brazil
On June 17, 2021, in Brazil, Police invaded a home and, with three shots, killed Hamilton Cesar Lima Bandeira, a 23 years old young man with a history of intellectual disabilities. According to his mother: ‘the police, after killing Hamilton Cesar with the three shots, police officers dragged his body by the legs and arms […]
Working with a Mental Health diagnosis/disorder
Dictate what you want to do in life
Human Rights Violations in Brazil: The Case of Vavá
Vavá is a young man with the mental disorder Schizophrenia
Cooling Off From the Heat
One hot summer day, we are basking in the sunshine with SPF30 lotion all over our bodies, but it is not enough. Temperature is approaching 95 degrees, and the humidity is about the same. Sun is vital at this hour. Going in and out of the pool, the lake, or even perhaps the ocean cool […]
Different Perspective On Schizophrenic Delusion
I chose a Path of immersion and recovery
Calmigo Reviewed: AromaScam?
Initially, it seemed like an exciting purchase
Crisis Interventions: Cops. Peers. What is the right path forward?
The issue that hinges on the docket is Emergency Mental Health
An Effort To Explain “Psychosis”
In society, “reality” is a cultural construct defined by the majority of that culture
My life as an Artist with Psychosis
My time playing was plagued by paranoia and hallucinations in the meantime.
Exercising the Right to Speak Out
Clinicians must respect our rights
Derangement
if we can’t see these behaviours in ourselves, how would we describe them in other people
Effects Of “Broken Brain Syndrome”
I was led to believe I would be forever “sick” no matter how successful my recovery or how creative my writing production.
INDEPENDENCE FOR ALL
We need to discuss Independence
University on Watch: Audiobook Launch
Mental health memoirs seem to vary a bit
The Value of Good Complex Case Management for Comorbid Psychiatric Issues
However, my efforts were not always enough, and on two occasions, I was given rental violations due to my disorganized apartment.
ALWAYS TURNING AND TURNING
Another month ended, and a new one turned and began anew. “Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers …one season following another”, both lines from “Sunrise, Sunset” from the musical, “Fiddler on the Roof.” Also, “Day by Day,” sung in the musical “Godspell,” shows how each day comes and goes and the frailty of life continues. Even […]
Breaking The Rules Saved A Man’s Life
I told him he “looked like shit” and asked if he had slept or eaten.
‘Identity Politics’ and Mental Health
Cultural re-appropriation is rife and considered business as usual in Western psychiatry
Melancholy
Sufferers from ‘depression’ have fearful difficulties in trying to come off antidepressants because they revert to their involutional melancholia.
When Creativity Calls, When Your Alibi is Art
Around the same time I registered for class I walked into a shrink’s office
My journey in mental health housing and recommendations for change and reform
Those of us with mental illness know full well that there are many challenges required of us. Acquiring and maintaining stable housing is one of the biggest challenges of them all. With a complicated condition, the healing journey can be difficult and even more dangerous without stable housing. My mental health housing system was strenuous […]
Systems-based disparities for African American Medicaid Recipients in the NY OMH Article 31 Clinic
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN I’VE BEEN DISCHARGED?” “YOU’VE MISSED TWO SESSIONS. WE TALKED ABOUT ATTENDANCE, AND IN THIS CLINIC, IF YOU MISS TWO CONSECUTIVE SESSIONS, IT WILL RESULT IN YOUR DISCHARGE” “DISCHARGE? I’M GOING END UP IN THE HOSPITAL!” “YOU’RE ALWAYS WELCOME TO REAPPLY FOR TREATMENT WHEN YOU’RE READY TO COMMIT TO YOUR MENTAL HEALTH“ Tell […]
Finding Higher Purpose in Affection
I think it’s important to ask: when I say “I need you,” what am I saying?
MARCH WINDS AND APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAY REVENGE
With therapy every other week and medication from a psychiatrist monthly, his life has improved
T50 Project: The Mental Health Affairs Euthanasia Program
Sign me out right now!
Upward mobility: Steering recovery in the right direction
The vehicle can crash on its way to point B and not make it to its destination
Plan B: Relapse and reconstitution
Like most thoughts surrounding fear, paranoia, and anxious thinking, they all snowball
Lived experience as a self-diagnostic tool
I would like to explore my own lived experience with first-onset psychosis
Socializing with the Insane
Before I came to my senses, he was restrained in a crash cart.
STIGMA: PEER SERVICES, DOUBLE STANDARD, AND SELF-DISCLOSURE
Peers, through the act of self-disclosure, reveal their lived experience at work in the agency all the time.
From sickness to illness, we have now birthed the modern mental health disorder
From an illness of the soul to the mind, medicalization has crept into mental health in all ways.
Eleven years and no progress
I would later find out that cases like Minerva exist everywhere, and she is no more unique than her biography is to other people with a mental health disorder who share their story.
Reflections on Mental Health treatment: Recommendations for reform
My overreactions were to behaviors I considered as threatening
THERAPIST JUDGEMENT CALLS IN PSYCHOTHERAPY
he client, the same one I requested be transferred, attempted suicide the night before.
Reflections on ‘Peerness’, Social Work and Supported Housing
I love this work
The ‘Sign’, ‘Signified’ and “Psychosis’: The Intersection of Language and Psychosis
Ultimately, the symptoms are overwhelming and become so profound that life becomes too distant and unrecognizable to live without incident.
Lack of caring can create unthinkable tragedy
I find it problematic to count all the regrets I have had throughout my life.
Introducing: Urban Space and Race
Starting the week of April 4, 2021, I will be posting weekly episodes of a series called “Urban Space and Race”
What is considered ‘normal’ behavior for a teenager in High School?
Some students fall into a social “no-fly zone”
VOLUNTEERING FOR OUR MENTAL HEALTH
I am aware that not all volunteer jobs lead to paid employment
The relationship between “Inner work” and Symptom Management
Resolution of inner conflicts has a direct impact on how my life has unfolded
Blockages to reforming the ‘system’
The mental health movement was a civil rights movement, but what happened?