Category: Background Reading

Us and Them

Us and Them Unit Takeaways Recognize the profound dislocation of self and identity in mental health crises Appreciate the importance (and challenges) of empathic and critically-informed practice in bridging the distance between mental health practitioner and service user Component The component for this unit is a reflection on the distance between the patient and the …

What If?

What If? Unit Takeaways Recognize stigmatizing attitudes toward mental health and mental health patients, as compared to other medicalized conditions and patients categories Component The component for this unit is “What If? …Cancer Prisons,” a short satirical essay that contrasts attitudes toward cancer patients and mental health patients. Written by a Mad School community expert …

From Stigma to Action

    From Stigma to Action Unit Takeaways Understand the importance of adequate personal and systemic support in ameliorating discrimination and marginalization in mental health Appreciate the role of empathic knowledge informed by lived experience in fostering successful advocacy and activism Components The components for this unit are frontline stories of marginalization, discrimination, and nascent …

Components: Place Self-Guided

Components: Place at PARC – Self Guided Learning Timing: 30 Minutes Mode: In-class; Online “Hanging out” at PARC means something different every day. Whether members chose to play a game of pool, indulge in bingo, come together for movie night, or participate in sing-alongs, drumming circles or dances, PARC provides a space for both casual …

Components: Food Self-Guided

Components: Food at PARC – Self Guided Learning Timing: 15 Minutes Mode: In-class; Online Hunger and lack of good food are a daily reality for many PARC members, for few have access to cooking facilities at home and many cannot buy a month’s groceries on limited disability payments.  So it is no surprise that food …

Lesson Planning

Because of Edmond: A Place of Safety and Hope Unit Takeaways Acknowledge that people living with mental health difficulties deserve dignified access to the fundamental necessities of life, i.e. housing, food Understand the critical connections between mental wellbeing and safe, supportive, affordable housing Recognize that crisis interventions with people in emotional distress require empathy, adherence …