Krista Erickson, MindFreedom board member and chair of the MindFreedom Shield Program, announced that members may now conveniently sign up for the program online. Attorney Jim Gottstein, founder of MFI Sponsor Group PsychRights, provided much-appreciated assistance and advice in setting up the original program, and moving it online.

Welcome, information and public director for the MindFreedom Shield.

MindFreedom International issues alerts about individuals at risk of orcurrently experiencing involuntary psychiatric procedures, including onan outpatient basis while living peacefully in the community in theirown residences.

Forexample, occasionally these public alerts have led to some members whoare experiencing coerced outpatient psychiatric drugging to findresources assisting them to relocate to avoid their forced psychiatricprocedures. This in no way implies that MindFreedom, its board ormembers — nor the individuals escaping forced outpatient psychiatry –are in any way involved in, aiding, supporting or condoning any illegalactivity, directly or indirectly.

MindFreedom International has a track record of taking constructive,nonviolent action when we are notified that a person is being subjectedto coerced or forced psychiatric procedures. In order to better utilizeour very limited resources, we have established the MindFreedom ShieldProgram.

The MindFreedom Shield Program is a coordinated registration system andsolidarity network of MindFreedom members who want to have as muchprotection as possible from coerced or forced psychiatric treatment.The MindFreedom Shield is not meant to replace a formal psychiatric “advancedirective,” which is a legal document we highly recommend people fillout. MindFreedom does not have the resources to assist in completing anadvance directive.

If a member who has registered a MindFreedom Shield is, to the best of our ability, verifiably foundby MindFreedom to be subjected to coerced or forced psychiatrictreatment, an alert will be sent to the MindFreedom Solidarity Networkon that person’s behalf. Everyone in the MindFreedom Solidarity Networkis expected to participate in constructive, nonviolent actionrecommended in the alert received to support the person for whom analert has been issued. 

Whileno one can guarantee the results of issuing human rights alerts, it hasbeenour experience that public awareness can often reduce, if not end,situations of coerced or forced psychiatric treatment. In any case, theMindFreed Shield serves to educate the public that coerced and forcedpsychiatric procedures continue to harm the human rights of peopleinternationally.