The opinions, writings, artwork, and cultural production of academics and non-academic mental hea... more The opinions, writings, artwork, and cultural production of academics and non-academic mental health service users/survivors form the basis of what we have come to understand as Mad Studies. In this essay, we introduce what we mean by Mad Studies “praxis" (i.e., theory-informed action) in the hopes ofclarifying the distinction between other similar frameworks doing social justice/anti-oppression work. Our argument is that Mad Studies praxis gives us a specific multi-vocal vocabulary for advancing our understanding, critical analyses,and emancipatory projects which build on the interdependence between academic and community activism. Mad Studies has a rich theoretical praxis based on its enduring historical, intellectual, and community-centeredmobilisation despite criticisms and challenges.
The Politics of Service User Labour talks about issues that
concern service users/survivors who p... more The Politics of Service User Labour talks about issues that concern service users/survivors who perform different kinds of labour (paid and unpaid) in the mental health sector. These issues are part of the legacy of patient labour in the psychiatric system. Though there have been improvements in employment and inclusion opportunities over the years, problems remain
The contrasting opinions on assisted dying in the mental health context are reflected in the vari... more The contrasting opinions on assisted dying in the mental health context are reflected in the various legal frameworks where assisted dying is allowed. Legislation on assisted dying around the world ranges from more restrictive to more liberal, to more permissive. Regardless of mental illness being excluded, it is evident that some eligible individuals requesting assisted dying due to a grievous and irremediable physical condition will also be living with concurrent mental health conditions. This chapter explores some of the most demanding dimensions of assisted dying in the context of mental health and substance use problems. It examines some of the counter-intuitions that often appear when discussing assisted dying for those experiencing mental health-substance use related suffering. Although there are currently 12 jurisdictions around the world where assisted dying has been decriminalized or legalized, only four of those, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, permit assisted dying for persons with an irremediable mental disorder.
ABSTRACT Commentary on Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) legislation and committee processes (Ont... more ABSTRACT Commentary on Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) legislation and committee processes (Ontario). A Seven Year Itch: CTOs, Commitments and Me in Honouring the Past, Shaping the Future: 25 Years of Progress in Mental Health Advocacy and Rights Protection. Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office, 25th Anniversary Report. Toronto: Queen’s Printer, 2008: 72-74.
Andrea Daley and MerrickD. Pilling (Eds): Interrogating Psychiatric Narratives of Madness, 2021
A significant body of scholarship has examined the ways in which lesbian, gay, and transgender id... more A significant body of scholarship has examined the ways in which lesbian, gay, and transgender identities are taken up in the discipline of psychiatry; however, this work has largely not attended to bisexual identities. This chapter addresses this research gap through a content analysis of chart documentation for twelve bisexual individuals who accessed mental health care in a psychiatric hospital, examining where, when, and how bisexuality was documented in the psychiatric record. In doing so, we highlight how common social constructions of bisexuality (e.g., as a state of confusion, as invisible) are reinforced by the institution of psychiatry, as well as how meaningful attention to sexuality (or in contrast, inattention)may contribute to the patient- and practitioner-defined success of a psychiatric admission.
The concept of “community” is ubiquitous in mental health policy, research, and practice in Canad... more The concept of “community” is ubiquitous in mental health policy, research, and practice in Canada; however, its meaning is rarely defined. In this paper, we consider the positioning of “community” within the Canadian historical and political mental health context and reveal that it contrasts with the lived experiences of people with psychiatric disabilities. We argue that mental health policy, research, and practice should move away from the term community in favour of a framework that addresses basic needs, disability justice, intersecting social identities, and the structural forces that impact the lives of people with psychiatric disabilities as they “recover” in settings outside of hospital.
This paper critically interrogates the increasingly popular frameworkof Gender-based Anal... more This paper critically interrogates the increasingly popular frameworkof Gender-based Analysis (GBA) in Canada, as it relates to psychiatry more broadly, and forensic psychiatry more specifically. Through a critical feminist and Mad Studies analysis, we argue that if GBA is to be anything more than rhetoric, it is necessary to ground policies and practices in the knowledge generated by women and service-users themselves. We further point to Mad Studies as an important field for research and an opportunity to look deeper into the ‘margins within the margins'.
Costa,L. (2018) "Troubled Youth and Troubling Social Policy: Mental Health From a Mad Studies Pe... more Costa,L. (2018) "Troubled Youth and Troubling Social Policy: Mental Health From a Mad Studies Perspective" in, Sarah Carr and Peter Beresford , Social policy first hand: An international introduction to participatory social welfare
This paper describes a community event organized in response to the appropriation and overrelianc... more This paper describes a community event organized in response to the appropriation and overreliance on the psychiatric patient personal story. The sharing of experiences through stories by individuals who self-identify as having lived experience has been central to the history of organizing for change in and outside of the psychiatric system. However, in the last decade, personal stories have increasingly been used by the psychiatric system to bolster research, education, and fundraising interests. We explore how personal stories from consumer/survivors have been harnessed by mental health organizations to further their interests and in so doing have shifted these narrations from agents of change towards one of disability tourism or patient porn. We mark the ethical dilemmas of narrative cooptation and consumption and query how stories of resistance can be reclaimed not as personal recovery narratives but rather as a tool fo...
This study was undertaken to assess the impact of consumer narratives on the recovery orientation... more This study was undertaken to assess the impact of consumer narratives on the recovery orientation and job satisfaction of service providers on inpatient wards that focus on the treatment of schizophrenia. It was developed to address the paucity of literature and service development tools that address advancing the recovery model of care in inpatient contexts. A mixed-methods design was used. Six inpatient units in a large urban psychiatric facility were paired on the basis of characteristic length of stay, and one unit from each pair was assigned to the intervention. The intervention was a series of talks (N=58) to inpatient staff by 12 former patients; the talks were provided approximately biweekly between May 2011 and May 2012. Self-report measures completed by staff before and after the intervention assessed knowledge and attitudes regarding the recovery model, the delivery of recovery-oriented care at a unit level, and job satisfaction. In addition, focus groups for unit staff and individual interviews with the speakers were conducted after the speaker series had ended. The hypothesis that the speaker series would have an impact on the attitudes and knowledge of staff with respect to the recovery model was supported. This finding was evident from both quantitative and qualitative data. No impact was observed for recovery orientation of care at the unit level or for job satisfaction. Although this engagement strategy demonstrated an impact, more substantial change in inpatient practices likely requires a broader set of strategies that address skill levels and accountability.
The Psychiatric Disabilities Anti-violence Coalition (PDAC) was created in 2011 to engage in mean... more The Psychiatric Disabilities Anti-violence Coalition (PDAC) was created in 2011 to engage in meaningful conversation about how to address issues of violence against people with psychiatric disabilities. The group came together after a series of violent assaults against vulnerable people in a Toronto’s west end neighbourhood.
Clearing a Path documents our work of the last four years, which has been to address ongoing violence, including structural violence, against people with psychiatric disabilities. Using psychiatric survivor-led research, the continuing goal has been to maintain the voice of people who identify as having a psychiatric disability at the centre of our work and to build a Psychiatric Survivor Anti-Violence Framework.
in Mental Health 'Recovery': Users and Refusers
Mental Health “Recovery”: Users and Refusers i... more in Mental Health 'Recovery': Users and Refusers
Mental Health “Recovery”: Users and Refusers is the final report of a study that asked the question: what do psychiatric survivors in Toronto think about mental health “recovery”? This research recognizes the emergence of “recovery” as the new “talk” of community mental health services not just here but in the United States, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. It addresses the fact that amidst a surge of “recovery” related research there are few critical voices especially from the people “recovery” promises to “heal” and “help.” Thus, our primary concern has been to make psychiatric survivors central in both directing this study and acting as participants. Some members of our advisory committee were located in community organizations; some were in the university; most spanned both. Some members identified as psychiatric survivors; some did not. Both of our staff/consultants were consumers of mental health services. Their status as “peers” was fundamental to the conversations that we opened up with study participants around the meaning/s of mental health recovery. We generated our data through focus group conversations held in seven community organizations that are on the “front-line” of service delivery. We analyzed our data through an iterative process of reading, talking together and writing about what participants said as recorded by our note-taker. In this way, we moved from a list of key themes/ quotes prevalent across groups to three lines of argument that constitutes a distinctive “take” on “recovery” in Toronto. The first situates “recovery” as a personal journey. Through their own efforts and achievements, individuals link personal care with self-esteem and positive thinking to achieve hope. The second argument situates “recovery” as a social process in which people address the need for tangible resources such as jobs, income, housing, safety and education. Giving and receiving peer support is fundamental to this view. The third argument takes “recovery” as critique – and targets a range of institutions: medicine/psychiatry, health care, medication/drugs, and the police. It opens terrain for recovering “recovery” from its increasing professionalization within community mental health. Clearly, even though
“recovery” is increasingly powerful in organizing the operation of the service system, it has no single meaning – and no unified constituency
in Honouring the Past, Shaping the Future: 25 Years of Progress in Mental Health Advocacy and Rights Protection. Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office, 25th Anniversary Report. Toronto: Queen’s Printer, 2008: 72-74.
Commentary on Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) legislation and committee processes (Ontario).
... more Commentary on Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) legislation and committee processes (Ontario).
Feminisms in Social Work Research Promise and possibilities for justice-based knowledge .
In this chapter, we examine our engagement with critical feminism in research within the context ... more In this chapter, we examine our engagement with critical feminism in research within the context of an ongoing critical, collaborative, and interdisciplinary research project. We speak from our respective social identities and locations to explore feminist research issues including epistemology, collaborative methodology and representation, ethics, collaborative knowledge production, and communication with relevant audiences. Throughout the chapter we contextualize our reflections in current debates within both feminist and service user research literature as informed by the disability rights and consumer/survivor (C/S) movements.
Over the past three decades there has been an increase in “rights talk” within the consumer, psy... more Over the past three decades there has been an increase in “rights talk” within the consumer, psychiatric survivor and ex-psychiatric patient (c/s/x) movement. The adoption of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982 played an important role in advancing rights for the c/s/x community and, as a result, Section 7 (the right to life, liberty and security of the person) and Section 15 (equality before and under law and equal protection and benefit of law) of the Charter have allowed the c/s/x community more than one channel from which to address issues of equality and discrimination.
In this chapter I discuss some of the general themes raised in social movement organizing for the c/s/x community both in policy and in law. I follow with a discussion of the Supreme Court of Canada case Winko vs. British Columbia (1999) – a case that included evidence from the Queen Street Patients’ Council, an organization that was made up of psychiatric survivors and ex-psychiatric patients. I conclude by analyzing Winko’s designation as a “win” for the consumer/survivor/ex-patient community and discuss considerations for future psychiatric and legal reform and organizing.
This paper describes a community event organized in response to the appropriation and overr... more This paper describes a community event organized in response to the appropriation and overreliance on the psychiatric patient “personal story” within mental health organizations. The sharing of experiences through stories by individuals who self-identify as having “lived experience” has been central to the history of organizing for change in and outside of the psychiatric system. However, in the last decade, personal stories have increasingly been used by the psychiatric system to bolster research, education, and fundraising interests. We explore how personal stories from consumer/survivors have been harnessed by mental health organizations to further their interests and in so doing have shifted these narrations from “agents of change” towards one of “disability tourism” or “patient porn.” We mark the ethical dilemmas of narrative cooptation and consumption, and query how stories of resistance can be reclaimed not as personal recovery narratives but rather as a tool for socio-political change.
The opinions, writings, artwork, and cultural production of academics and non-academic mental hea... more The opinions, writings, artwork, and cultural production of academics and non-academic mental health service users/survivors form the basis of what we have come to understand as Mad Studies. In this essay, we introduce what we mean by Mad Studies “praxis" (i.e., theory-informed action) in the hopes ofclarifying the distinction between other similar frameworks doing social justice/anti-oppression work. Our argument is that Mad Studies praxis gives us a specific multi-vocal vocabulary for advancing our understanding, critical analyses,and emancipatory projects which build on the interdependence between academic and community activism. Mad Studies has a rich theoretical praxis based on its enduring historical, intellectual, and community-centeredmobilisation despite criticisms and challenges.
The Politics of Service User Labour talks about issues that
concern service users/survivors who p... more The Politics of Service User Labour talks about issues that concern service users/survivors who perform different kinds of labour (paid and unpaid) in the mental health sector. These issues are part of the legacy of patient labour in the psychiatric system. Though there have been improvements in employment and inclusion opportunities over the years, problems remain
The contrasting opinions on assisted dying in the mental health context are reflected in the vari... more The contrasting opinions on assisted dying in the mental health context are reflected in the various legal frameworks where assisted dying is allowed. Legislation on assisted dying around the world ranges from more restrictive to more liberal, to more permissive. Regardless of mental illness being excluded, it is evident that some eligible individuals requesting assisted dying due to a grievous and irremediable physical condition will also be living with concurrent mental health conditions. This chapter explores some of the most demanding dimensions of assisted dying in the context of mental health and substance use problems. It examines some of the counter-intuitions that often appear when discussing assisted dying for those experiencing mental health-substance use related suffering. Although there are currently 12 jurisdictions around the world where assisted dying has been decriminalized or legalized, only four of those, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, permit assisted dying for persons with an irremediable mental disorder.
ABSTRACT Commentary on Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) legislation and committee processes (Ont... more ABSTRACT Commentary on Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) legislation and committee processes (Ontario). A Seven Year Itch: CTOs, Commitments and Me in Honouring the Past, Shaping the Future: 25 Years of Progress in Mental Health Advocacy and Rights Protection. Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office, 25th Anniversary Report. Toronto: Queen’s Printer, 2008: 72-74.
Andrea Daley and MerrickD. Pilling (Eds): Interrogating Psychiatric Narratives of Madness, 2021
A significant body of scholarship has examined the ways in which lesbian, gay, and transgender id... more A significant body of scholarship has examined the ways in which lesbian, gay, and transgender identities are taken up in the discipline of psychiatry; however, this work has largely not attended to bisexual identities. This chapter addresses this research gap through a content analysis of chart documentation for twelve bisexual individuals who accessed mental health care in a psychiatric hospital, examining where, when, and how bisexuality was documented in the psychiatric record. In doing so, we highlight how common social constructions of bisexuality (e.g., as a state of confusion, as invisible) are reinforced by the institution of psychiatry, as well as how meaningful attention to sexuality (or in contrast, inattention)may contribute to the patient- and practitioner-defined success of a psychiatric admission.
The concept of “community” is ubiquitous in mental health policy, research, and practice in Canad... more The concept of “community” is ubiquitous in mental health policy, research, and practice in Canada; however, its meaning is rarely defined. In this paper, we consider the positioning of “community” within the Canadian historical and political mental health context and reveal that it contrasts with the lived experiences of people with psychiatric disabilities. We argue that mental health policy, research, and practice should move away from the term community in favour of a framework that addresses basic needs, disability justice, intersecting social identities, and the structural forces that impact the lives of people with psychiatric disabilities as they “recover” in settings outside of hospital.
This paper critically interrogates the increasingly popular frameworkof Gender-based Anal... more This paper critically interrogates the increasingly popular frameworkof Gender-based Analysis (GBA) in Canada, as it relates to psychiatry more broadly, and forensic psychiatry more specifically. Through a critical feminist and Mad Studies analysis, we argue that if GBA is to be anything more than rhetoric, it is necessary to ground policies and practices in the knowledge generated by women and service-users themselves. We further point to Mad Studies as an important field for research and an opportunity to look deeper into the ‘margins within the margins'.
Costa,L. (2018) "Troubled Youth and Troubling Social Policy: Mental Health From a Mad Studies Pe... more Costa,L. (2018) "Troubled Youth and Troubling Social Policy: Mental Health From a Mad Studies Perspective" in, Sarah Carr and Peter Beresford , Social policy first hand: An international introduction to participatory social welfare
This paper describes a community event organized in response to the appropriation and overrelianc... more This paper describes a community event organized in response to the appropriation and overreliance on the psychiatric patient personal story. The sharing of experiences through stories by individuals who self-identify as having lived experience has been central to the history of organizing for change in and outside of the psychiatric system. However, in the last decade, personal stories have increasingly been used by the psychiatric system to bolster research, education, and fundraising interests. We explore how personal stories from consumer/survivors have been harnessed by mental health organizations to further their interests and in so doing have shifted these narrations from agents of change towards one of disability tourism or patient porn. We mark the ethical dilemmas of narrative cooptation and consumption and query how stories of resistance can be reclaimed not as personal recovery narratives but rather as a tool fo...
This study was undertaken to assess the impact of consumer narratives on the recovery orientation... more This study was undertaken to assess the impact of consumer narratives on the recovery orientation and job satisfaction of service providers on inpatient wards that focus on the treatment of schizophrenia. It was developed to address the paucity of literature and service development tools that address advancing the recovery model of care in inpatient contexts. A mixed-methods design was used. Six inpatient units in a large urban psychiatric facility were paired on the basis of characteristic length of stay, and one unit from each pair was assigned to the intervention. The intervention was a series of talks (N=58) to inpatient staff by 12 former patients; the talks were provided approximately biweekly between May 2011 and May 2012. Self-report measures completed by staff before and after the intervention assessed knowledge and attitudes regarding the recovery model, the delivery of recovery-oriented care at a unit level, and job satisfaction. In addition, focus groups for unit staff and individual interviews with the speakers were conducted after the speaker series had ended. The hypothesis that the speaker series would have an impact on the attitudes and knowledge of staff with respect to the recovery model was supported. This finding was evident from both quantitative and qualitative data. No impact was observed for recovery orientation of care at the unit level or for job satisfaction. Although this engagement strategy demonstrated an impact, more substantial change in inpatient practices likely requires a broader set of strategies that address skill levels and accountability.
The Psychiatric Disabilities Anti-violence Coalition (PDAC) was created in 2011 to engage in mean... more The Psychiatric Disabilities Anti-violence Coalition (PDAC) was created in 2011 to engage in meaningful conversation about how to address issues of violence against people with psychiatric disabilities. The group came together after a series of violent assaults against vulnerable people in a Toronto’s west end neighbourhood.
Clearing a Path documents our work of the last four years, which has been to address ongoing violence, including structural violence, against people with psychiatric disabilities. Using psychiatric survivor-led research, the continuing goal has been to maintain the voice of people who identify as having a psychiatric disability at the centre of our work and to build a Psychiatric Survivor Anti-Violence Framework.
in Mental Health 'Recovery': Users and Refusers
Mental Health “Recovery”: Users and Refusers i... more in Mental Health 'Recovery': Users and Refusers
Mental Health “Recovery”: Users and Refusers is the final report of a study that asked the question: what do psychiatric survivors in Toronto think about mental health “recovery”? This research recognizes the emergence of “recovery” as the new “talk” of community mental health services not just here but in the United States, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. It addresses the fact that amidst a surge of “recovery” related research there are few critical voices especially from the people “recovery” promises to “heal” and “help.” Thus, our primary concern has been to make psychiatric survivors central in both directing this study and acting as participants. Some members of our advisory committee were located in community organizations; some were in the university; most spanned both. Some members identified as psychiatric survivors; some did not. Both of our staff/consultants were consumers of mental health services. Their status as “peers” was fundamental to the conversations that we opened up with study participants around the meaning/s of mental health recovery. We generated our data through focus group conversations held in seven community organizations that are on the “front-line” of service delivery. We analyzed our data through an iterative process of reading, talking together and writing about what participants said as recorded by our note-taker. In this way, we moved from a list of key themes/ quotes prevalent across groups to three lines of argument that constitutes a distinctive “take” on “recovery” in Toronto. The first situates “recovery” as a personal journey. Through their own efforts and achievements, individuals link personal care with self-esteem and positive thinking to achieve hope. The second argument situates “recovery” as a social process in which people address the need for tangible resources such as jobs, income, housing, safety and education. Giving and receiving peer support is fundamental to this view. The third argument takes “recovery” as critique – and targets a range of institutions: medicine/psychiatry, health care, medication/drugs, and the police. It opens terrain for recovering “recovery” from its increasing professionalization within community mental health. Clearly, even though
“recovery” is increasingly powerful in organizing the operation of the service system, it has no single meaning – and no unified constituency
in Honouring the Past, Shaping the Future: 25 Years of Progress in Mental Health Advocacy and Rights Protection. Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office, 25th Anniversary Report. Toronto: Queen’s Printer, 2008: 72-74.
Commentary on Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) legislation and committee processes (Ontario).
... more Commentary on Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) legislation and committee processes (Ontario).
Feminisms in Social Work Research Promise and possibilities for justice-based knowledge .
In this chapter, we examine our engagement with critical feminism in research within the context ... more In this chapter, we examine our engagement with critical feminism in research within the context of an ongoing critical, collaborative, and interdisciplinary research project. We speak from our respective social identities and locations to explore feminist research issues including epistemology, collaborative methodology and representation, ethics, collaborative knowledge production, and communication with relevant audiences. Throughout the chapter we contextualize our reflections in current debates within both feminist and service user research literature as informed by the disability rights and consumer/survivor (C/S) movements.
Over the past three decades there has been an increase in “rights talk” within the consumer, psy... more Over the past three decades there has been an increase in “rights talk” within the consumer, psychiatric survivor and ex-psychiatric patient (c/s/x) movement. The adoption of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982 played an important role in advancing rights for the c/s/x community and, as a result, Section 7 (the right to life, liberty and security of the person) and Section 15 (equality before and under law and equal protection and benefit of law) of the Charter have allowed the c/s/x community more than one channel from which to address issues of equality and discrimination.
In this chapter I discuss some of the general themes raised in social movement organizing for the c/s/x community both in policy and in law. I follow with a discussion of the Supreme Court of Canada case Winko vs. British Columbia (1999) – a case that included evidence from the Queen Street Patients’ Council, an organization that was made up of psychiatric survivors and ex-psychiatric patients. I conclude by analyzing Winko’s designation as a “win” for the consumer/survivor/ex-patient community and discuss considerations for future psychiatric and legal reform and organizing.
This paper describes a community event organized in response to the appropriation and overr... more This paper describes a community event organized in response to the appropriation and overreliance on the psychiatric patient “personal story” within mental health organizations. The sharing of experiences through stories by individuals who self-identify as having “lived experience” has been central to the history of organizing for change in and outside of the psychiatric system. However, in the last decade, personal stories have increasingly been used by the psychiatric system to bolster research, education, and fundraising interests. We explore how personal stories from consumer/survivors have been harnessed by mental health organizations to further their interests and in so doing have shifted these narrations from “agents of change” towards one of “disability tourism” or “patient porn.” We mark the ethical dilemmas of narrative cooptation and consumption, and query how stories of resistance can be reclaimed not as personal recovery narratives but rather as a tool for socio-political change.
The Psychiatric Disabilities Anti-violence Coalition (PDAC) was created in 2011 to engage in mean... more The Psychiatric Disabilities Anti-violence Coalition (PDAC) was created in 2011 to engage in meaningful conversation about how to address issues of violence against people with psychiatric disabilities. The group came together after a series of violent assaults against vulnerable people in a Toronto’s west end neighbourhood. Clearing a Path documents our work of the last four years, which has been to address ongoing violence, including structural violence, against people with psychiatric disabilities. Using psychiatric survivor-led research, the continuing goal has been to maintain the voice of people who identify as having a psychiatric disability at the centre of our work and to build a Psychiatric Survivor Anti-Violence Framework.
The report briefly summarizes the Safewards Model at a large urban mental health facility in Cana... more The report briefly summarizes the Safewards Model at a large urban mental health facility in Canada and sets out a historical context for how a pilot project was implemented in order to include and incorporate the voices of service users. The topic of workplace violence in psychiatric hospital settings is highlighted to demonstrate how labour rights, and their governing bodies, are tied to the broader political framework under review and in order to orient us on how we come to define safety and for whom
This report summarizes the work of a consumer group and the subsequent development of an educatio... more This report summarizes the work of a consumer group and the subsequent development of an education project organised in response to a 2015 gov. proposal. In response to the proposal, the CRG Education Project was developed as a method of disseminating consumer/survivor knowledge about the proposal to a broader service user base.
What new ethical quandaries are produced through the normalization of mental health service user ... more What new ethical quandaries are produced through the normalization of mental health service user inclusion as a best practice? The work collected in this special issue moves beyond justifying inclusion to trouble the ethics of these practices in and beyond mental health systems. Instead of presenting yet more guidelines, frameworks, and strategies for inclusive service delivery, community consultation, government advisories, and research, it offers critical examination of the ways in which patient engagement, peer workers, "lived experience," "experts by experience," and other similar identity driven prototypes are being harnessed. Service user inclusion, as it has been absorbed by mental health structures, has generated not only new institutional policies, texts, practices, and procedures-advisories, working groups, committees, "co-production" discourse-but also new public relations opportunities and new ways to promote the benevolence of these systems. This special issue attempts to interrupt this new business-as-usual of inclusionary practice. It steps back and asks-to what effect? From Mad Pride to Participation Pride In a broad range of mental health literatures, works on inclusion, diversity, and community engagement proliferate. Most champion inclusion, proposing that both mental health service users and practitioners benefit from it, and offer principles and best practices for how to include effectively. For service users, the supposed benefits of inclusion are usually positioned at the site of individual self-improvement, drawing on discourses of personal empowerment, resiliency, meaningful
On this episode of RadioActive an interview with Lauren Munro and Lucy Costa, who discuss: Mad St... more On this episode of RadioActive an interview with Lauren Munro and Lucy Costa, who discuss: Mad Studies. Through the history of Mad Studies, its practical connections to Community Psychology and their work with Psychiatric residents in training on madness and Mad Studies Lauren and Lucy demonstrate the urgency for critical discussions on Madness and provide a roadmap for how we can engage with these complex yet important concepts in our framing of mental health and psychiatric practice.
Uploads
concern service users/survivors who perform different kinds
of labour (paid and unpaid) in the mental health sector.
These issues are part of the legacy of patient labour in the
psychiatric system. Though there have been improvements
in employment and inclusion opportunities over the years,
problems remain
identities. This chapter addresses this research gap through a content analysis of chart documentation for twelve bisexual individuals who accessed mental health care in a psychiatric hospital, examining where,
when, and how bisexuality was documented in the psychiatric record. In doing so, we highlight how common social constructions of bisexuality (e.g., as a state of confusion, as invisible) are reinforced by the institution of psychiatry, as well as how meaningful attention to
sexuality (or in contrast, inattention)may contribute to the patient- and practitioner-defined success of a psychiatric admission.
Clearing a Path documents our work of the last four years, which has been to address ongoing violence, including structural violence, against people with psychiatric disabilities. Using psychiatric survivor-led research, the continuing goal has been to maintain the voice of people who identify as having a psychiatric disability at the centre of our work and to build a Psychiatric Survivor Anti-Violence Framework.
Mental Health “Recovery”: Users and Refusers is the final report of a study that asked the question: what do psychiatric survivors in Toronto think about mental health “recovery”? This research recognizes the emergence of “recovery” as the new “talk” of community mental health services not just here but in the United States, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. It addresses the fact that amidst a surge of “recovery” related research there are few critical voices especially from the people “recovery” promises to “heal” and “help.” Thus, our primary concern has been to make psychiatric survivors central in both directing this study and acting as participants. Some members of our advisory committee were located in community organizations; some were in the university; most spanned both. Some members identified as psychiatric survivors; some did not. Both of our staff/consultants were consumers of mental health services. Their status as “peers” was fundamental to the conversations that we opened up with study participants around the meaning/s of mental health recovery. We generated our data through focus group conversations held in seven community organizations that are on the “front-line” of service delivery. We analyzed our data through an iterative process of reading, talking together and writing about what participants said as recorded by our note-taker. In this way, we moved from a list of key themes/ quotes prevalent across groups to three lines of argument that constitutes a distinctive “take” on “recovery” in Toronto. The first situates “recovery” as a personal journey. Through their own efforts and achievements, individuals link personal care with self-esteem and positive thinking to achieve hope. The second argument situates “recovery” as a social process in which people address the need for tangible resources such as jobs, income, housing, safety and education. Giving and receiving peer support is fundamental to this view. The third argument takes “recovery” as critique – and targets a range of institutions: medicine/psychiatry, health care, medication/drugs, and the police. It opens terrain for recovering “recovery” from its increasing professionalization within community mental health. Clearly, even though
“recovery” is increasingly powerful in organizing the operation of the service system, it has no single meaning – and no unified constituency
In this chapter I discuss some of the general themes raised in social movement organizing for the c/s/x community both in policy and in law. I follow with a discussion of the Supreme Court of Canada case Winko vs. British Columbia (1999) – a case that included evidence from the Queen Street Patients’ Council, an organization that was made up of psychiatric survivors and ex-psychiatric patients. I conclude by analyzing Winko’s designation as a “win” for the consumer/survivor/ex-patient community and discuss considerations for future psychiatric and legal reform and organizing.
concern service users/survivors who perform different kinds
of labour (paid and unpaid) in the mental health sector.
These issues are part of the legacy of patient labour in the
psychiatric system. Though there have been improvements
in employment and inclusion opportunities over the years,
problems remain
identities. This chapter addresses this research gap through a content analysis of chart documentation for twelve bisexual individuals who accessed mental health care in a psychiatric hospital, examining where,
when, and how bisexuality was documented in the psychiatric record. In doing so, we highlight how common social constructions of bisexuality (e.g., as a state of confusion, as invisible) are reinforced by the institution of psychiatry, as well as how meaningful attention to
sexuality (or in contrast, inattention)may contribute to the patient- and practitioner-defined success of a psychiatric admission.
Clearing a Path documents our work of the last four years, which has been to address ongoing violence, including structural violence, against people with psychiatric disabilities. Using psychiatric survivor-led research, the continuing goal has been to maintain the voice of people who identify as having a psychiatric disability at the centre of our work and to build a Psychiatric Survivor Anti-Violence Framework.
Mental Health “Recovery”: Users and Refusers is the final report of a study that asked the question: what do psychiatric survivors in Toronto think about mental health “recovery”? This research recognizes the emergence of “recovery” as the new “talk” of community mental health services not just here but in the United States, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. It addresses the fact that amidst a surge of “recovery” related research there are few critical voices especially from the people “recovery” promises to “heal” and “help.” Thus, our primary concern has been to make psychiatric survivors central in both directing this study and acting as participants. Some members of our advisory committee were located in community organizations; some were in the university; most spanned both. Some members identified as psychiatric survivors; some did not. Both of our staff/consultants were consumers of mental health services. Their status as “peers” was fundamental to the conversations that we opened up with study participants around the meaning/s of mental health recovery. We generated our data through focus group conversations held in seven community organizations that are on the “front-line” of service delivery. We analyzed our data through an iterative process of reading, talking together and writing about what participants said as recorded by our note-taker. In this way, we moved from a list of key themes/ quotes prevalent across groups to three lines of argument that constitutes a distinctive “take” on “recovery” in Toronto. The first situates “recovery” as a personal journey. Through their own efforts and achievements, individuals link personal care with self-esteem and positive thinking to achieve hope. The second argument situates “recovery” as a social process in which people address the need for tangible resources such as jobs, income, housing, safety and education. Giving and receiving peer support is fundamental to this view. The third argument takes “recovery” as critique – and targets a range of institutions: medicine/psychiatry, health care, medication/drugs, and the police. It opens terrain for recovering “recovery” from its increasing professionalization within community mental health. Clearly, even though
“recovery” is increasingly powerful in organizing the operation of the service system, it has no single meaning – and no unified constituency
In this chapter I discuss some of the general themes raised in social movement organizing for the c/s/x community both in policy and in law. I follow with a discussion of the Supreme Court of Canada case Winko vs. British Columbia (1999) – a case that included evidence from the Queen Street Patients’ Council, an organization that was made up of psychiatric survivors and ex-psychiatric patients. I conclude by analyzing Winko’s designation as a “win” for the consumer/survivor/ex-patient community and discuss considerations for future psychiatric and legal reform and organizing.
to define safety and for whom
An exploration of consumer/survivors/patients' views on assisted death and the recent legislation in Canada
in Book Ethics in Mental Health-Substance Use