This page lists just some of the resources on the thriving movement activity in California to change the mental health system.

Last updated 30 November 2012. 

Welcomehalf-dome.jpg to Organizing in California!

Please network with each other, exchange news, and make any corrections or suggestions, etc. about this list — which is definitely incomplete — to the brand new MindFreedom California Facebook page.

 

Upcoming Events and Alerts

 

  • Take the MindFreedom survey on California, to help us find out what actions are most needed in California, and link up members and potential activists in the state.
  • January 25-27, 2013 is the Second International WRAP Around the World Conference, in Oakland. Featured keynotes by Mary Ellen Copeland, CA Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, and author Robert Whitaker. For more details and to register, call 1-888-959-2649 or see the Copeland Center website.
  • There is discussion about peaceful protest in San Francisco during the May 18 to 22, 2013 American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting. See the Occupy Psychiatry Facebook page, and to join a mailing list for planning, contact Jim Gottstein at jim(dot)gottstein(at)psychrights(dot)org.
  • The PsychRights’ Pro Bono Program is seeking a lawyer in California to pursue a good test case regarding forced drugging or electroshock. If you are an interested lawyer or know one, please connect with Jim Gottstein at jim(dot)gottstein(at)psychrights(dot)org.
  • Anywhere in California or the world, you can take part in MindFreedom’s launch of Creative Maladjustment Week. Martin Luther King created the concept… Patch Adams is supporting the launch. More info here. 
  • BBC – the UK international news media – is looking for interview subjects in California on the subject of a diagnosis of “bipolar.” Disclaimer: No guarantee about major media! But if you’re interested, see more information soon by clicking here.

 

MindFreedom Groups and Other Allies in California

Most but not all of the groups listed on this page are MindFreedom coalition affiliates or  (complete list here). We’d like to list more allies in the movement in California, please suggest more on the MindFreedom California Facebook page.

 

Statewide groups

 

Local groups

 

Regional, national, global or trans-local

 

Points of Contact

Do you have energy for activism in California? These are active MindFreedom members who have identified themselves as a ‘point of contact’ if you’d like to help build an affiliate:

  • In the San Francisco Bay Area – sfbayarea(at)mindfreedom(dot)org
  • In Santa Cruz – santa-cruz(at)mindfreedom(dot)org
  • Denise Maratos in Southern California – socal(at)mindfreedom(dot)org
  • Richard Jeremy Needham in Humboldt County – humboldt(at)mindfreedom(dot)org

 

Resources for Alternatives

Remember that you can search for mental health providers who have pledged to follow MindFreedom’s principles, on the MindFreedom Directory of Alternatives. You can limit you search to California (though some outside may be relevant too) on this directory. More info and a link to the searchable directory is here:

www.mindfreedom.org/directory

The Californian mental health professional ally who helped launch this directory is a long-time MindFreedom board member, Matthew Morrissey, MFT. He is one of those on the directory of course. While based in San Francisco, Matthew is even able to provide confidential online video psychotherapy services for any California resident. For more info: www.morrisseymft.com. (Matthew is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, MFC 45780.)

 

Email Lists and Forums

 

State-wide:

 

Local: