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This fundraiser cost quite a bit of money just to attend, but the Peer Support and Wellness Center participants were able to attend as guests. The food was unbelievable and the atmosphere was relaxed. We were the loudest ones there! Here's a short video of us hanging out with each other at the fundraiser.

Couldn't resist posting this. Thanks, Jodie!

The trip was great! We left Monday night, just as New England was getting its first snowfall of the year. Of course I assumed our flight would be delayed or canceled, and I was ready. It was delayed about 20 minutes so they could add more fuel in case we had to land at JFK. But we landed in Maine as planned. The view outside as we were landing was incredible. Beyond words. We don't get snow in Georgia very often, and when we do it's minimal. So seeing all the snow was a real treat. I loved every minute of it! When we landed safely, all the passengers spontaneously applauded. We stayed at a bare-bones hotel that said they would leave our keys taped to the office door when we came in, and we could register in the morning. This was a very small town, obviously. They had a diner down the block that had the BEST food. They were on the Today Show because of their Lobster Rolls, so of course I had to order the Lobster Rolls. They were delicious! So the next morning we got up early and drove to the respite center in Maine. They were so hospitable to us and devoted all their time to showing us around and answering all our questions. We were there the whole day. They believe in mutual peer support, which means there is no helper and no helpee. There is no "sick" one and no "well" one. Many of the paid staff also use the respite beds at some point. They didn't have rules (except a few necessary ones like no drugs or sexual activity in the center), and their policies were scarce as well. They emphasized open dialogue, honesty, relationship, and community. If there's a problem, it is addressed by all people involved, and everyone is heard. Negotiations occur. Rules are unnecessary. I was impressed with their philosophy, and it was in alignment with Shery Mead's training. Speaking of Shery Mead, we met with her and Chris Hanson after touring our second respite center in New Hampshire on Thursday. She showed us their training schedule for when they come to Georgia in January to train our new staff. I REALLY like Shery and Chris! They are like-minded souls. They get it. We are incredibly lucky to have them help kick-start our center! We're naming it The Peer Wellness Center for now. That may or may not change. I am really getting a handle on what it is we are doing, and it is simply groundbreaking. I saw that through this trip. It's freaking me out how HUGE this is, and how supported we really are by our peers in New England who are already doing this. I see the big picture. This is the next natural step in mental health alternatives. I can easily see these respite centers popping up all over the world. While we were there, I heard that Soteria House has opened in Alaska. Soteria was the first ever respite center. They lost their funding and shut down, which is what happens to respite centers. But Soteria House is the most famous and most ground breaking -- and now they are in operation again! This is excellent news! Hmmmm, I wonder if I'll ever see the snow in Alaska.... The video is an array of short snow scenes I took while driving.

Linda Buckner is a friend and mentor who has touched the lives of countless others who have been diagnosed and labeled with mental illness.

This video was on smpfilms channel. He is a YouTube celebrity that I have subscribed to for a couple years. I've also seen him on regular TV. Usually a video related to psychiatry, especially questioning it, is done by a small community on YouTube. This is the first I've seen from a YouTube celebrity. A lot of the people in the video are ones I am also subscribed to and many of them are also YouTube celebrities. I am amazed to find something like this so widespread on YouTube. It made my day, so I just had to share it.

Drugs I Need | Funny Jokes at JibJab

Last Sunday I attended the 10th anniversary memorial service of the Cemetery Restoration Project at Central State Hospital in Milledgeville, GA. If you are unfamiliar with the story of this cemetery, view a previous video Let Me Live. For those of you who follow this blog, you know what this cemetery means to me and to all the people who died at the "largest lunatic asylum in the world." Of course it's not called that today. We've come a long way but we still have a long way to go.

I met Bill at the Network conference last August. This was the first time he had ever told his story to anyone except his fiance.

I went to Beth's house the other day and just let the camera roll. OMG!

Jodie Fisher from Minnesota, my good friend for 10 years, talks about her experiences with getting off psychiatric drugs. She experienced this long before the YouTube video diaries and various blogs dedicated to this issue. She was totally alone during her process, and at first she had no idea what she was dealing with. She realized the strange and frightening sensations were withdrawal symptoms when she took a pill and the withdrawals stopped almost immediately. She got no support from her doctor or therapist; in fact, when she refused to take Zoloft anymore because she was nursing her daughter, her therapist insisted she be hospitalized and called an ambulance. There were other issues going on with her, of course, but the power struggle over the medication was the deciding factor behind her involuntary hospitalization. Today she knows without a doubt that it had nothing to do with psychosis, but she was having a spiritual crisis that she truly needed to deal with on that level. She did not need any medication, nor did she need to be hospitalized. She was not a danger to herself or others, yet that wasn't considered when the ambulance was called. I plan to post more of her story with the mental health system, but for now her withdrawal story is a good start. I also posted another video on Faces of Recovery called Peter Ashendon Speaks Out. He was a keynote speaker at the Network conference, and his story is compelling, inspiring, and well worth your time.