Freedom Center is going strong!

After more than 9 years of fast-paced activism focus, Freedom Center is going strong -- and evolving. We're concentrating on our community support and wellness programs these days: support groups, yoga, writing, and acupuncture. We're also continuing to co-sponsor Madness Radio and we collaborate with the Recovery Learning Community and the Statewide Harm Reduction Coalition.

Freedom Center launches a new reading/writing group!

Every other Wednesday (On the schedule of 8/18, 9/1, 9/15, 9/29 etc etc...)
7pm 43 Center St Northampton Ma (use side door)


The reading/writing group is a group to complement the Freedom Center's support group that will provide a more open, less crisis-oriented space to work through individuals' concerns and ideas on mental health, everyday life, relevant political issues, etc. in a collective and supportive way.

Thank you Judi Chamberlin for all your inspiration, your years of friendship and support for Freedom Center, and the inspiration you have given the survivor movement.

Judi passed away. She recently wrote:

I don't believe in an afterlife; I think when I die it will just be a return to the same nothingness as before my birth. I believe that the only 'afterlife' is the way one lives on in people's memories, and it has been so gratifying to me to hear from so many people who appreciate the work I've done and the positive effect I've had on their lives. So I feel confident that I will live on in the memories of many, many people, and that thought gives me great comfort.

http://www.freedom-center.org/we-love-you-judi-chamberlin

http://knowledgeisnecessity.blogspot.com/2010/01/judi-chamerlin-requiem-for-hero.html

I'm Leah Harris, co-coordinator of the U.S. Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (USNUSP), a newly-formed network seeking to use the language, framework, and principles of international human rights to end violations against users and survivors of psychiatry and to promote voluntary and compassionate alternatives to the traditional mental health system.

The Somatics' Institute, the yoga space that we were paying rent on, has generously offered to give us the space for free! We also found a new yoga instructor, Sally Morgan who is also a crainosacral therapist to take over the Monday night class. So join us mondays at 7pm. Hope to see you there!

A blog article by former Boston Globe health journalist and _Side Effects_ author Alison Bass profiles the Freedom Center & Caty Simon. Fairly accurate, and yay coverage, and yay Alison Bass.
http://alison-bass.blogspot.com/2009/06/freedom-center-alternative-to.html

We have recently received over $1000 worth of donations! We have so much gratiude for the people keeping us going right now! Yet, The Freedom Center is still in a semi-urgent place. In several months we will be receiving our annual grant of $2,500 from the city of Northampton that will help us  maintain our programs and we may currently re-applying for our annual grant from the Resist foundation. Right now however, we do not have  much in our bank account. Head to our Donation page or go to our Cause on Facebook to make a tax-deductible donation: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/288347

Newsweek magazine just did a big story on Mad Pride and The Icarus Project, profiling Freedom Center co-founder Will Hall.

Check it out on the Newsweek site here; view a .pdf of the magazine here; and you can also take a look at the art gallery they put together here. And feel free to leave comments and join the discussion on the Newsweek site.

Yet again, the city of northampton has recognized the valuable services that Freedom Center has provided and has given the Freedom Center additional funding to keep our programs going. The city of Northampton awarded the Freedom Center $2,500 towards helping to maintain our weekly writing group, acupuncture clinic, yoga classes, and support group. All of these programs take place in Northampton and are free and open to the public and therefore provide lots of benefit to northampton residents.

The solicitation ordinance, which if passed would have de facto criminalized panhandling in most of downtown Northampton, has been withdrawn by the mayor's office & the police department from the Northampton city council'sconsideration and is "tabled indefinitely".

The Harm Reduction Guide to Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs, published by The Icarus Project and Freedom Center, is now available in spanish - thanks to the dedicated translation work of Agustina Vidal from Buenos Aires Argentina.

Discontinuación del Uso de Drogas Psiquiátricas: Una Guía Basada en la Reducción del Daño, publicado por The Icarus Project y Freedom Center, ha sido traducida al castellano por Agustina Vidal desde Buenos Aires Argentina, miembro de la Asamblea permanente de usuarios del sistema de salud mental.

You can download the guide free online. Puedes decargarla de forma gratuita.

Go to the Icarus ProjectResources section to download and read the Guide in spanish.

Vísite la página en Recursos en el Icarus Project para bajar y leer la Guía.

John Brodie was a Vermont man who died in an encounter with Brattleboro police in 2006 after neighbors called 9-11. At 36, John was already a Princeton PhD and world-reknowned physicist widely published in scientific journals. He was also a psychiatric abuse survivor, whose non-ordinary mental states were repeatedly met with force in hospitals. On the night of his death, he was not violent or suicidal, but was behaving in a strange way -- knocking on doors at 11pm. Confused neighbors called the police, which escalated a harmless situation into a tragedy. John ran away, terrified of the police, and went into the freezing river.

John's close friend Inez Kochius, a longtime Freedom Center supporter, was working with Freedom Center to try to support and care for John in the months before this tragic event cut John's life short. Inez shares her thoughts and feelings three years afterwards, in a society that has still not learned basic lessons of kindness towards mental difference.

Inez writes "To me John did not accidentally drown, he was driven into the water -- by all of us."

Read the Rutland Herald story about John Brodie.

Go to the Freedom Center page for more about John.

(drawing below by Charlotte Clarke)

Here is some recent coverage of the latest PINAC (*Poverty Is Not A Crime) campaign against the anti-panhandling ordinance put forth by the "Downtown Northampton Business Improvement District". Freedom Center's Caty Simon is referenced in each article. It seems that we actually made a difference on this one!

Check out the Poverty Is Not A Crime campaign page here

The widely read Yoga Journal magazine, available across the US, recently had an article about Freedom Center's weekly yoga class, quoting teacher Chaya Grossberg and FC co-founder Oryx Cohen. Download and read the article here.

The Hampshire Daily Gazette just did a 10-17-08 story on the proposed panhandling law in Northampton that Freedom Center opposes, and quotes Caty Simon from Freedom Center speaking at a recent protest and City Council meeting:

"It's clear that this legislation does, de facto, criminalize panhandling, if not in the letter of the law, then in the spirit," said Catherine Simon, reading from a prepared statement at a recent council meeting....

Simon, meanwhile, said the homeless and the poor are already the victims of economic violence.

"These homeless people are surviving the best they know how," she said. "Meanwhile, those who wish to stop panhandling do not have altruistic goals in mind - the businesses of Main Street and the politicians that support them would simply like to clear the streets for the tourist trade."

http://www.gazettenet.com/2008/10/17/panhandling-law-looms-northampton-questions-arise

Read more about the campaign here.

Forbes, a leading international business magazine, has chosen the Northampton, MA based Freedom Center, an alternative mental health organization run by and for people diagnosed with psychiatric disorders, to be featured as their charity of the month in September.

Check it out on their website:

www.forbes.com/2008/08/28/mentalhealth-schizophrenia-pf-philo-in_rm_0829philanthropy_inl.html

snipurl/forbesfreedomcenter

read the Gazette article about Forbes and our party

Freedom Center relies on the donations and volunteer energy of many people near and far to keep our innovative wellness and advocacy programs going. We have been supported by individual donors, small grants, and limited support from the City of Northampton Community Development Block Grant and Resist, Inc., but we receive no money from pharmaceutical companies.

We need your help to continue our important work!

You can make a tax-deductible donation by clicking the Donate Online button above. It will take you to a secure credit card donation page on Pay Pal for making your donation.  You can also make checks payable to Freedom Center/CHOICES and mail to Freedom Center, P.O. Box 623, Northampton, MA 01061. or go to our Cause on Facebook to make a tax-deductible donation: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/288347

All donations are tax-deductible. Our tax information is Freedom Center/CHOICES Inc., EIN= 75-3149780.

Thanks for helping make Freedom Center grow and flourish!