In 1987, Prof. Mary Durham testified before the Pennsylvania Legislature about a five-year study in Washington state after Washington broadened its commitment laws in 1979. The result was a disaster. Click here for the testimony.
How Advocates Toppled a Kenneth Cole Billboard
On September 2, 2015, Doris Schwartz saw a Kenneth Cole billboard on the Henry Hudson Parkway in NYC that promoted prejudice and discrimination by perpetuating the false link between gun violence and mental health conditions. She quickly went into action! This is the story of how the advocacy community rose to the occasion and brought down the billboard! Click here.
Consumers United for Evidence-Based Healthcare
Consumers United for Evidence-based Healthcare (CUE) is a national coalition of health and consumer advocacy organizations committed to empowering consumers to make the best use of evidence-based healthcare (EBHC). CUE, organized in 2003 when the USCC invited advocacy groups to join a consumer advocate-scientist partnership, is a pioneering effort to improve consumers' ability to engage in and demand high quality healthcare.
Making Your Voice Heard: Communicating Your Message Through the Media
Acquire the ABCs of combating discrimination and prejudice via the media! Learn how to do damage control; to write an effective press release, op ed, and letter to the editor; to organize media events; what you should – and should NEVER – do in an interview; and more! Audience participation is welcome.
Susan Rogers' presentation at Alternatives 2013
The Power of Peers: How to Advocate Effectively on the Individual and Systems Level
With advocacy skills, individuals with lived experience of mental health conditions can protect their own and others’ rights, combat discrimination and prejudice, and become catalysts for systems change. This presentation, by a longtime national leader of the consumer/survivor/ex-patient (c/s/x) movement for social justice, will cover self-advocacy and systems advocacy skills.
Joseph Rogers' presentation at Alternatives 2013 - December 4, 2013
"Paving New Ground: Peers Working in In-Patient Settings"
By Gayle Bluebird, National Consumer Survivor Consultant
Supported by the National Technical Assistance Center, National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD)
http://www.nasmhpd.org/docs/publications/docs/2008/Bluebird%20Guidebook%20FINAL%202-08.pdf
The Art of Advocacy: Making Things Happen in Your Life, Your Community and Your State
This presentation, at the statewide Wyoming consumer conference in Casper, WY, on May 18, 2013, covered the need for advocacy on a personal and a systemic level, some of the rich history of the consumer/survivor/ex-patient movement, and information about becoming an effective advocate.
Advocacy and Rights: History and Practice
By learning to protect their own rights and assert their own preferences, individuals with lived experience of mental health conditions can combat discrimination and inadequate or harmful treatment – and they can move past self-advocacy to become catalysts for change on the local, statewide and national levels. This presentation will focus on systems advocacy skills in the context of the consumer/survivor/ex-patient (c/s/x) movement for social justice.
Power Point presentation by Susan Rogers, Director, The National Mental Health Consumers' Self-Help Clearinghouse. Presented at the DCRC Conference, May 10, 2013.
Cultivating Leadership to Effect Change
“Cultivating Leadership to Effect Change,” a keynote presentation by Joseph Rogers at the Pennsylvania Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services conference, presented April 25, 2013. “The current environment demands that all of us – service providers, peers and service recipients, professionals, administrators, and citizen advocates – raise our voices to effect the change that is so vitally needed in the behavioral health arena. This keynote presentation covers how to cultivate the leaders among us, and will issue a call to action."
Advocacy Tools
From Families USA: The Voice for Health Care Consumers.
Office for Civil Rights: Fact Sheets
List of fact sheets provided by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights that explain consumers rights to receive services and benefits in programs and activities funded by HHS, without facing unlawful discrimination. Includes fact sheets on Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/civilrights/resources/factsheets/index.html
NAMI Child & Adolescent Action Center
Project of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill that focuses on improving the lives of children and adolescents with serious mental illness and their families. Includes research, services locations, federal/state policy & legislation, and more.
Medical Self Advocacy
Advice for mental health consumers seeking to advocate for their own health care.
Speaking Out for Yourself: A Self-Help Guide
A guide to effective self-advocacy published by SAMHSA.
Advocacy 101: Getting Started
Publication for the Mental Health America Mission Kit Series. This guide is directed to individuals working at affiliates of Mental Health America, but may useful to all who are interested in mental health advocacy.
http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/action/Advocacy_Guide.pdf
DBSA Advocacy Center
Advocacy information and tools provided by the Depression Bipolar Support Alliance. Includes public policy & testimony, information on fighting stigma, and health care reform.
http://www.dbsalliance.org/site/PageServer?pagename=help_advocate_mental_health
The Change Agent's Tool Box
The Change Agent's Tool Box is an eight-part series promoting integration across service systems to meet the needs of persons with co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse disorders, and consumers with multiple needs. Click on "2000" to download.
http://www.nasmhpd.org/Publications/ArchivedPublications.aspx