What is the MFI Creative Revolution in Healing Conference?

From July 12th-15th, 2007, MFI held its Creative Revolution in Healing Conference. This conference was titled, “Turning Our Minds Around.” It focused on supporting the growth of workable alternatives to the mental health system, and was held at a site in Connecticut called Wisdom House. Alternatives promoted at this conference included (and was not limited to) safe houses, drug-free centers, peer support, emotional healing, poetry, music, drama, performance, writing, journaling, fun & games, liberation, activism, nutrition, and exercise.

 

About the Conference Site

The conference will take place at the Wisdom House Retreat and Conference Center, which invites us to an experience of peace and tranquility.

 

Nestled in the foothills of the Berkshires, Wisdom House spans 54 acres
of meadows. It has an outdoor swimming pool, woods, and brooks. There
are several buildings on campus; the oldest building has a replace dating back to 1770. Wisdom House values its location in the historic town of Litchfield, Connecticut (est. 1721). The town provides historic cultural resources to all who visit the area.

 

Workshop Presenters

  • Mary and Jim Maddock (Thornbury Heights, Ireland), presenting about Sli Eile—Another Way, an alternative social housing project they work with in Ireland. Mary & Jim are authors of the new book Soul Survivor, about Mary’s struggle with and successful escape from years of psychiatric institutionalization, electroshock and drugging.
  • Debbie Whittle (National Empowerment Center in Lawrence, Massachusetts, USA), presenting about Living into Wholeness, Tools of Transformation
  • Will Hall, Oryx Cohen, Ashley McNamara, Mollie Hurter, Dianne Dragon, Dick Gilluly, Chaya Grossberg and others (Freedom Center in Northampton, Massachusetts, USA), presenting on various alternatives such as a writing group, yoga, acupuncture, community building, coming off of psychiatric drugs, etc.
  • Judi Chamberlin (Boston, Massachusetts, USA), presenting on On Our Own—Reflections Thirty Years On
  • David Oaks (Eugene, Oregon, USA), presenting on Mad Pride, Activism, & Alternatives Unite: The Role of Creative Direct Action in Emotional Well Being
  • Aby Adams (Information Collective, Leeds, Massachusetts, USA), presenting on The Mental Health Screening Initiative: Empowering Communities Through Information

 

Plenary Speakers

  • Jennifer Branks (Madison, Wisconsin, USA), presenting on The Hearing Voices Network
  • Joe Gallagher, M.D. (Watsonville, California, USA), presenting on thePajaro Valley Sunrise Center, a drug free center currently being developed
  • Susan Musante (Anchorage, Alaska, USA), presenting on the developing Soteria Alaska Project,based on Loren Mosher’s Soteria House, formerly in California, USA
  • Peter Stastny, M.D. (New York, New York, USA), presenting on INTAR: International Network of Treatment Alternatives for Recovery.  Stastny is co-editor of Alternatives Beyond Psychiatry.

 

Conference Co-Sponsors

  • The Freedom Center (Northampton, Massachusetts, USA)
  • The Icarus Project (theicarusproject.net)
  • Gruppe Aufbruch (Bonn, Germany)
  • The EEG Centre for Neurofeedback (Tryon, North Carolina, USA)

 

Who should attend?

  • ANYONE who is dissatisfied with the mental health system.
  • People who have helped themselves to recover or helped other people to recover from mental and emotional difficulties.
  • People who are running alternatives.
  • People who want to create alternatives.

Source: https://mindfreedom.org/campaign/choice/news

 

Participant Praise

“We are not people with illnesses that are in remission, we are human beings with souls that are in progression.”

  • Andrew Friedman (NY City, NY, USA)

 

“We share a common vision of transforming hospitals into sanctuaries where people can heal.”

  • Debbie Whittle (Massachusetts, USA)

 

“I really feel inspired to keep up the fight in Iceland.”

  • Auour Axelsdottir (Iceland)

Source: https://mindfreedom.org/campaign/choice/2007-retreat-news