Updated: 20 July 2:22 pm PST

The main international conference this year for mental health consumers and psychiatric survivors will be entirely on Zoom, and it is now all free (unless you want continuing education credits.)

There are so many dozens of wonderful workshops and keynotes, along with a virtual display. There will be participants from all over the world.

Unfortunately, unless you paid and registered (which is now closed), the only way to get links for the workshops is through the workshop presenter themself. Again, now everything is free on Zoom.

I gave this with Christina Peirsol:

Winning Human Rights in Mental Health: Campaign Action Team Support!

Today, Monday, 20 July 2020
2:30 pm – 4 pm CST (12:30 – 2 pm PST)
Register for free first to get the link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0ud-mhpzstGNP5imG6nQLR_2T7cy-bNtiT

I am also one of the five keynoters. Because of my communication challenges, my keynote will be a little longer than others, 30 minutes.

Here’s how to listen live directly:

We are the 100%: Mad Pride, Disability & Revolution

Tomorrow, Tuesday, 21 July 2020
1:45 pm – 2:15 pm CST (11:45 am – 12:15 pm PST)
We are currently arranging ASL by Patrick Galasso
Join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85606595030

Here is the description of the whole event from organizers:

PEERPOCALYPSE is a conference of leaders, emerging leaders, innovators, and peers who want to become more involved in the peer community. Adopting the philosophy that peers bring with them a great deal of knowledge and expertise, the event is about bringing the community together to share information, skills, and experience.

Peerpocalypse Link: https://www.mhaoforegon.org/peerpocalypse

If you missed any of the workshop or keynotes, most of this should be recorded and available. Check it out!

Thanks to all the folks who worked so hard to support the empowerment of our people’s voice for all these years with this important annual event, organized out of an office in Portland, Oregon. Aciu!

Read More

You’re invited to a free Zoom this Thurs 5/7 sponsored by MindFreedom International. Watch recent doc on empowerment of people with disabilities, plus a panel discussion (I’m on panel). PISS ON PITY: WE WILL RIDE traces origins & early history of ADAPT. Beginning in Denver in ‘83, ADAPT has become a national force utilizing civil disobedience to fight for the liberation of people with disabilities from institutions & for equal access to society.

2 shows, preregister:

https://mindfreedom.org/front-page/piss-on-pity-movie/

Read More

Free Opal Network Public Event

Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/414424775938010/

Creativity & Mental Wellness

Art for Empowerment & Mad Pride in Mental Health

You are invited to a free, special gathering with workshops & performances!

Where : Trauma Healing Project

1100 Charnelton St., Eugene, OR

When : This Tues., 29 October 2019

3:30 pm – 5:30 pm

Live music with guitarist David Rogers!

Guests via web video on a screen, including standup comic psychiatric survivor Jim Flannery in Massachusetts.

Hosts: Christina Peirsol & David W. Oaks

Free Art Workshop by Scott Parker:

Explore your creativity! Enjoy an easy drop-in class. All ages welcome. All materials provided. No experience needed.

Wheelchair accessible. Sign language if 72 hours notice.

Ask about joining via live web video from anywhere on Earth: OpalNetwork@protonmail.com

Questions about the event: 541-914-1469.

All are welcome!

We especially invite mental health consumers and psychiatric survivors to attend & speak out!

Free, yummy New Day snacks. Beverages. Celebrate the Halloween holiday! Make banners & signs for mental wellness. Supplies provided.

[Bring your signs, banners, costumes to Halloween, Thurs. 31 Oct. 2019, 5-6:30pm Kesey Square. All ages welcome! Theme: RIP Normality!]

Opal Network: A Lane County coalition to support the self-determination, voice and empowerment of clients of mental health services.

Thank you to Opal Network Sponsors:

• Aciu Institute • Center for Family Development • Direction Service • Eugene Office of Human Rights • Lane County Mental Health Consumer/Survivor Advisory Council • Lane Independent Living Alliance • Laurel Hill Center • MindFreedom Oregon • NAMI Lane County • Oregon Consumer/Survivor Coalition • Oregon Family Support Network • PeaceHealth Counseling Services • Sexual Assault Support Services • ShelterCare • Trauma Healing Project • White Bird/CAHOOTS

Read More

Dear Opal Network supporter,

A decade ago here in Eugene, Oregon we formed an informal coalition of more than a dozen agencies that work on mental health.

Our goal: To increase the empowerment and self-determination of mental health consumers and psychiatric survivors here in Lane County, Oregon.

We are planning a fun event for October 2019 for Opal Network.

We have two more planning meetings before this event and we hope you attend one or both.

For a flyer about the below information, click here:

The first planning meeting is being held as part of the next MindFreedom Oregon grassroots meeting, which can be found on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/events/599661783770501/

In Support,

David

David Oaks

Opal Network

Here is the text from the flyer:

Save the Date: Free October Public Event by Opal Network

Creativity & Mental Wellness in Lane County

Music, Art, Poetry for Empowerment in Mental Health

You are invited to be a planner for this special Fall celebration!

Where: Trauma Healing Project

              1100 Charnelton St., Eugene, OR

Dates:

1st Planning Mtg: This Fri. 9/6/2019

2 pm – 3 pm

2nd Planning Mtg: Fri. 10/4/2019

2 pm – 3 pm

Main Event: Tues. 10/29/2019

3:30 pm – 5:30 pm

Hosts: Christina Peirsol & David W. Oaks

Your ideas & time are important for this fun community gathering. Help plan & join in the excitement!

All are welcome. All agencies and groups that work in mental health in Lane County are encouraged to send representatives.

We especially invite mental health consumers and psychiatric survivors to attend & speak out!

Opal Network:

A Lane County coalition to support the self-determination, voice and empowerment of clients of mental health services. Get involved!

Started in 2007, this free public forum in Eugene is named after Opal Whiteley [1897 – 1992], a famous author with a psychiatric diagnosis who was born and raised in Lane County.

Thank you to Opal Network Sponsors:

• Aciu Institute • Center for Family Development • Direction Service • Eugene Office of Human Rights • Lane County Mental Health Consumer/Survivor Advisory Council • Lane Independent Living Alliance • Laurel Hill Center • MindFreedom Oregon • NAMI Lane County • Oregon Consumer/Survivor Coalition • Oregon Family Support Network • PeaceHealth Counseling Services • Sexual Assault Support Services • ShelterCare • Trauma Healing Project • White Bird/CAHOOTS

 Free refreshments!

Wheelchair accessible.

Sign language if 72 hours notice.Dear Opal Network planner,

Read More

Today is 15 July 2019, and we honor the birthday of the late great Leonard Roy Frank, one of the main psychiatric survivor leaders of our modern era, and a good friend (his photo is on the left). I have blogged about Leonard before, and Mad Pride Month needs to celebrate Leonard: https://davidwoaks.com/my-friend-leonard-roy-frank

Leonard supported grassroots activism wherever you are. Our local group, MindFreedom Oregon, is a state affiliate of the human rights coalition MindFreedom International. We support calling this whole month of July, Mad Pride Month!

You probably did not hear about this call for July becoming Mad Pride Month since we have only told a few folks. It’s not too late for the rest of the month! How have you celebrated this month, perhaps accidentally? Especially, what ideas do you have for next year, July 2020, to celebrate Mad Pride? Do you support making July Mad Pride Month? If so, please contact us, there are many ways to assist this, see Mad Pride Social Media Volunteers below.

Yesterday was Bastille Day, 14 July 2019. One of the reasons July should be Mad Pride Month is that for decades, leaders in the psychiatric survivor movement have used Bastille Day to celebrate the human spirit and oppose psychiatric oppression and tyranny. One of the main activities each year is a three-day camping vigil in front of the New York State mental health agency in Albany. This vigil wrapped up yesterday. For more info about their event, their Facebook link for this vigil is here.

Here are eight ways I am celebrating Mad Pride this July:

1. Way to go, my good friend Rev. Phil Schulman! He was one of the keynote speakers at the annual Alternatives Conference, which has just been held in DC. Incredibly, people are searching for a video or audio recording of Phil’s speech! Accidents may happen, but I call Phil “The Movement Minister” and getting out his message is a high priority. Hopefully, someone will find a recording of Phil’s keynote. After years of leading congregations, mainly Unitarian Universalist, Phil experienced a serious head injury about a year and a half ago. His resilience, love, and leadership are so very important to our movement.
2. Opal Network: Here in Oregon, one of the main literary heroes was psychiatric survivor Opal Whiteley. About a decade ago, we created an informal coalition called the Opal Network which has spoken out for the empowerment of local mental health consumers and psychiatric survivors. We meet every time a month has five Tuesdays, about four times a year, so that means our next public gathering will be Tuesday, 30 July 2019. Our theme will be how the arts can support mental and emotional well-being, and psychiatric survivor liberation. Psychiatric survivor Chrissy Peirsol and I plan to host a round table at the downtown Eugene Trauma Healing Project, 11th and Charnelton, at 3:30 pm. We will have a web video Zoom call, so you can participate for free wherever you live. Interested? Please email us at: opalnetwork@protonmail.com
3. World’s Biggest Sneeze! A few days ago, several of us in MindFreedom Oregon gave a presentation at a stage in Community Village, as part of the celebration of the 50th Annual Oregon Country Fair (if you’re new to OCF, watch some videos of this wild hippie gathering in the woods here). During our event, we held the World’s Biggest Sneeze! Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah… CHOO! We are allergic to what is called “normality” which actually does not exist! Our household plays a simple game you can join: Whenever we hear the word “normal” on the radio, TV, or conversation, we sneeze! The first to sneeze wins. Try it!
4. When society is crazy & paralyzed, who are you gonna call? The Mad Pride Movement! Because of the climate crisis, 100% of humanity is clearly part of the Mad Pride Movement. We are all traumatized by the disaster. We all confront the mystery of understanding the universe. Do not wait to understand it all, act now. Those of you in the Eugene, Oregon area, please join me at an Extinction Rebellion potluck and talk on Wednesday, 31 July 2019, 6:30 pm, at our Unitarian Universalist Church. If you are outside the Eugene area, you probably live on Earth and so can take part in this nonviolent Extinction Revolution wherever you are. The Mad Pride Movement celebrates your creative way of thinking & acting. We are the new PC: Positively Crazy!
5. Mad Pride Social Media Volunteers: To connect with those of you who are curious or supportive of a Mad Pride Month, we at MindFreedom Oregon are creating several social media places. If you would like to assist, and perhaps co-moderate, contact mf-oregon@aciu.info. Social media include: Reddit, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, Facebook.
6. Remember Creative Maladjustment Week! For more than a decade, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. commented about creative maladjustment over and over. He even said the world was in dire need of an “International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment.” MindFreedom International produced a guide to celebrate being maladjusted every July 7-14, Creative Maladjustment Week! And of course, this is near the middle of July, now Mad Pride Month.
7. A State Senator in Oregon Wants to Hear from Psychiatric Survivors, Mental Health Consumers, and Our Allies. My friend, State Senator Floyd Prozanski, pushed for two mental health bills this past session in the Salem, Oregon legislature. We Oregon psychiatric survivors/mental health consumers heard about these proposals and we expressed our deep concern. Thankfully, both bills failed this past session which just ended in Mad Pride Month, July! Yay! Now, I promised Sen. Prozanski that we would provided him with civil input about human rights & choice in mental health. Please email him at: Sen.FloydProzanski@oregonlegislature.gov. Please copy your comments to: mf-oregon@aciu.info
8. Something for Everyone! I know Mad Pride may not be everyone’s cup of tea. I figured out that if a couple conceives today, their baby might be born on 15 April, tax day. This would seem to be a great Normal Shame Day, so that if anyone rejects Mad Pride Day they can always be part of that. If your baby is born on Normal Shame Day, do not worry, this is definitely not normal and your child will be a hero of the Mad Pride Movement!

Your ideas, feedback, jeers, cheers, suggestions, support, strangeness are all welcome in the comment area below, or on my Facebook page. Thanks!

Read More