Category: Lecture Notes

Components: Toronto – Self-Guided

Components: Toronto – Self-Guided Timing: 45 Minutes Mode: In-class; Online The following texts and sets of audio commentaries and primary historical documents allow students to investigate the ideas and policies behind deinstitutionalization in Ontario, with a particular focus on Toronto. These self-guided resources are well suited for flipped classroom use with an in-class or online discussion …

Past, Present, Future

Past, Present, Future Unit Takeaways Appreciate system user perspectives on mental health policy Understand relations of power in the mental health system (patient/doctor/nurse/staff) Components The components for this unit are three short plays, fictionalized accounts of mental health experiences in the past, present, and imagined future. Play 1: “But Now We Know Better”  (past) Transcript …

Tools for Recovery

Tools for Recovery Unit Takeaways Recognize the importance of peer support in developing coping strategies and new skill sets Value creativity and community engagement as pathways to confidence and wellbeing Acknowledge systemic barriers to recovery Component The component for this unit is a recovery memoir by community expert Margo Robinson setting out what she thinks …

Designing Dementia Care

Designing Dementia Care Unit Takeaways Recognize that the inherent ageism in our society permeates policy and practice Appreciate the need to create residential care facilities that afford full and dignified lives for older adults with cognitive or physical limitations Understand that in an institutional setting, the conditions of care and the conditions of work are …

Speaking to History

Speaking to History: Mental Health Policy Unit Takeaways Understand the circumstances and ideas that informed deinstitutionalization policies and how they shaped day-to-day practice and the lives of service users Identify the ways in which restrictions and discipline characteristic of the earlier long-stay mental health hospitals have been reproduced in the bureaucratized mental health and social …

Ya’Ya Heit and Indigenous Mental Health Unit

Ya’Ya Heit and Indigenous Mental Health Unit Takeaways Recognize colonialism as a distal determinant of mental health and wellbeing and the relevance of the Indian Act to mental health and wellbeing of Indigenous peoples Understand the impact of historical and legal forces on current material circumstances and mental health and wellbeing of Indigenous peoples Appreciate …

The Doreen Befus Story

The Doreen Befus Story Unit Takeaways Recognize the historical role of medicine, science and the law and their institutions in violating the human rights of mental health patients Understand the danger of unchecked professional power and authority as evidenced in the theory and practices of eugenics Appreciate the possible consequences of professional practice that negates …

Making Madness Political

Making Madness Political Unit Takeaways Understand activism as pragmatic and strategic rather than just ideological and/or dogmatic Appreciate the personally transformative impact of community change work Explain between the role of media and popular culture inside marginalized groups and outside the mad movement as shaping broader societal attitudes Components David Reville’s dynamic scrapbook displays his …

The Toronto Scene

The Toronto Scene Unit Takeaways Understand that mad activism is a social and cultural movement which fosters positive individual and community identity Appreciate that advocacy and activism function differently to promote social change Component This component is a fifteen-minute video featuring oral history interviews shot in 2009.  Secondary student Lily Ross-Millard used the footage to …

Lesson Plans

MPA: The Inmates’ Utopia Unit Takeaways Understand the power of activism in mental health communities Appreciate the empowering attributes of democratic structure and shared accountability in grassroots mental health groups and projects Recognize that service users often know what they need and can play an active role in the provision of appropriate services Appreciate the …