Opal Network in Lane County:

Latest – You can watch a video of the May 12, 2012 fifth anniversary meeting of Opal Network in Eugene, Oregon, bringing together about a dozen mental health groups:

The Opal Network began in Spring 2007 as a way to gather everyone quarterly in Lane County, Oregon, who supports the voice and empowerment of mental health consumers and psychiatric survivors.

Since then, quarterly, there’s been a public meeting at the Eugene Public Library on a variety of topics and panels, all with free refreshments, networking and news.

Below you will find a link to more info about recent and upcoming Opal Network meetings, as well as a “folder of folders” with information about Opal Network, its background, etc.

If you do one thing….

…. stay in touch with Opal Network, and sign up for free occasional announcements about the quarterly meetings and other important events, here: 

Opal Network Announcement Email list

More info on the Opal model: 

The cross-disability group LILA, a Center for Independent Living, has especially been helpful. MindFreedom Lane County and a number of other organizations have supported this important coalition.

Opal Network now offers a workshop nationally on this model: Uniting the cross-disability and mental health consumer/psychiatric survivor communities to mobilize allies for real change in the mental health system. For more info on these “Amplify” workshops, click here.

And who was Opal? Opal Whiteley was a famous author in Lane County, Oregon, who ended up in a psychiatric institution.

For more background information about the Opal Network itself — including history, posters, fliers, the story of Opal Whiteley herself and more — go this folder:

https://mindfreedom.org/as/act/us/or/lane/opal