5.
Congress of the European
Network of (ex-)Users and Survivors of Psychiatry "Networking for our Human Rights and Dignity" July 17 – 21, 2004 in Vejle (Denmark), Idrætshøjskole back to Workshop Index Report of Workshop 12 Nothing About Us Without Us Facilitator:
Laurie Ahern, USA Handouts: Results of research into recovery; PACE empowerment model of recovery AM: 9 participants from
Costa Rica, Denmark, Israel, Japan, Malta, Nepal Background: hope, recovery, empowerment, self-determination What helped: AM: follow your dreams, faith in self, support from others, plan/goal, integrating the experience, feeling whole, engagement with user movement, housing, job, good relationships with family, return to education, dreaming again, finding the positive in the experience, transformation, aroma therapy, sports, massage, music, world peace walk, information, freedom to fail, support from others for drug withdrawal; additional in PM session: good relationship between person and their medications, one person who helped/believed in me, preserving ability to hear one's voices, user delivered services, validating stories, benchmarking your own experiences, identify and confront one's problems, peer groups provide a safe environment, developing abilities. What hindered: treated as crazy, worthless, without a future, all behaviors treated as symptoms, being the only user in a situation, fear of coercion, label of mental illness; additional in PM session: not having choice/control of one's life, having system deny one's goals, possibility of losing benefits. Action?: People with psychosocial disabilities are on the cutting edge of telling our stories, part of the human evolutionary process, the next stage. Truth and reconciliation type of commission/tribunals? But then on whom does the rest of society project their madnesses? Conclusions:Many many paths to self-determination Hope, faith in self, trust from others Breakdown becomes breakthrough Having a community of acceptance Turning points often individual, sometimes unclear Healing is ongoing We understand compassion. Perhaps people with psychosocial disabilities are on the cutting edge of telling our stories, part of the human evolutionary process, the next stage. |