The 2008 International Recovery Perspectives Conference - Action On Alternatives -Critical and Creative Exploration of Leading Edge Approaches in Mental Health Recovery was held in Toronto Canada June 5-7 . The powerful event brought together more than 300 survivors, professionals, family members and others involved in helping people through extreme states of emotional distress.
The International Network Toward Alternatives and Recovery is an international summit of world renowned survivor leaders, psychiatrists, psychologists, family members, and other mental health professionals who meet annually to counter the belief that people with diagnoses such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder can never completely recover.
INTAR believes that the dignity and autonomy of the person in crisis are of the utmost importance, that full recovery from distressing/altered mental states is possible, and that these two convictions should shape the social response. For these reasons, we find established psychiatry and public mental health systems in which many of us work, seek (or have been forced to seek) treatment (for ourselves or our loved ones) and do research, to be deficient. Instead, we seek, and some of us provide, alternative settings where people in crisis can find the care, connectedness, respect, and interventions they need and elect to use. Our backgrounds range widely, from peer/user organizing to biomedicine and psychoanalytic training to Eastern meditative disciplines to family advocacy to academic research. But we are, each of us, committed to building safe spaces and positive relationships, wherein the ordeal presented by extreme states of mind can be met with proven
tools and seasoned presence. This includes people who have been through it before and know how to offer the steadfast support needed. As an international network, we undertake to document the effectiveness of such alternatives, to refine and expand their use, and to make them more accessible to people who need them.
Listen to this hour-long audio documentary about INTAR interviewing 13 participants at the 2005 Killarney Ireland gathering. Produced by survivor-advocate Will Hall of www.MadnessRadio.net. You can also download the audio file directly.
INTAR is a labor of love bringing together professionals, advocates, and survivors from around the world. To continue this innovative work we need your support. To make a tax-deductible donation, please email Norma Friedman NSFriedman AT aol DOT com. Thanks!
The 2008 International Recovery Perspectives Conference - Action On Alternatives - Critical and Creative Exploration of Leading Edge Approaches in Mental Health Recovery was held in Toronto Canada June 5-7 . The powerful event brought together more than 300 survivors, professionals, family members and others involved in helping people through extreme states of emotional distress.
INTAR is a labor of love bringing together professionals, advocates, and survivors from around the world. To continue this innovative work we need your support. To make a tax-deductible donation, please email Norma Friedman NSFriedman AT aol DOT com. Thanks!
