Mental Health Resistance Network - Protesting Cuts and Coercion

[Red Cat]

Try not to let the thread be disrupted.

I've just had an email from some politically active psychotherapists about this, I hope it's well attended.

 

[ManchesterBeth]

Thanks for the tag MadeInBedlam

Unfortunately at such short notice and at such an early time with my physical needs I don't think I'll be able to make it. i will try and see if i can and failing that i will pass this onto comrades in London.

 

[ManchesterBeth]

Thanks for the invite but not going to be able to join you.

Is there a fighting fund or similar? would be happy to bung a few quid in.

yes, this. Also keep us informed abt further developments.

 

[Shechemite]

Thanks for the invite but not going to be able to join you.

Is there a fighting fund or similar? would be happy to bung a few quid in.

yes, this. Also keep us informed abt further developments.

If people are able to donate money, could you put it towards the crowdfunding my friend is having to resort to to get legal representation in order to get answers over her brothers death.

Tim was failed in his Mental Health Care: help us get #Answers4Tim

 

[Shechemite]

Cheers ACG!

 

[Shechemite]

TOMORROW!

 

[Shechemite]

And thanks to charlie mowbray for helping get the word out!

 

[iona]

I've got a hospital apt so can't be there but good luck today.

 

[charlie mowbray]

Had to have flu jab at 9am so get there late, only 4 people there but was told there had been 20 plus. Good turnout for that hour and that weather

 

[justin credible]

WeDemand


Mental Health Resistance Network


Our Agenda, not your agenda


We Demand …



The provision of alternative treatments such as Open Dialogue, Hearing Voices Networks and holistic therapies.



Talking therapies that are trauma informed to be freely available.

Apologies for the late reply

I have only just seen this

I agree with some of your aims however I just would like a little clarity about a couple of things

I am not sure what you mean by "trauma informed" talking therapies. Can you please provide some more information? I have experienced significant trauma myself but also been on the receiving end of appalling quackery of the talking cure variety that was defined as "trauma informed", so this is a subject close to my heart.

Also do you have an idea about what would and would not be included in your list of acceptable / recommended holistic therapies. I would be interested to know whether there are any holistic therapies that you would not recommend?

Also while I think that it is important to consult with service users I am not sure that service users are always the best people to advise on the commissioning of MH services. I have direct personal experience of why this can be the case. Specifically I am concerned about vulnerable people being referred to quacks and charlatans.

So if, say, a group of service users recommended the following holistic therapies as useful, do you think that they should be referred to such services?

1. Innersound AKA Ki Health AKA Qi Wellness AKA various other names (they change the name of their organisation with great frequency)
Here are some links about them if you are unfamiliar with them
Is "Ki Health [aka Innersound, Qi Wellness...]run by Criminals"?
Master Oh, Harley Street guru who treats cancer patients with BELCHING | Daily Mail Online

2. 3HO (lots of alias names) extremely controversial kundalini yoga organisation founded by the late Yogi Bhajan
links
My Experience in a 3HO Boiler Room
Gurujot Singh Marijuana and Machine Guns
AFFIDAVIT OF RICHARD OFSHE, Ph,D, regarding 3HO

3 Self Realization Meditation Healing Centre -Mata Yogananda Mahasaya Dhama aka Rena Denton
link to other links
Cult Education Institute :: Group Information Archives

I am asking about these organisations specifically as all of them have been recommended to me by publicly funded MH charities and organisations and all of them have an extremely controversial history including allegations of abuses again vulnerable people.

eta

Please don't think I am having a go at you personally I really am not. I am just appalled at how money is being diverted from essential mental health services and into cults, quacks and charlatans. When I have asked charities and community groups (most of whom are funded at least in part by the state or the NHS) why they are funding projects that put vulnerable people at risk of exploitation I have been told that they are simply taking advice from service users as to what they have found helpful.

Obviously with cults, this is problematic as they do help people to fell better, at least in the short term. Long term things get abusive.

If you view mental health as as important as physical health surely we should use the same, evidence based, peer reviewed criteria for referring people. Messing around with someone's mind can be even more harmful than messing with their body, or so it seems to me.

 

[justin credible]

Just for clarity

here is just a little taste of the kind of thing I am concerned about (emphasis mine)

July - September 2017

Mind in Camden’s Wellbeing & Recovery Service

We all have the right to define our own experiences, map our own course through life, participate in the things
we love and share these with others. Sometimes our mental health and difficult life experiences can make this
more of a challenge. Our Phoenix Wellbeing & Recovery Service is here to help. We offer a range of different
options so that you can create a recovery plan that works for you. To join - please call or email first.
Find Us: Barnes House, 9-15 Camden Road, London NW1 9LQ
T: 0207 911 0822 / 0207 241 8973 | E: [email protected] | W: www.mindincamden.org.uk


THURSDAY
10.30am Support Space Opens
11.00-1.00pm Qi Wellness Treatments
Massage to develop the body’s capacity for self
healing @ Piano Room (fortnightly)

Mind in Camden’s Wellbeing & Recovery Service July - September 2017

Any thoughts on this Made in Bedlam?

eta

For those who find the longer links in my previous post too long to read, here's a shorter, first person account of abuse by Qi Wellness

Qi Wellness, London based money-grabbing cult run by Korean criminals

 

[justin credible]

Made in Bedlam

You have been posting on other threads, you claim to be an activist who is concerned about abuses of vulnerable people.

Any chance you could have a go at answering some of my questions? Vulnerable people are being abused in significant numbers. This is important. Please reply.

 

[Shechemite]

Sorry I’m ill

 

[Shechemite]

What specifically do you want me to do?

 

[justin credible]

Thanks for letting me know
I look forward to hearing from you when you are better

 

[Shechemite]

Made in Bedlam

You have been posting on other threads, you claim to be an activist who is concerned about abuses of vulnerable people.

Any chance you could have a go at answering some of my questions? Vulnerable people are being abused in significant numbers. This is important. Please reply.

And to be very clear - I am not an ‘activist’, I am a mental patient

 

[justin credible]

A reply to the issues I addressed earlier would be helpful

I will repost them:

1. I am not sure what you mean by "trauma informed" talking therapies. Can you please provide some more information? I have experienced significant trauma myself but also been on the receiving end of appalling quackery of the talking cure variety that was defined as "trauma informed", so this is a subject close to my heart.

So basically, when you talk about "trauma informed" talking therapies I am specifically looking for your opinion of what constitutes good practice, and details of any websites, organisations and even therapists who you believe fit the "trauma informed" criteria.

2. Also do you have an idea about what would and would not be included in your list of acceptable / recommended holistic therapies. I would be interested to know whether there are any holistic therapies that you would not recommend?

self explanatory really

Wait until you are better if you need to obviously

 

[Chilli.s]

Get well soon.

edit: Ment in a kind way not a flippant patronising way. Hope is ok.

 

[justin credible]

And to be very clear - I am not an ‘activist’, I am a mental patient

Apologies, it's just that I noticed that you were posting posts of links to various activism events. Nothing wrong with being an activist anyway. I am an activist FWIW.

Your OP links to something called the Mental Health Resistance Network
Mental Health Resistance Network - Protesting Cuts and Coercion

I have noticed you post lots of posts about abuses within the MH system.

If you don't want to answer my questions it's OK but as you have been posting links making various demands about MH services I thought you might have an opinion of those demands, thus my questions.

Hope that makes sense

 

[justin credible]

Don't worry about replying if it makes you feel uncomfortable

I will do some further research on the Mental Health Resistance Network

I think it likely that we share a lot of concerns anyway but that there are some specific areas that are quite sensitive that I need to address with the Mental Health Resistance Network themselves or with other organisations.

 

[Shechemite]

Apologies, it's just that I noticed that you were posting posts of links to various activism events. Nothing wrong with being an activist anyway. I am an activist FWIW.

Your OP links to something called the Mental Health Resistance Network
Mental Health Resistance Network - Protesting Cuts and Coercion

I have noticed you post lots of posts about abuses within the MH system.

If you don't want to answer my questions it's OK but as you have been posting links making various demands about MH services I thought you might have an opinion of those demands, thus my questions.

Hope that makes sense

Probably worth bringing up now (didn’t want to get into a slanging match so didn’t bring it up at the time) that I parted company with MHRN in December over their tolerance of racism.

As it happens as an individual I am not keen on ‘trauma informed’ stuff. The MHRN document was (to an extent) a collective document

 

[Shechemite]

I think your questions are useful justin credible , but for several reasons I’m not in the right place to give you a considered answer

 

[Shechemite]

I think there’s all sorts of problems in ‘mental health activism’. It is however very difficult to discuss those problems - which is itself a massive problem.

 

[justin credible]

Probably worth bringing up now (didn’t want to get into a slanging match so didn’t bring it up at the time) that I parted company with MHRN in December over their tolerance of racism.

As it happens as an individual I am not keen on ‘trauma informed’ stuff. The MHRN document was (to an extent) a collective document

I share your concerns about racist movements infiltrating grass roots activist organisations. I am not very familiar with the MHRN but am unsurprised by your concerns and respect to you for standing up to racism and parting ways with the MHRN.

Thanks for your clarification re "trauma informed" issues, I appreciate it.

There are all sort of problems with MH activism it is true, astroturfing being one of the most serious.

I very much appreciate your replies and I apologise if I came across as demanding. I am simply extremely concerned about MH activism being appropriated by sinister forces and vulnerable people being abused.

Thanks again and I hope you feel better soon.

Sending you some love and respect.

 

[Shechemite]

Thanks