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Upcoming Events
Understanding Extreme States and Psychiatric Diagnosis: A
Process Work Approach
Saturday, February 4th, 2012 10am - 4:30 pm
Process Work Institute 2049
NW Hoyt St. Portland, Oregon
Taught by Will Hall MA, Dipl PW and Myriam Rahman MA, Dipl
PW
$60; ($50 before Jan 20th) (please contact myriamrahman@gmail.com
regarding scholarships) Space limited. Pre-registration recommended.
Please contact portlandhearingvoices@gmail.com to register.
5.5 CEU's available for this workshop, please contact us
Download flyer here: http:/www. portlandhearingvoices.net/files/ExtremeStatesProcessWorkWkshp02-04- 2012MyriamRWillH.pdf. Black and white version for printing here.
Sponsored by Portland Hearing Voices, www.portlandhearingvoices.net, Mental Health Association of Portland, and National Association of Social Workers - Oregon Chapter Mental Health Network.
Is there meaning in madness? Is there potential growth in the distressing experiences labeled psychosis, bipolar, and schizophrenia?
This workshop will bring light to how the human mind is far more mysterious than a label or a diagnosis could ever encompass. We will discover the gifts of sensitivity, creativity, and spirituality that are intertwined with what gets called a disorder, and explore together the many ways for individuals who experience extreme states to live beyond the confines of a medical diagnosis.
Process Work skills allow us to approach extreme states as meaningful communication that reveals unique pathways for individual growth and social change. How can we engage with extreme states when they pose difficult and sometimes life-threatening challenges, including hospitalization; diagnosis; medication; and an identity of being ill? Using discussion, demonstrations, and experiential exercises, this workshop will provide an introduction to a Process Oriented way to live and work with the meaning behind bipolar, schizophrenia, psychosis, and other extreme states of consciousness.
Everyone is invited to this in introductory and inclusive workshop: professionals, those interested in Process Work, people with diagnosis and/or extreme states, anyone taking or not taking medications, family members, and the community are all welcome.
About the co-teachers: Will Hall and Myriam Rahman offer a unique personal perspective on Process Work and psychiatric diagnosis from their own experience with hospitalization, diagnosis, and medication.
Will Hall, MA, DiplPW, is a Portland based therapist and facilitator who has recovered from a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Director of Portland Hearing Voices, Will also hosts Madness Radio on KBOO and teaches internationally on new approaches to madness and extreme states. www.willhall.net.
Myriam Rahman, MA, DiplPW works with individuals, couples and families in her Portland, Oregon private therapy practice. She teaches internationally and is a trainer and consultant for Portland Hearing Voices. Myriam is a survivor of a diagnosis of bipolar disorder w/ psychosis and uses her experience of recovery in her work as a therapist and facilitator.
About Portland Hearing Voices: Founded by schizophrenia survivor Will Hall, Portland Hearing Voices organizes support groups, educational events, training, and counseling resources for people who experience voices, extreme states, visions, and different realities often labeled as psychosis, bipolar, and schizophrenia. (Fiscally sponsored by Mental Health Association of Portland.) www.portlandhearingvoices.net
OPEN DIALOGUE FILM:An Alternative, Finnish Approach to
Healing Psychosis
Video Showing And Discussion
Friday, February 17, 2012
Part of Rethinking Psychiatry Film Festival
6:30pm
Portland First Unitarian Church
Finland once boasted some of Europe's poorest outcomes for schizophrenia, but today has the best recovery results in the world. They turned their system around with an approach called Open Dialogue. Open Dialogue meets clients in crisis immediately and often daily until the crises are resolved. They avoid hospitalization and its consequential stigma, preferring to meet in the homes of those seeking their services. And, perhaps most controversially, they avoid the use of anti-psychotic medication wherever possible. They also work in groups, because they view psychosis as a problem involving relationships.
Daniel Mackler's 74 Minute film about Open Dialogue will be shown, followed by a discussion led by Will Hall, schizophrenia diagnosis survivor and director of Portland Hearing Voices, who is training with Open Dialogue creator Jaakko Seikkula. (Will is also offering a day long Introduction to Open Dialogue workshop on February 25.)
More info:http://www.madnessradio.net/madness-radio-mary-olson-open-dialog http://beyondmeds.com/2011/03/21/finnishopendialogue/
Introduction to Open Dialogue Approach to First Episode
Psychosis
A Workshop With Will Hall, MA, DiplPW
Saturday, February 25, 2012 10am-2:00pm
Process Work
Institute
2049 NW Hoyt St. Portland OR
Workshop fee: $60 (contact us about scholarships).
info: portlandhearingvoices@gmail.com
3.5 CEU's are available for this event
Download flyer here: http://www.portlandhearingvoices .net/files/ OpenDialogIntroductionWorkshop2012.pdf. Black and white version for printing here.
Co-Sponsored by Portland Hearing Voices, Mental Health Association of Portland, and National Association of Social Workers - Oregon Chapter Mental Health Network.
Dr. Jaakko Seikkula and colleagues in Finland have developed “Open Dialogue,” a family network approach to first episode psychosis. Open Dialogue de-emphasizes pharmaceutical intervention and instead establishes a dialogue with the social network and organizes a “treatment meeting” within twenty-four hours. This reduces hospitalization, lowers use of medication, and leads to less recurrance of crisis.
In a five-year follow-up, 83% of patients returned to their jobs or studies and were not receiving government disability, and 77% did not have psychotic symptoms. Open Dialogue is gaining support in the US after Robert Whitaker, in his book Anatomy of An Epidemic, featured it as an effective alternative to the poor treatment outcomes for psychosis in the US.
Portland Hearing Voices Director, schizophrenia diagnosis survivor, and local therapist Will Hall is currently training with Dr. Seikkula and his colleague Dr. Mary Olson in Open Dialogue at the Mill River Institute in Haydenville MA. This introductory evening with Will provides a basic introduction to Open Dialogue and the concepts behind it. (Open Dialogue is a Finnish hospital clinical method based on 3 years+ training, and this Introduction does not represent the depth of that method, but instead serves to spark interest in learning more.)
For more information on Open Dialog, including a recent Madness Radio interview with Open Dialog practitioner Dr. Mary Olson and articles by Olson and Seikkula, please go to http://bipolarblast.wordpress.com/2010/01/04/alternative-for -psychosis/.
Ongoing Groups
Extreme States And Hearing Voices Support Group
(Note the group is now WEEKLY starting Tuesday January 31st.)
Facilitated by Portland Hearing Voices peer
facilitators: Scott, Chaya, Jake, Nicole, Kate, Khaki, Jenny and Will. Open to people who have these
experiences.
6-730 pm every Tuesdays 3941 SE
Hawthorne St., Empowerment Initiatives
Tuesday January 31, 2012
Tuesday February 7
Tuesday February 14
Tuesday February 21
Tuesday February 28
Tuesday March 6
Tuesday March 13
Tuesday March 20
Tuesday March 27
What is it like to live with voices, visions, wild energy, and extreme states of consciousness? This peer-run group asks what these experiences mean to each of us and how can we learn to accept and live with who we are. We discuss ways to cope with the isolation of our lives, deal with crisis, and discover new ways of seeing "madness." Are there creative and spiritual sides to what we go through? Do we have to define ourselves as having diseases, or are there other ways of understanding? Come learn what mental diversity all about.
Open to people who hear voices, see visions, experience extreme states, and have unusual beliefs, including mental health diagnosis of bipolar, schizophrenia, and psychosis. Inclusive, non-judgmental, pro-treatment choice and pro-diversity. People taking medications, not taking medications, and exploring alternatives including coming off medications are welcome.
Come to meet others, learn how to regain control of our lives, and explore the meaning in madness.
For information contact
portlandhearingvoices@gmail.com
www.portlandhearingvoices.
net
413.210.2803
please join our mailing list for
updates
http://www.
portlandhearingvoices.net/email.html
Sponsored by Portland Hearing Voices and the Mental Health Association of Portland. Portland Hearing Voices Director Will Hall was diagnosed with schizophrenia and is an internationally recognized mental diversity teacher, advocate, and counselor. www.willhall.net.
Download the Voices And Extreme States Support Group Flyer here: www. portlandhearingvoices.net/files/ VoicesVisionsDifferentRealitiesGroupFlyer07-09.pdf
EI Space Closing ChecklistMeeting PreRamble
Mental Diversity Meetups
Informal public social
gatherings open to all
Last Sunday of Every Month
4pm-6:30
Backspace Cafe 115 Northwest 5th Avenue at
Couch
Everyone is invited to join Portland Hearing Voices for an informal gathering with drink, eats, and socializing. Meet new people, learn from each other, and build community. An antidote to loneliness! Look for the sign and check the whole cafe. There's no agenda, and it's self-facilitated: we just find each other and hang out. Anyone interested, not just those with extreme/visionary states, is welcome.
Look for a sign, and check the whole cafe, there may be just a few people or it might be a crowd!
Upcoming meetups are:
Sunday January 29, 2012Sunday February 26
Sunday March 25
Past Events
Mental Health Advocates Meet!
December 13, 2011
6:30 - 8 PM
Kempton Hall, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral
147 NW
19th Avenue, Portland (arking Available)
FREE and open to the
public
An opportunity for a community discussion about mental and addiction health issues with:
Amanda Fritz, Portland City Commissioner
Jeff Cogen, Multnomah
County Commission Chair
Sponsored by:Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare Central City Concern, Disability Rights Oregon, Empowerment Initiatives, Eyes & Ears, Home Forward, Lifeworks NW, Luke-Dorf, The Lund Report, Mental Health Association of Portland, Portland Hearing Voices, Multnomah County Crisis Line, Telecare, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, The Skanner News, Street Roots, and others.
More information? Mental Health Association of Portland ? www.mentalhealthportland.org
Madness and Mental Diversity:
Psychosis, Bipolar, and
Schizophrenia As Field Evolution
with Will Hall
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
4134 N Borthwick Ave, Portland, OR
7pm -- Free
An Evolver special presentation
Co-sponsored by Portland Hearing Voices, Portland Evolver, and the Mental Health Association of Portland
What if experiences labeled bipolar or schizophrenia are instead invitations to collaborate on mutual growth and evolution? What if "madness" is a purposeful and self-organizing potential for broader change?
Conventional frameworks view a "psychotic" disconnect from reality as a regression to an earlier developmental stage, a deficit/imbalance in normal functioning, or an excess of perception. Using Process Oriented Psychology, this Evolver special presentation will explore the meaning of "severe mental illness" and challenge us to rethink our relationship to extreme states within and around us. It will also offer a historical consideration of the psychedelic experience to help understand how it relates to psychosis.
About the presenter: Will Hall recovered from a diagnosis of schizophrenia and is a Portland based therapist in private practice who teaches internationally on Mental Diversity . He holds a Masters Degree and Diploma in Process Oriented Psychology, an awareness paradigm pioneered by physicist and Jungian analyst Arnold Mindell. Will hosts Madness Radio monthly on KBOO FM and is the Director of Portland Hearing Voices, a local support, education, and training community. www.willhall.net www.madnessradio.com
About Portland Hearing Voices:
Founded by schizophrenia
diagnosis survivor Will Hall, Portland Hearing Voices organizes support
groups, educational events, training, and counseling resources for
people who experience voices, extreme states, visions, and different
realities often labeled as psychosis, bipolar, and schizophrenia.
(Project of the Mental Health Association of Portland.)
www.portlandhearingvoices.net
About Evolver:
"Evolver is a new social network for conscious
collaboration. It provides a platform for individuals, communities, and
organizations to discover and share the new tools, initiatives, and
ideas that will improve our lives and change the world. Are you an
evolver? Evolvers are hope fiends and utopian pragmatists. We see the
creative chaos of this time as a great gift and opportunity to rethink,
reconnect, and reinvent. Evolvers appreciate pristine mountains, open
source economics, and the precocious laughter of small children.
Evolvers belong to the regenerative culture of the future, being born
here and now." www.evolver.net
Rethinking Psychiatry Two-Day Symposium
Friday,
May 13, 2011 7:00 to 9:00 PM
Creating a New Paradigm of Mental Health
Care: What Needs to be Done? and Why?
Saturday, May 14, 2011 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Building Strong Communities:
New Tools for Mental, Emotional and Spiritual Health
The First Unitarian Church of Portland
1011 SW 12th
Featuring Robert Whitaker, author of Anatomy of an Epidemic:Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America
Friday, May 13, 2011 7:00 to 9:00 PM Creating a New Paradigm of Mental Health Care: What needs to be done? And why?
Join Robert Whitaker as he facilitates a conversation with the audience and a panel of mental health care providers and peers on the current national movement to create a mental health care system that is more holistic, effective and humane.
Saturday, May 14, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Building Strong Communities: New Tools for Mental, Emotional and Spiritual Health
Join us for workshops, open microphone, round table discussions and a community resource fair as we highlight the array of ideas, actions and activities that are helping to create the new paradigm of mental health care for all.
Portland Hearing Voices Workshop:
Coming Off Psychiatric
Medications: A Harm Reduction Approach Taught by Will
Hall
Time: 10:30-11:45 a.m. Room Number: B202-B203
Do you want to get involved? There are many ways to participate including:
Conversation Cafe: Host a topic of conversation and round table discussion on Saturday in a larger area with tables, large paper and markers.
Community Resource Fair: Table highlighting your organization.
Workshop: Present a workshop, facilitate a discussion or provide a creative or healing experience.
For more information: Call Marcia Meyers at 503-665-3957 Email: healthymindshealthyhearts@gmail.com. See http://www.facebook.comevent.php?eid=138437579559635
Ethan Watters
author of Crazy Like Us:
Globalization of the American Psyche
Thursday, May 19, 2011 7:30pm
Powell's City of Books 1005 W Burnside Portland, OR 97209
The most devastating consequence of the spread of American culture across the globe has not been our golden arches or our bomb craters, says Ethan Watters in Crazy Like Us (Free Press), but our bulldozing of the human psyche itself. American-style depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and anorexia have begun to spread around the world like contagions, and the virus is us. Traveling from Hong Kong to Sri Lanka to Zanzibar to Japan, journalist Ethan Watters witnesses firsthand how Western healers often steamroll indigenous expressions of mental health and madness and replace them with our own. In teaching the rest of the world to think like us, we have been homogenizing the way the world goes mad. Cosponsored by Portland Hearing Voices; introduced by Will Hall, Portland Hearing Voices Director. http://www.crazylikeus.com/ www.portlandhearingvoices. net
Download flyer: http ://www.portlandhearingvoices.net/files/Crazy_Like_US.jpg
Participant reading- Write Around Portland Workshops
Free community reading & anthology release party
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
6:30-8:00pm*
First United Methodist Church
in Collins Hall at the back of the church
1838 SW
Jefferson St, Portland
at the Goose Hollow TriMet MAX stop
[MAP]
Free (but limited) parking available.
Join us for a great evening of words and community-building as writers from our spring workshops for seniors with Alzheimer's, youth in a GED program, domestic violence survivors, adults living with mental illness and many others read their work from our new book, Still the Days Grow Longer.
The event is organized by Write Around Portland, free, and everyone is welcome. ADA-accessible. Free childcare provided. Anthologies and Write Around Portland t-shirts will be available for purchase. Financial donations welcome, appreciated and tax deductible. Call 503.796.9224 for more information.
Music and Madness!
Celebrate the 2 Year
Anniversary of Portland Hearing Voices
Sunday June 5, 2011
7-10pm
$8-15 cover sliding scale donation (no one turned away)
Featuring Music by:
Lillian Soderman www.reverbnation.com/lilliansoderman
Karyn Patridge www.reverbnation.com/karynpatridge
Bird Flying South www.birdflyingsouth.bandcamp.com
Someday Lounge
125 Northwest 5th AvenueWe're two years old! Celebrate Portland Hearing Voices work for community support and public education at a special benefit party at Someday Lounge, with three local musical performers and speakers from Portland Hearing Voices.
Free Yoga For Trauma and Extreme States
Saturdays, 1-2pm beginning October 23 2010Lotus Seed Studio 6 NE Tillamook Portland (#4 and #44 bus lines)
Led by Casadi Marino, LCSW, CADC III
Download Flyer here: http://www.portlandhearingvoices.net
/files/PHVFreeYogaFlyer.pdf
Yoga is an ancient art that helps individuals cultivate ways of maintaining balance and well-being. Yoga encourages focus, mindfulness, and clarity. This class is of the Vinyasa school of yoga that links movement with breath and links postures to form a flow. The class is designed for individuals who have experienced trauma and extreme states. Instructor Casadi Marino identifies as a trauma survivor and as an individual diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Information: yogaformadfolk@gmail.com.
You are encouraged to bring your own yoga mat or you can borrow one from the studio. Casadi is currently completing the yoga teacher training program through the Lotus Seed Studio to become a registered yoga teacher.
Co-Sponsored by Portland Hearing Voices & Empowerment Initiatives www.portlandhearingvoices.net www.chooseempowerment.com
Free Commmunity Writing Workshop
for
people living with and/or affected by experiences that are often
diagnosed and labeled as psychiatric conditions
With Write
Around Portland, in partnership with Portland Hearing Voices, and First
Unitarian Church Mental Health Action Group
Wednesdays,
6-8pm
February 9th-April 13th, 2011
Download the flier here: http://www. portlandhearingvoices.net/files/ PortlandHearingVoicesWriteAroundPDXWorkshop2011.pdf
Writing journals, pens and light snacks provided. Priority registration given to individuals who have not previously participated in a Write Around Portland workshop. Ask about bus tickets when you register.
Writers will be invited to the big public reading of all the season's writing workshops for Write Around Portland and asked to submit to the Write Around Portland literary magazine.
Wednesdays, 6-8pm
10 Weeks: February 9th-April 13th, 2011
Location: First Unitarian Church of Portland Address: Eliot Center at 12th & Salmon, Portland
Pre-registration is required, space is limited.
To register, contact Write Around Portland at 503-796-9224. For more info about Write Around: www.writearound.org. In partnership with Portland Hearing Voices and the First Unitarian Church Mental Health Action Group. For more info about Portland Hearing Voices: www.portlandhearingvoices.net
Moving Mental Health Recovery Forward / Rethinking
Psychiatry Community Forum
with Robert Whitaker and Panel
Thursday, February 10, 2011
The First Unitarian Church of Portland
1011 SW 12th, Portland OR
Reception
5:00pm-6:45pm
Keynote speaker Robert Whitaker and panel
7:00pm-9:00pm
Keynote Speaker
ROBERT WHITAKER is the author of Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America and three previous books: Mad in America), The Mapmaker's Wife and On the Laps of Gods He worked as a newspaper reporter for eight years and was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. As a journalist writing about mental health, Robert Whitaker won a George Polk award for medical writing and a National Association of Science Writer's award for best magazine article. A series he co-wrote for the Boston Globe was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in public service. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Panel
Beckie Child, Director of the Mental Health America of
Oregon
Cindi Fisher, Movement of Mothers Standing - Up -Together:
Taking Back Our Children ( The M.O.M.S. Movement )
Chris Gordon,
Assistant professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Medical
Director of Mental Health Advocacy
Will Hall, Portland therapist,
Director of Portland Hearing Voices, and national leader in "peer
recovery"
Gina Nikkel, Director of the Oregon Association of
Community Mental Health Programs.
ANATOMY OF AN EPIDEMIC website: www.madinamerica.com
Sponsored by: The Economic Justice Action Group of the First Unitarian Church of Portland, Empowerment Initiatives, Inc., Mental Health America of Oregon, The Real Wealth of Portland, Mental Health Association of Oregon, Portland Hearing Voices, Mental Health Rights, Yes, and MindFreedom International
Working with Voices
A Training Workshop with
UK Hearing Voices Network Leaders
Ron Coleman and Paul Baker
Tuesday November 16, 2010, 8:30am-4:30pm
Good Samaritan Hospital, Building 2 Auditorium1015 NW 22nd Avenue, Portland, OR 97210
Download flyer here: http://www.portlandhearingvoices.net /files/WorkingwithVoicesNov16Portland.pdf
Sponsored by the NASW of Oregon Mental Health Network www.nasworegon.org and Portland Hearing Voices www.portlandhearingvoices.net
6.5 CEUs available
Download the presentation slides for this event: http://www.portlandhearingvoices.net/files/ PaulBakerRonColemanHearingVoicesSlides11-2010PortlandOR.pdf
Hearing voices is one of the most common experiences that people diagnosed with a psychotic illness have. Research has shown that many people continue to hear voices even after prolonged use of medication. This has meant that many voice hearers do not get relief from their experiences. The consequence of this is that many people live lives that are low in quality & high in distress. This one-day workshop has been designed to help practitioners understand the experience of hearing voices and interventions that can be used to enable the voice hearer take control of their experience. As a result of this training, individuals will know how to develop an in depth understanding of people?s voice hearing experience & will be able to use proven tools to help individuals develop successful coping strategies.
Please join us for this unique opportunity to learn innovative techniques for working with voices from leaders of the UK hearing voices movement.
Presenters Touring from the UK from the Hearing Voices Network
Ron Coleman is a mental health trainer and consultant specializing in psychosis prevention and resolution. He has designed training packages to enable voice hearers to gain ascendancy over the negative aspects of the voice hearing experience. His own route to recovery after spending 13 years in & out of the psychiatric system has given him many insights into the many difficult issues facing today?s mental health services. Ron has published several books including ?Politics of the Madhouse? and ?Recovery: an Alien Concept?? He also co ?authored ?Working with Voices? & ?Working to Recovery.?
Paul Baker is a community development and group worker. He has a Post-graduate Diploma in Community Education, specializing in working with young people and people with mental health problems. Paul has worked in the health care and education sectors for the last 30 years. He had the responsibility to develop innovative mental health care services in the community including services run by the people who use them, self-advocacy services, supported housing services, social firms and enterprises as well as the development of forums for people to enable them to have a direct input in the development and running of services. Paul was one of the founding members of the Hearing Voices Network in England and is currently the coordinator of INTERVOICE, the influential coordinating body for the international hearing voices movement.
For more information about the Hearing Voices Movement and Ron Coleman and Paul Baker, please check out http:www.intervoiceonline.org and http://www.workingtorecovery. co.uk. For local contacts in the Hearing Voices Movement please go to www.portlandhearingvoices. net
Reserve your space by sending an email to naswmentalhealth@yahoo.com
Cost: $90 (checks and cash taken at the door the day of the training)
Reflections on a Workshop with Jaakko Seikkula and Mary
Olson:
Open Dialog Approach to First Episode Psychosis
An
Introduction With Will Hall
Monday, November 22, 2010 6:30-8:30pm
Process Work Institute2049 NW Hoyt St. Portland OR
$20 donation requested; no one turned away for lack of funds.
info: portlandhearingvoices@gmail.com
CEU's are available for this event
Download flyer here: www.portlandhearingvoices.net/ files/OpenDialogIntroductionNov22Flyer.pdf
Co-Sponsored by Portland Hearing Voices, Mental Health Association of Portland, and Empowerment Initiatives.
Over the past two decades, Dr. Jaakko Seikkula's hospital team in Finland has advanced and refined ?Open Dialogue,? a family and social network approach to first episode psychosis care, and this way of working has garnered widespread attention for dramatically improving outcomes. Open Dialog de-emphasizes US-style pharmaceutical intervention and instead establishes a dialogue with the patient, provides immediate help, and organizes ?a treatment meeting? within twenty-four hours of the initial contact. The results consistently show that this way of working reduces hospitalization, lowers use of medication, and leads to less recurrance of crisis when compared with psychosis treatment as usual. For example, in a five-year follow-up (Seikkula et al. 2006), 83% of patients have returned to their jobs or studies or were job seeking, thus not receiving government disability. In the same study, 77% did not have residual psychotic symptoms. Open Dialog is gaining growing support in the US after Robert Whitaker, in his book Anatomy of An Epidemic, featured Open Dialog as an effective alternative to the poor treatment outcomes associated with overuse of medications.
Portland Hearing Voices Director and local therapist Will Hall recently completed the first US workshop with Dr. Seikkula and his colleague Mary Olson in Open Dialog, four days at the Vallecitos Retreat in New Mexico. This introductory evening with Will will present his reflections on that workshop. (Open Dialog is a Finnish hospital clinical method based on 3 years+ training, and this Introduction does not represent the depth of that method, but instead reports on the workshop and serves to spark interest in learning more.)
For more information on Open Dialog, including a recent Madness Radio interview with Open Dialog practitioner Mary Olson and articles by Olson and Seikkula, please go to http://bipolarblast.wordpress.com/2010/01/04/alternative-for -psychosis/.
The Mental Health Association of Portland
presents
The Future of Oregon State Hospital
Greg Roberts, MSW
superintendent, Oregon State Hospital
Mark Diamond, DO chief
medical officer, Oregon State Hospital
Reception 6 PM Speakers 7
PM
October 28, 2010
Oregon Health Sciences University McKenzie HallSponsored in part by Portland Hearing Voices, NAMI of Multnomah County, Disability Rights Oregon, OHSU Department of Psychiatry, Empowerment Initiatives, Mental Health Association of Oregon, Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare, and others.
For more information about the Mental Health Association of Portland, visit www.mentalhealthportland.org
Building Momentum:
A Gathering of Organizers for a
Forum on
Economic Human Rights in Portland
Saturday, September 18th, 2010 from 10am to 2pm at
Portland State
University
Portland Hearing Voices Workshop at
10:30-11:30am
Join Social Welfare Action Alliance on Saturday, September 18th from 10am to 2pm at Portland State University for a series of workshops and presentations on local economic human rights organizing efforts. The purpose of this event is to support and build local efforts promoting economic human rights. Economic human rights, as named in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as Articles 23, 25, and 26, state all people?s right to such provisions as housing, health care, a living wage job, and education.
Portland Hearing Voices is participating by conducting a workshop on September 18th at 10:30-11:30am. Please come support Portland Hearing Voices and learn more about other participating organizations including SEIU, Iron Tribe, Urban League of Portland, CAUSA, Street Yoga, and Community Alliance of Tenants.
This forum is presented in support of Sisters Of The Road?s Peace Roots event beginning at 6:30pm that evening at the First Unitarian Church of Portland.
For more information and to let us know you are coming, please email SWAA at swaapdx@hotmail.com. Also, visit SWAA?s website at www.swaaportland.org for more details and the daily schedule.
Robert
Whitaker
Pulitzer Finalist Author of Anatomy of An
Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of
Mental Illness in America,
At Powell's Books
A
Special Benefit Lecture Sponsored by Portland Hearing Voices
Thursday, August 19, 2010
7:30 pm
Powells City of Books
Downtown
1005 W Burnside
Portland, OR
Thursday, August 19, 20107:30 pm
Powells City of Books Downtown
1005 W Burnside
Portland, OR
Download the flyer for the event here: www.portlandhearingvoices.net/files/ RobertWhitakerPowellsAug19.pdf
Video and Audio of Robert Whitaker in Portland here: http://www.madnessradio.net/robert- whitaker-anatomy-epidemic-powells-aug-2010-video-audio
Join Portland Hearing Voices at this special benefit lecture at Powell's featuring Robert Whitaker, Pullitzer finalist journalist and author of Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America.
How beneficial are psychiatric medications for depression, anxiety, bipolar, schizophrenia, and psychosis in the long term? What does the record of research actually show about drug effectiveness? Do medications reduce the rate of mental illness -- or fuel its dramatic rise? Are the adverse effects of medications often worse than the benefits? What can be done to change the current pharmaceutical driven regime of mental health care?
Pulitzer finalist and George Polk Award winning journalist Robert Whitaker's new book Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America recognizes the usefulness of medications for some people but reveals a consistent and disturbing pattern from half a century of medication effectiveness research: over the long term psychiatric drugs create far more serious problems than they first address.
Join Portland Hearing Voices in this benefit lecture at Powells as we take an honest look at what works and what does not work in medication policy and shine light on the disturbing human cost of a failed mental health system. Whitaker will be available to sign books at the event.
More info about Anatomy of An Epidemic at Robert Whitaker's website: www.madinamerica.com/.
About Portland Hearing Voices: Founded by
schizophrenia survivor Will Hall, Portland Hearing Voices organizes
support groups, educational events, training, and counseling resources
for people who experience voices, extreme states, visions, and different
realities often labeled as psychosis, bipolar, and schizophrenia.
(Fiscally sponsored by Mental Health Association of Portland.) www.portlandhearingvoices.net
"Medications & the Recovery Movement"
A Dialog for Consumers / Survivors / People with Mental Health
Diagnosis
and
Pulitzer Finalist Author
Robert Whitaker
Thursday August 19, 2010
9:30-11:30 am
Empowerment
Initiatives
3941 SE Hawthorne St.
Portland
Download the flyer for the event here: http://www. portlandhearingvoices.net/files/WhitakerConsumerSurvivorForumAug19-2010. pdf
Pulitzer finalist and George Polk Award winning journalist Robert Whitaker's new book Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America recognizes the usefulness of medications for some people but reveals a consistent and disturbing pattern from half a century of medication effectiveness research: over the long term psychiatric drugs create far more serious problems than they first address.
As people who take medications, have been hospitalized, have diagnoses of severe mental illnesses, and have experienced emotional crisis that gets called psychosis, how can consumers/survivors best support each other and build a strong and effective recovery movement while staying honest and truthful about the nature of psychiatric medications? What does Robert Whitaker's research have to teach us as a recovery movement? Join us for an open discussion with Robert Whitaker on this subject. (Consumer/survivors/people with mental health diagnoses are invited to this forum, and those without this experience are asked to take a role of listening and learning during this event.)
Sponsored by Portland Hearing Voices www.portlandhearingvoices.net, Empowerment Initiatives www.chooseempowerment.com, & Mental Health Association of Portland www.mentalhealthportland.org
About Portland Hearing Voices: Founded by
schizophrenia survivor Will Hall, Portland Hearing Voices organizes
support groups, educational events, training, and counseling resources
for people who experience voices, extreme states, visions, and different
realities often labeled as psychosis, bipolar, and schizophrenia.
(Fiscally sponsored by Mental Health Association of Portland.) www.portlandhearingvoices.net
"Ethical Psychiatric Medication Policy In Clinical
Settings"
Forum for Professionals and Providers
with Pulitzer
Finalist Author
Robert Whitaker
**2 CEU's Available for this event** (please arrive early)
Thursday August 19, 2010
2-4 pm
First Congregational Church
1126 Southwest Park Ave.
Portland
www.uccportland.org
Download the flyer for the event here: http://www. portlandhearingvoices.net/files/ WhitakerEthicalMedicationPolicyClinicalForumAug19-2010.pdf< /p>
Pulitzer finalist and George Polk Award winning journalist Robert Whitaker's new book Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America recognizes the usefulness of medications for some people but reveals a consistent and disturbing pattern from half a century of medication effectiveness research: over the long term psychiatric drugs create far more serious problems than they first address.
In an era of widespread overmedication, pharmaceutical company corruption, research bias, and coverups of drug risks, how should therapists, social workers, case managers, health practitioners, social agency staff and other professionals approach psychiatric medications? Can medication issues safely and ethically be left to doctors, or is there an urgent need for wider understanding about medications and efforts to change the way their are used? What is an ethical response to the confusing and complex situation with psychiatric medications today?
In this forum professionals involved in the policies and practices of clinical and social service settings are invited to learn from Whitaker's insightful research and develop sound approaches to medication, while articulating larger goals for institutional and policy level change.
Sponsored by Portland Hearing Voices www.portlandhearingvoices.net, Mental Health Association of Portland www.mentalhealthportland.org, and Oregon National Assocation of Social Workers (NASW) Mental Health Network http://nasworegon.orgAbout Portland Hearing Voices:
Founded by schizophrenia survivor Will Hall, Portland Hearing Voices
organizes support groups, educational events, training, and counseling
resources for people who experience voices, extreme states, visions, and
different realities often labeled as psychosis, bipolar, and
schizophrenia. (Fiscally sponsored by Mental Health Association of
Portland.) www.portlandhearingvoices.net
Poetry And Madness:
A Reading To Benefit
Portland Hearing Voices Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 7pm
Featuring
Emily Kendal Frey, Zachary Schomburg, James Gendron, and Sara Guest
reading
Someday Lounge 125 NW 5th Avenue (at Davis) Portland
Download the flyer / poster for the event here: www.portlandhearingvoices.net/files/Madness- PoetryJuly13SomedayLoungePHVoicesBenefit.pdf
$10 donation - no one turned away for lack of funds
Info - www.portlandhearingvoices.net, portlandhearingvoices(at)gmail.com
Listen to complete audio of the event courtesy of Kent Bye here: http://www. madnessradio.net/audio-extra/PoetryAndMadnessSomedayLoungeJuly13- 2010PDXVoices.mp3
Join Portland Hearing Voices for an evening of poetry featuring prominent poets, in a benefit reading for support groups, education, and community building for mental diversity in Portland.
Emily Kendal Frey, http://www.inknode.com/people/emilykendalfrey, lives in Portland, Oregon and teaches at Portland Community College. She is the author of Airport (Blue Hour 2009), Frances (Poor Claudia 2010), and The New Planet (Mindmade Books 2010).
Zachary Schomburg, http://lovelyarc.blogspot.com, is the author of The Man Suit (Black Ocean 2007), Scary, No Scary (Black Ocean 2009), and a dvd collection of poem-films, Little Blind Thing (Poor Claudia 2010). Three collaborative chapbooks co-written with Emily Kendal Frey have recently been published by Futuretense, Small Fires Press, and Cinematheque Press. With Mathias Svalina, he co-edits a small press, Octopus Books, and an online poetry magazine, Octopus Magazine. He teaches at Portland State University and Portland Community College.
Sara Guest is a poet, novelist and William Stafford Writing Fellow. She works as a program coordinator for Write Around Portland and is a Delve guide for Literary Arts. Recent work is available online at www.inknode.com and Sir! www.sir-magazine.org.
James Gendron, http://www. lafovea.org/La_Fovea/james_gendron.html, was born and raised in Portland, Maine. He was the Lou Reed/Delmore Schwartz Scholar at Syracuse University, and his poems have appeared in The Indiana Review and The Brooklyn Review.
About Portland Hearing Voices: Founded by schizophrenia survivor Will Hall, Portland Hearing Voices organizes support groups, educational events, holistic alternatives, training, and counseling resources for people who experience voices, extreme states, visions, and different realities often labeled as psychosis, bipolar, and schizophrenia. (Fiscally sponsored by Mental Health Association of Portland.) www.portlandhearingvoices.net.
Trauma Healing And Process Work
Research Discussion
on a Workshop-In-Progress
Monday April 19 2010
6:30 - 8:30
Process Work
Institute
2049 NW Hoyt St. Portland OR.
Free and Open to the Public
Co-Sponsored by Portland Hearing Voices and the Mental Health Association of Portland
Presented by Will Hall, Process Work diploma student & Director of Portland Hearing Voices
I recently returned from leading a 3-day training for 35 peer mental health workers in Alaska on healing emotional trauma. The training drew on my studies in somatic psychotherapy, process oriented psychology, meditation, and dance, as well as my own healing experience.My workshop was experimental and wove together basic ideas from trauma theory and process work into simple and useful tools. Please join me for a presentation about the training, and be part of a collaborative dialog on how to use Process Work concepts for teaching a broad audience about trauma.
This is a work in progress and your ideas will help us all learn how to teach about trauma healing.
Some of the elements of the Alaska workshop I'll present:
working with the felt sense in the body as a counterbalance to
dissociation
a somatic model of trauma based in the work of Peter
Levine and Pat Ogden
how this model converges with and differs from
process work
multiple levels of the brain as a way to understand
traumatic experience
intrusive memories as organismic attempts to
complete and resolve trapped traumatic energy
exploring how trauma
survivors lose the capacity to say "no"
supporting a congruent
"yes" in the person we are supporting
how to strengthen our sense
of grounding and resourcing in our bodies before we explore trauma
adding felt sense and grounding awareness to active listening skills in
helping others
contacting proprioceptive trauma memories creatively
to "melt" dissociation
using the 'magical helper' exercise without
retraumatizing or overwhelming
the force behind trauma pushing
transformation and new identity
Handouts, slides, and resources for the training are found on my website, http://www.willhall.net, especially books by Peter Levine, Judith Herman, and Pat Ogden, as well as Arnold Mindell.
Location: Process Work Institute, 2049 NW Hoyt St. Portland
The 23rd and Marshall Portland Streetcar stops at 21st St.; there are bus stops on the 15-Belmont and 17-Holgate lines.
Meditation Practice Day - Zen
Peacemaker Circle
Especially for People With Extreme States /
Experience of Psychosis (bipolar, schizophrenia, etc - everyone is
welcome)
with Ed Daigu Knight & Will Hall
Saturday, April 10, 2010 10am-3pm
$50 donation - deli lunch
included
(no one turned away for lack of funds)
The Grotto Conference Center
8840 NE Skidmore
Portland,OR
97294
Directions: http://www.
thegrotto.org/index.php/about-us/location/
Dowload event flyer: www.portlandhearingvoices.net/files/ April10MeditationDayEdKnight.pdf
Pre-registration is optional, but we recommend it to hold your place. Email portlandhearingvoices(at)gmail.com or 413.210.2803
contact:
Portland Hearing Voices
portlandhearingvoices(at)gmail.com
413-210-2803
www.portlandhearingvoices.net
Join Ed Daigu Knight and Will Hall for a day of sitting and walking meditation and contemplation practice -- especially for people who have had extreme states of consciousness diagnosed as psychosis, bipolar, schizophrenia, and other labels (everyone is welcome).
How are "crazy" minds also part of the spiritual path? Is there wisdom in our madness? Meditation can show us the true nature of our minds. Join us as we embrace the depths of who we are and honor what we have been through as survivors of extreme states of consciousness.
The day will consist of sitting meditation (chairs available), walking meditation, dharma talks led by Ed Daigu Knight, and group reflection. Our location is the beautiful Grotto Retreat in Portland, a wonderful place to begin the spring.
Be part of this historic event. No meditation practice day has ever been offered especially for people who have experienced psychosis. (Many retreats do not welcome such people.) So join us for this innovative opportunity to affirm our paths as meditators.
Ed Daigu Knight is dually labeled with "schizophrenia" and alcoholism, the Steward of The Healing Circle, a Zen Peacemaker Circle, and a Senior in the Buddhist Zen Peacemaker Sangha. A widely recognized researcher and teacher in "mental illness" recovery and mutual support, Ed is Vice President of Recovery, Rehabilitation and Mutual Support at Valueoptions, as well as a mentor in the Prison Dharma Network. www.professored.com
Will Hall is labeled with "schizophrenia" and his advocacy work includes Portland Hearing Voices, Mental Disability Rights International, The Icarus Project, and hosting Madness Radio, heard on KBOO FM. A longtime meditator and yoga practitioner, Will is currently studying Process Oriented Psychology. Will was featured in the Newsweek magazine article "Listening to Madness." www.willhall.net
About Portland Hearing Voices: Founded by schizophrenia survivor Will Hall, Portland Hearing Voices organizes support groups, educational events, holistic alternatives, training, and counseling resources for people who experience voices, extreme states, visions, and different realities often labeled as psychosis, bipolar, and schizophrenia. (Fiscally sponsored by Mental Health Association of Portland.) www.portlandhearingvoices.net.
Directions: http://www. thegrotto.org/index.php/about-us/location/
Map:
View Larger
Map
Falling In Love With Portland...
Is Our Hometown As
Diverse As We Want It To Be?
A Community Open Forum on
Diversity in Portland
Sunday, February 14th, 2010 7-9pm
This event is free and open to All.
Is Green Portland a final destination or a train stop to a truly diverse Portland? Who cares for a diverse Portland? Please join us for a two hour Open Forum. Listen and speak on how you as an individual or your community want and need more inclusion in our hometown.
Read
the full description and get more information here: http://bit.ly/91Yau5.
Mental Illness Or Spiritual Awakening?
New
Visions of Mind and Crisis
with
Ed Knight and
Will
Hall
Wednesday, November 18th 2009, 6pm-8:30pm
Bamboo Grove Salon (www.bamboogrovesalon.com)
134 SE Taylor (on 2nd street between SE taylor and SE Salmon), Portland OR - Map-http://snipurl.com/ bamboogrovemap
$8-$15 donation (no one turned away) benefits Portland Hearing Voices
Physical mobility accessible; call with other access needs.
Download the flyer for printing and distributing here
Info: Portland Hearing Voices 413 210 2803, portlandhearingvoices@gmail.com, www.portlandhearingvoices. net
Two spiritual practitioners diagnosed with schizophrenia ask, Is "mental illness" spiritual? How does trauma relate to enlightenment? What do Eastern religious traditions tell us about madness? Are there holistic treatment alternatives? Can we acknowledge spirit without romanticizing crisis?
Join us for a presentation and discussion to discover new perspectives in mental health.
With:
Ed Knight is dually diagnosed with schizophrenia and alcoholism, the Steward of The Healing Circle, a Zen Peacemaker Circle, and a Senior in the Buddhist Zen Peacemaker Sangha. A widely recognized researcher and teacher in mental illness recovery and mutual support, Ed is Vice President of Recovery, Rehabilitation and Mutual Support at Valueoptions, as well as a mentor in the Prison Dharma Network. www.professored.com
Will Hall is diagnosed with schizophrenia and his advocacy work includes Portland Hearing Voices, Mental Disability Rights International, The Icarus Project, and hosting Madness Radio, heard on KBOO FM. A longtime meditator and yoga practitioner, Will is currently studying Process Oriented Psychology. Will was featured in the Newsweek magazine article "Listening to Madness." www.willhall.net
Tendremos una mini-presentacion en espanol para participantes hispanohablantes.
Radio interviews with Ed Knight and Will Hall here:
http://www.madnessradio.net/madness-radio-buddhist-meditation-and-
schizophrenia-ed-knight
http://www.madnessradio.net/madness-radio-2004-04-14-ed-knight-recovery-
and-transformation
About Portland Hearing Voices:
Founded by
schizophrenia survivor Will Hall, Portland Hearing Voices organizes
support groups, educational events, holistic alternatives, training, and
counseling resources for people who experience voices, visions, and
different realities often labeled as mental disorders. (Fiscally
sponsored by Mental Health Association of Portland.)
www.portlandhearingvoices.net.
Co-sponsored by: Portland Hearing Voices
(www.portlandhearingvoices.net)
and
Mental Health Association
of Portland (www.mentalhealthportland.org)
Mental Health
Association of Oregon (www.mhaoforegon.com)
ValueOptions
(www.valueoptions.com)
Great Vow Zen Monastery
(www.greatvow.org)
Portland Evolver
(http://evolver.net/group/evolver_portland)
Portland Padmasambhava
Buddhist Center (anitad335@aol.com)
Process Work Institute
(www.processwork.org)
Music Benefit for Mental Diversity at Backspace June 11th 2009 Thursday 8pm!
On Thursday, June 11, 8pm join Portland Hearing Voices at a Launch Celebration Music Show at Backspace (115 NW 5th Ave/Couch in Portland)!
At the benefit show you'll have a chance to listen to some great local music, learn more about Portland Hearing Voices, discover a little about voice-hearing and non-ordinary sensory experiences, raise some seed money to get us off the ground -- and have some fun!
Come hear performers The Reed Sea, Reclinerland, and Gavin Castleton -- sweet and soulful musicians. Listen at their websites, and thanks to their generosity in performing for mental diversity in Portland:
The Reed Sea http://www.thereedsea.com/
Reclinerland: http://www.myspace.com/ reclinerland
Gavin Castleton http://www.myspace.com/ gavincastleton
Please spread the word and join us June 11th at 8pm at Backspace (115 NW 5th Ave)! We're asking $5-15 at the door (our policy is that no one will ever be turned away for lack of funds). We also need a couple of volunteers to help with event logistics, and we really want you to invite your friends, colleagues, and community to come as well - word of mouth is key.
A wonderful opportunity to hear some great music, hang out, and connect.
Portland Hearing Voices is a new education and support effort to promote mental diversity. We create public education, discussion groups, and other community support related to hearing voices, seeing visions, and having unusual beliefs and sensory experiences. Portland Hearing Voices aims to reduce fear and misunderstanding, question stereotypes, overcome isolation, and create a more inclusive and supportive community. Check out http://www.portlandhearingvoices.net for more information, to join our Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Hearing Voices Video and Discussion:
Public Screening of "Hearing Voices" Documentary and Discussion of
New Educational Project
Tuesday, March 31 2009 6-7:45pm
Downtown Multnomah
County Public library meeting room
801 S.W. 10th Avenue @
Yamhill
Portland, Oregon
contact:
Portland Hearing Voices
portlandhearingvoices@gmail.com
413-210-2803
www.portlandhearingvoices.net
On Tuesday, March 31 2009 at 6pm the hour-long BBC documentary video "Hearing Voices" will be screened at the downtown Multnomah County library in Portland, at 801 S.W. 10th Avenue. The 1995 documentary interviews a number of voice hearers and presents many different points of view on this little-understood phenomenon. The video will be followed by a community discussion.
A small percentage of people hear voices no one else hears and have other unusual sensory experiences. Sometimes these voices and sensations can be painful and terrifying, but sometimes they are creative and even spiritual. Throughout history the mysterious meaning of hearing voices has defied any final explanation.
What is it like to hear voices and have unusual sensory experiences? How do people learn to live with their voices? Are voices always part of pathology and disorder, or are they related to sensitivity and creativity or have other meaning? How are Hearing Voices Groups in England and Europe providing ways for voice-hearers to gain greater control of their lives?
This event is sponsored by Portland Hearing Voices, a new community learning partnership dedicated to education around hearing voices, unusual sensory experiences, and mental diversity. The discussion will be led by Will Hall, a voice hearer diagnosed with schizophrenia and the program director of Portland Hearing Voices.
This event is free and open to the public, on public transit, and wheelchair accessible. Because of chemical sensitivities, please do not wear scented body products.
For information, contact
Jess Jinkies, Outreach Director
Portland Hearing Voices
portlandhearingvoices@gmail.com
413.210.2803
www.portlandhearingvoices.net
Please consider emailing and contacting your friends and colleagues to invite them to the showing, and putting up a notice in your community or workplace. You can find the press release for the event here, and the poster/flyer here.