NYAPRS Note: Don’t miss the very special opportunity to attend one of the nation’s most visionary conferences! See below:
From: https://www.alternatives-conference.org/
ALTERNATIVES 2021
CONNECTING, ORGANIZING, ACTIVATING!
The National Coalition for Mental Health Recovery is excited to announce the 35th annual Alternatives Conference, to be held virtually over four non-consecutive days:
Thursday July 8th, Saturday July 10th, Thursday July 15th, and Saturday July 17th.
We look forward to connecting nationally and internationally with old friends and colleagues, and to making new connections. We invite all of you to join us from wherever you are. We’re excited about having a virtual conference this year so that everyone from anywhere can attend! Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, the conference is free of charge to attend. There is only a $30 fee for those who require continuing education units (CEs). Your individual donations are also greatly appreciated.
For 35 years, the Alternatives Conference has been planned and implemented for and by people in the peer recovery/liberation movement to come together and share their lived experience with one another. It is a place where peers come together to share our wisdom, strength and hope; where we make room for all the ways we experience and express life; where we turn our experience into fuel for our truth-telling. We have taken good notes about what helps and what hurts as we have navigated experiences of trauma, mental health diagnosis, and/or substance use challenges. We have become experts in our own lives, and we share that expertise with one another.
We represent a broad spectrum of perspectives on mental health and personal choices in the language we use and the types of supports we choose respond to our emotional suffering. There is room in our movement and at this conference for those who choose traditional mental health treatment, and who may or may not take medication, for those who use intentional peer support, or alternative therapies and mind-body approaches, for those who use art, movement, and creative expression, for those involved in social action, advocacy, and reform, and for those whose focus is Mad Pride and neurodiversity and for all the ways we intersect with one another.
We are aware that the right we have to make these choices hasn’t just been handed to us, but was fought for by this movement’s pioneers who were a small but fervent group of activists focused on human rights and liberation. They had the courage to stand against psychiatric oppression by taking political and social action. They created solidarity by forming mutual support groups, drop in centers and gathering in parks and universities to create what grew into this Alternatives Conference. We honor the shoulders on which we stand and know that part of what makes Alternatives so special is this history. For many of us, attending the Alternatives Conference has been like coming home. To learn more about our history go here: https://www.alternatives-conference.org/our-history
We’re trying something different this year. When the Board of the National Coalition was considering sponsoring the Alternatives conference this year, they began dreaming of having a conference that called people back to our activist roots and ignited people’s passions to create change in some key areas. And they wondered, “What would it be like if we came out of this conference with some concrete plans to address the 2021 NCMHR priorities?”
Now, more than ever, we need to bring our attention back to active organizing to maintain the advances we’ve made. Alternatives 2021 will be a “working conference.” In addition to a wide array of keynotes, workshops, and fun events, this year’s conference participants will be able to join Action Groups to develop goals and specific steps in key priority areas.
We will hear from those already involved in successful peer programs. We’ll also have a voice, and roll up our sleeves in areas we’re passionate about. We’ll find ways of working together to expand our influence and make a difference in our own communities.
Alternatives 2021 Workshops listed on this page
Alternatives 2021 Keynote Speakers listed on this page
More information about Action Groups on this page