Blacks in the UK are much more likely than white people to be locked up, put on drugs, and mistreated in the mental health system. Social scientist Philip Morgan of London's Tower Hamlets African and Caribbean Mental Health Organization (THACMHO) discusses the legacy of slavery, survivor-run advocacy for system change, and an innovative project reclaiming Black identity through historical research. www.thacmho.org.uk

Internationally known advocate, psychiatric abuse survivor organizer, and clinical psychologist Ronald Bassman discusses and reads from his new book, A Fight To Be: A Psychologist's Experience From Both Sides of the Locked Door. Ron was diagnosed "paranoid schizophrenic" and left in back wards as a "chronic case," but has gone on to become a leader in the recovery movement and an inspiring teacher and therapist. www.ronaldbassman.com

Queer writer, educator, and Icarus Project organizer Jessica Max Stein talks about homophobia, mental health, and our broken educational system. She recently won an award from Poets & Writers magazine, and had a poem published in the Sun magazine. She reads from her 'zines Mad Love and Long Walk Back To Myself.

Capetown South Africa survivor activist Moosa Salie talks about mental health organizing in Africa and beyond, and work to establish the Ubuntu Center for alternative support. Check out Moosa's blog and the World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry at www.wnusp.net.

Psychiatric abuse survivor and human rights activist Celia Brown discusses working for change in the mental health system, including her ownn experiences and creating 'supported decision-making' for people in distress. Celia is President of Mindfreedom International and a board member of the National Association of Rights Advocacy and Protection. www.mindfreedom.org www.narpa.org

Two interviews on psychiatric abuse: Angela Bischoff's husband Tooker Gomberg died in a suicide after taking anti-depressants; both were prominent Toronto environmental and peace activists. Wayne Lax survived 80 shock treatments and multiple hospitalizations over thirty years. Today both Angela and Wayne are waging campaigns to reform the mental health system. www.greenspiration.org

After James Chasse, a man with a schizophrenia diagnosis, was killed by Portland police in 2006, reforms included improved police training. Julie Diamond discusses efforts to help teach police better de-escalation and conflict resolution techniques as an alternative to force and violence. Check out www.mentalhealthportland.org, www.juliediamond.net, and another audio interview with Julie at http://www.katejobe.com/podcast.html.

Various survivor organisations are working on an international basis for the world-wide abolishment of ECT. Following the debate in Outsideren, this article looks at some of their arguments, background and motivation.

Latin America Program Director Alison Hillman of Mental Disability Rights International talks with Will Hall in Buenos Aires Argentina about the campaign to reform the country's brutally abusive mental health system, and the work she and Will have been doing with the Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales to support the emergence of the user/survivor movement. Check www.mdri.org and www.cels.org.ar.

Freedom Center co-founder Oryx Cohen talks about how men can recover and heal from trauma, and creating a trauma-informed mental health system. Oryx also discusses the creation of the new Recovery Learning Community in Western MA.