Madness Radio Producer's Blog

I'm very excited to announce that Leah Harris has joined Madness Radio as our new Technical DIrector!

Leah is a longtime psychiatric survivor activist, a filmmaker, a mom, and a performance poet. I interviewed Leah on the show and you can listen to it here --

http://www.madnessradio.net/madness-radio-survivor-spoken-word-leah-harris

I invited Leah to work with Madness Radio after a donor provided funds to cover costs -- thanks to that anonymous donor! Leah will be editing shows, managing our online archives, and providing technical assistance to keep things running smoothly.

Welcome Leah!

Matthew Aldridge, a psychiatric nurse at London's Lambeth Hospital, just published a new article in the 2011 Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, "Addressing Non-adherence to Antipsychotic Medication: a Harm-Reduction Approach."

This is an extraordinarily well researched clinical discussion of professional medication practice that draws a lot from the Harm Reduction Guide To Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs that I wrote with The Icarus Project and Freedom Center. A very useful resource for giving to professionals and clinicians facing these issues. You can download the article here: http://bit.ly/wbUA6A And here are the summary and abstract:

With the help of Portland visionary colleagues Kent Bye, Jen Gouvea, and Jonathan Marrs I produced a short introductory video of me describing coming off psychiatric drugs. The approach is drawn from my Harm Reduction Guide to Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs, which can be downloaded for free here: http://willhall.net/comingoffmeds

This video provides some basic guidance for anyone considering reducing or coming off psychiatric medications and their supporters, which is discussed in greater detail in the Harm Reduction Guide. This video and Guide are in the spirit of peer support and mutual aid for educational purposes, and not medical advice. (While everyone is different, coming off medications, especially abruptly, can sometimes be dangerous. Seek support when possible and use caution.)

You can contact me at http://www.willhall.net Please share this video; it's Creative Commons copyright 2011 BY-NC-ND and the url is here: http://youtu.be/O4bdG601k4k

Will Hall of Madness Radio hosts Talk Radio on KBOO 90.7FM In Portland Oregon. His guest is a former Oregon State Hospital patient now living in the community under the Psychiatric Security Review Board (PSRB) after taking the "guilty except for insanity" plea. The show discusses how the antiquated PSRB system needs to be reformed. http://www.psrbfairshake.org/

Listen on the KBOO website here:

http://kboo.fm/node/32789

Will Hall presento una taller en español llamada "Nuevas Perspectivas Sobre Bipolar y Esquizofrenia," como parte de la Dia De Salud Mental Latina y Bienestar Familiar en Portland Oregon. Gracias a Odelia Garcia por la introduccion, y a Diana Ospina por su apoyo en arreglar el evento!

Se puede escuchar y bajarlo aqui:

http://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/WillHallDiaDeSaludMentalSemanaComunidadLatina2011.mp3

"Madness and Mental Diversity: Psychosis, Bipolar, and Schizophrenia As Field Evolution" was a free talk on Process Work and psychosis I was invited to give at the local Evolver meeting in Portland Oregon on Dec. 7, 2011, introduced by Kent Bye. More than 50 people showed up in a beautiful private Portland home and we had a great time. You can listen to an audio file here, and below is the description of the talk.

http://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/WillHallMentalDiversityEvolverPortland12-7-2011.mp3

What if experiences labeled bipolar or schizophrenia are instead invitations to collaborate on mutual growth and evolution? What if "madness" is a purposeful and self-organizing potential for broader change?

Conventional frameworks view a "psychotic" disconnect from reality as a regression to an earlier developmental stage, a deficit/imbalance in normal functioning, or an excess of perception. Using Process Oriented Psychology, this Evolver special presentation will explore the meaning of "severe mental illness" and challenge us to rethink our relationship to extreme states within and around us. It will also offer a historical consideration of the psychedelic experience to help understand how it relates to psychosis.

Jen Gouvea and Kent Bye joined Will Hall on 12-09-11 for a KBOO FM 8-9am Talk Radio call-in show, with the topic "Surviving Holiday Season Family Conflict." We took phone-in calls and gave ideas about how to deal with family difficulties in a time that's stressful for many people. (The poster appeared in our dreamscape a couple of days later when we went to see Hugo!)

Jen is a Flower Essence and astrological counselor and she and Kent are both Shamanic Breathwork facilitators. You can find out more about their work at www.engagedheart.com.

Listen to the show here:

http://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/TalkRadioWillHallJenGouveaKentBye12-9-2011.mp3

Process Work faculty member Joe Goodbread has extensive experience working with extreme states of consciousness from a non-pathologizing and deeply compassionate perspective. This workshop recording is from the 2011 INTAR (www.intar.org) conference in Toronto Canada, and was introduced by Will Hall.

http://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/JoeGoodbreadINTARToronto11-2011WillHallProcessWorkExStatesIntroduction.mp3

On November 11 2011 Will Hall hosted KBOO's Talk Radio live from Occupy Portland at the encampment at Chapman square, the day before the police eviction of the camp.

Listen on the KBOO website here:

http://kboo.fm/node/32040

After Robert Whitaker's visit to Oregon last year several of us in the peer recovery mental health movement worked together to create a statement about medication use and alternatives. Please check it out, spread the word, and click the link to sign onto the statement.

I hosted the early morning drive time Talk Radio show on KBOO here in Portland on Jan. 17, celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The topic was the "psychology of racism" and the show took live callers, you can download and listen to it here download here.

More than 450 people filled the Unitarian Church in Portland Oregon February 10th for the Rethinking Psychiatry event. Robert Whitaker keynoted the evening, followed by a panel with Beckie Child, Director of the Mental Health America of Oregon; Cindi Fisher, Movement of Mothers Standing - Up -Together: Taking Back Our Children; Chris Gordon, Assistant professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Medical Director of Mental Health Advocacy; Gina Nikkel, Director of the Oregon Association of Community Mental Health Programs; and Will Hall, Director of Portland Hearing Voices.

Listen to the entire evening's talks here: http://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/RethinkingPsychiatryPDX2-10-11Complete.mp3

Listen to Robert Whitaker's talk here: http://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/RethinkingPsychiatryPDX2-10-11RobertWhitaker.mp3

Listen to Will Hall's talk here: http://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/RethinkingPsychiatryPDX2-10-11WillHall.mp3

The FDA hearings turned out very positively for the anti-electroshock movement, you can read more here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content...

This is the public comment I submitted to the FDA panel:

I am a therapist, advocate, and have recovered from a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Please listen to the voices of people harmed by ECT and limit its use, and put ECT devices in a more restricted category as a step towards ECT's elimination.

Abandoned & Disappeared: Mexico’s Segregation and Abuse of Children and Adults with Disabilities is a report by Disability Rights International and the Comisión Méxicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humano. Freedom Center co-founder and Madness Radio producer Will Hall is one of an international group of co-authors, and was part of the investigative team for the report, traveling to Mexico on an investigative mission in 2009.

I just received an interesting email about National Family Caregiver's month. Apparently Madness Radio has fans at Janssen Pharmaceuticals...