Event Details
• Date: Wednesday, June 5th, 2024
• Time: 6 PM Eastern
• Platform: Zoom
• Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82375518189
About the Conversation
The federal Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness (PAIMI) Act was enacted in the United States to ensure, among other things, that “the rights of individuals with mental illness are protected.” In order to accomplish this, the Protection and Advocacy (P&A) agencies in each US state have been granted special access rights to facilities, records, and people, and have been empowered to bring litigation to protect people’s rights.
Each P&A has a PAIMI advisory council which is supposed to be independent, with at least 60 percent of its members composed of individuals who have received or are receiving mental health care services or who are family members of such individuals, and chaired by such an individual.
The PAIMI advisory councils are to jointly develop the annual PAIMI Act policies and priorities with their P&As. However, the councils have largely been stymied in exercising their power to jointly set their P&A’s policies and priorities under the PAIMI Act.
In this upcoming Judi’s Room event, Kristina Kapp (“KK”) and Jim Gottstein will discuss the potential of the PAIMI Act and its Advisory Councils to ensure people’s rights are protected, and possible means to achieve that potential.
About the Presenters
Kristina Kapp (KK)
KK has painted a beautiful masterpiece picture of life despite the adversity that it has presented to her by overcoming and passing on the strength and wisdom she gained through her impactful experiences; choosing to view her disability and trauma as an opportunity to learn, grow, and raise the bar to a standard above and beyond conventional societal limitations; and superseding chromosomal birth defects, neurodivergent disability, childhood mental health prognoses, and expectations that she would live life within the walls of an institution with the dream of one day graduating to a group home setting.
Instead, KK tapped her well of human potential and her compassionate humanitarian heart brought forth a flow of hope and belief in herself and that of others, opening endless doors of limitless possibilities contrary to the standard way of limited thinking that any disability defines who we are, implying a ceiling on human potential.
This created the foundation on which KK stands and has built her future, blazing the trail and igniting a revolution in alternative workarounds, innovations, and creative development through cultivating hope, sowing seeds of empowerment, and watering them with belief in hers and every human’s potential.
KK has worked in the fields of behavioral health, disability justice, and advocacy for 24 years as an activist and ambassador. She has been the founder and executive director of Beliefactory and H2H Consulting Group since 2019. She is also the chair of Ohio’s Protection & Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness (PAIMI) Council, a member of Disability Rights Ohio‘s board of directors, a member of MindFreedom International’s board of directors, and the vice president of the National Association for Rights Protection & Advocacy (NARPA). She proudly lives her life out loud.
Jim Gottstein
Jim Gottstein was an Alaska-based lawyer, now living on Maui, who founded the Law Project for Psychiatric Rights (PsychRights) whose mission is to mount a strategic litigation campaign against forced psychiatric drugging and electroshock. He won five Alaska Supreme Court appeals, three on constitutional grounds, invalidating various aspects of Alaska’s mental illness system. Jim is most known for subpoenaing and releasing secret documents showing Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of Zyprexa hid that it causes diabetes and other metabolic problems, resulting in a series of front page stories in The New York Times. He has written The Zyprexa Papers about this and his representation of Bill Bigley for whom he subpoenaed the secret documents. Jim is currently devoting the bulk of his time to the MindFreedom Shield Program and working to empower the PAIMI advisory councils.
About Judi’s Room
Named after celebrated human rights activist Judi Chamberlin, Judi’s Room is a free event presented jointly by MindFreedom International (MFI) and I Love You, Lead On to facilitate opportunities for ongoing cross-disability dialogue. It typically begins with a presentation by one or more expert panelists followed by an open public discussion.
If you require accommodation for this event such as sign language interpretation, please email office@mindfreedom.org at least three days in advance.
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A recording of this event will later be posted on MFI’s official YouTube channel.