NYAPRS Note: The following comes from Susan Rogers, Director, National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse and Director of Special Projects, Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania.
TWO EXCITING EVENTS IN PHILADELPHIA ON THE FIRST WEEKEND IN MAY!
Occupy the APA on May 5! Whitaker, Gottstein and McKinney speak on May 6!
Two exciting events are happening in Philadelphia on the weekend of May 5-6, 2012! Please spread the word about both events far and wide! Post them on your Facebook page and share them with everyone you know! And then please come! You can download flyers about both events at the following link: http://www.mhselfhelp.org/news/view.php?news_id=1146
May 5:
“Occupy the APA!” We will gather on May 5, 2012, at 10 a.m. at 1515 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, in a peaceful effort to call attention to the American Psychiatric Association’s misguided plans to publish a new edition of psychiatry’s bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The new version, the DSM-5, will inevitably lead to over-prescription of psychiatric drugs, according to its many critics. Then at 12:15 p.m. we will march to the Pennsylvania Convention Center, 12th and Arch Streets, where we will gather to protest while the APA meets inside.
Please note that Occupy the APA is a big tent! Participants will come from across the philosophical spectrum, from those of us who willingly use the traditional mental health system and feel that psychiatry has helped us, to those who do NOT willingly use the traditional mental health system and feel that psychiatry has harmed us!
All are welcome!
May 6:
“Imagining a Different Future in Mental Health!”
Hear three inspiring speakers:
- Robert Whitaker, author of Anatomy of an Epidemic and Mad in America;
- Jim Gottstein, Esq., founder of the Law Project for Psychiatric Rights, and
- Jacki McKinney, MSW, award-winning advocate and trauma expert.
Their presentations – at the Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany, 330 S. Thirteenth Street (between Spruce and Pine), Philadelphia – will be followed by a Q&A session facilitated by Joseph Rogers, executive director of the National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse. This event is free! All are welcome!
If you would like to participate in a video campaign supporting Occupy the APA, please see the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUDpP6lFoAQ
Please see the following link for some folks who are tearing up the labels they DON’T like and keeping the labels that work for them! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzTyfjWRams
We look forward to seeing you, and everyone you know, on May 5 and May 6! Thanks for your help in spreading the word!