‘How Can We Spread the News?’ by Kjetil Mellingen

kjmelliGreat article from Mad in America with excellent discussion.

‘Ever since I read Mad in America and later Anatomy of an Epidemic by Robert Whitaker, I have been wondering how to spread this knowledge to the masses and how to do this in a way that will make a difference to as many people as possible.

I used to teach creativity and brainstorming to corporations, and I would like to use the brain force of the MIA readers to find out new ways of influencing as many as possible with our message. In creativity research it has been shown that it is important to not be critical of your ideas in the early stages. Anything you can think of may be valuable, even if it seems crazy in the beginning. Often  the craziest ideas can bring the best results.

These ideas are called stepping stones. Just write them down, share them, and often you or others will see a practical modification of the idea that may actually be used.

Read More ➔

‘Family Recovery, Al-Anon & Altruism: in helping we are helped’ by DJ Mac

w600_c83da257562805a91d9b09b368a04f2ePeer support is of immense value in helping people find recovery from addiction and mental health problems. However, what is it about peer support that is so important? How does it work? Here, DJ Mac looks at a recent science paper focusing on this issue. 

‘“Giving implies to make the other person a giver also.” So said Eric Fromm whose quote starts this research paper which travels to the heart of mutual aid. The clear message? In helping other, we help ourselves. The recovery saying “We only keep what we have by giving it away” hits the mark in this respect.

The researchers in this Finnish study looked at communication and support in Al-Anon groups, a 12-step mutual aid network for family and friends of alcoholics. In Finland, 97% of Al-Anon members are female and three quarters are partners of alcoholics. They conducted the research through questionnaires (169) and 20 interviews. In the survey they focused on two questions:

Read More ➔

‘Building Bridges Between Mental Health and Addictions Communities’ by Oryx Cohen

ocohenThere is a real need to connect addiction and mental health communities, so this blog from Mad in America is very interesting.

‘When Linda Sarage and Jake Powers first approached me about writing a section for the fantastic manual developed by the addictions community – From the Ground Up: How to Build Your own Peer-to-Peer Recovery Center – that would help connect this manual to the mental health community, I envisioned writing a section that would serve as some sort of translation tool that could connect two very different communities toward a common purpose. 

After reading the manual, however, I quickly remembered how much the mental health community has in common with the substance abuse community and how little “translation” is actually needed.

Read More ➔