EleMental International Centre for Principles and Values of Recovery and Thriving

EleMental Lead Associates International Centre for Principles and Values of Recovery and Thriving
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Page 1page 1slide 2page 3Rowland has been a campaigner, mental health activist and proponent of Recovery and Values for fifteen years. He is Chair of Oldham Open User Forum in Oldham, England. In 2003 he won a national award from NIMHE Making a Difference in mental Health for his work in advocating helping and supporting people in mental distress, defending their human rights and striving to bring about a cultural and philosophical sea change. In recent years he produced the first ever guidelines with NICE on Obsessive Compulsive Disorders. He currently works with EleMental and crazydiamond to change peoples presumptions and prejudices and societys perceptions of mental distress.Rowland has represented EleMental in the United States at the Mental Health Centre of Denver in Colorado Page 4page 5

Frank Sinatra & Luciano Pavarotti - My Way

Recovery is not the domain of a select few; it firmly belongs with each and every individual who has got caught up in the system. It may be easier for organisations to invest in chosen representatives, but this flies in the face of the values of inclusion, and is nothing short of tokenistic. It also creates huge division between those service users who are within the loop and their supporters and those who dont fit the box and once again are marginalised and sidelined - Aslan 2008Page 6 Page 7THE NATURE OF MAN HIMSELF IS HIDDEN IN THE DEEPEST AND DARKEST RECESS OF THE UNCONSCIOUS, THE ELEMENTAL AND THE SUBMERGED.IS IT NOT SELF EVIDENT THAT THE GREATEST EFFORTS OF INQUIRING THOUGHT AND OF CREATIVE INITIATIVE WILL MOVE IN THAT DIRECTION. LEON TROTSKY.Contact rowlandoouf_hotmail.com

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Rowland Urey EleMental Lead UK Page 2Grainne Humphrys EleMental Lead Ireland PAGE 1PAGE 2PAGE3GrainnePage 11Page 5slide 10PAGE 7FREE JOHN http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/free-john.html

My Hero.wmv

"The most precious gift of your dark night might be the sheer edge and heft of your soul, your presence as a person of real substance." ~ Thomas Moore Page 8PAGE 9FREE JOHN http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/free-john.html
The Myth of Schizophrenia.wmv

"Love allows understanding to dawn, and understanding is precious. Where you are understood, you are at home. Understanding nourishes belonging. When you really feel understood, you feel free to release yourself into the trust and shelter of the other person's soul."

John O'Donohue

(Anam Cara: A Book of Celic Wisdom)

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EleMental International Centre for Recovery and Thrivingwww.elemental.org.ukmarionaslan_aol.comTo whom it may concern;This letter is a response to the following campaign by Grainne Humphrys, EleMental Lead Ireland to free her husband from Carraig Mor Psychiatric Hospital, Southern Ireland.John has committed no crime, those closest to him state that he is not dangerous and yet he has been incarcerated for more than 4 years against the wishes of himself and his family. There are no current plans to return him to his loved ones despite his immediate family offering total support and a planned package of care through EleMental with a psychiatric nurse and experts by experience willing to voluntarily be with and care for John. EleMental is outraged by this blatant flagrant abuse of Johns human rights and views this as a political issue and in the absence of any cohesive clinical argument or case for Johns detention, EleMental considers John to be a political prisoner for daring to be different. As far as EleMental is concerned being different is not synonymous with illness and we will raise this at international level. Grainne, Johns partner, has been seeking answers to her questions for as long as he has been incarcerated. Please join us in supporting her by whatever means possible. http://freejohn-loverevolutionary.blogspot.com/Dearest Grainne, As you know, I have not yet had the opportunity to meet John, just spoken briefly to him on the telephone. All I know of John is based on the hours you and I have spent talking and corresponding, and hearing the stories of his childhood from you and his family. One thing is clear to me. A man who inspires such depth of love, respect and compassion in others is a man who is truly special. And such men are dangerous they are the ones who have the capacity to shake society to its core.The society you and I live in fears men like John; men who find ways to survive their stories of rejection, violence, abuse and loss by transcending into alternative realities. It suits most members of our present self absorbed, money-orientated society to see people such as John as mad, crazy or ill rather than what has happened in his life as being so, and not understanding the concept of crisis being potential transformation and renewal. And certainly, through ignorance, not recognising the inadequacies of bio-psychiatry, that it is all based on wish, myth and politics (Loren Mosher)Instead we learn to create symptoms of illness from distress and create a sense of Otherness to avoid our own shame, guilt, fear of becoming like the Other and losing control over our oh so sane minds. Without thought we and I deliberately use the word WE because if we dont speak out then we are all guilty - pass the buck on to those in psychiatry with power to label the Johns of this world with such abstract terms as Schizophrenic, and to effectively drug away any resistance from the Other - so much easier than addressing the original problems. So much easier to pretend that abuse, violation, degradation and neglect, and the legacy of such intense distress that leads many into psychiatric services could not happen in my neighbourhood, in my familyBecause if for one moment society at large stopped to consider that John is no crazier than the next man what are the implications for us, and for the psychiatrist who has condemned him to four years of hell? What does it say about the staff and all the workers who have been complicit in this duplicity? Those who have never sat with John to make sense of his world views and try to understand the contextual relevance of his beliefs, preferring instead to see their own interpretations as the accepted wisdom? All who deny the origins of his experience and have never attempted to nurture him back to health and being with you, Hazel and his son, Josh. What does it say about a system of care that took a young man in distress, and then compounded his problems with a coercive drug regime against Johns will? Rather like the child in the fairy tale The Emperors New Clothes Johns story challenges us all to examine the truth and with it our humanity, our values and our sense of justice. If there were any rehabilitative aspect to Johns incarceration, Grainne, then you would not need to be fighting this battle. Sadly, you are correct in your assertion that John is being thrice silenced, The trauma survivor is silenced three times; firstly by their family, secondly by society and thirdly by bio-psychiatry. I would go even further and say he is being thrice punished for being a victim of circumstance. Each and every one of us should feel outraged at this. A civilised society that can no longer be outraged can no longer be civilised Elemental is now forced to conclude that the pathologising and detention of people who are surviving their life traumas in diverse ways is an immoral act. Medical psychiatry should be ashamed that they have not altered their stance from the times of the moral defective, from homosexuality as an illness entity, and Drapetomania. All that changes is the language, their victims remain the same- those who dare to be different, those who question the validity of diagnoses and so-called treatment or perhaps more importantly those, like John who remind us all of societies failings and highlight the cruelties of life we prefer to disregard. Responses to the video Incarceration of John show the strength of emotional support for you and John by people all over the world. As you now move into a strategic phase of campaigning we continue to pledge our full support practically as well as emotionally. Marion Aslan, Executive Director, EleMental International Centre for Recovery and Thriving
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'Hope, Time and Love'

Let me emerge with my gift of wisdom

Mysterious experience, a seed in dark soil

I come back from the underworld bearing gifts for the soul

I know how to shine light in a dark place

How to navigate through deep waters

I know how to midwife emotions

I speak the tongues of madness, psychosis

I know the terrains of sadness, hidden meanings, metaphors

I have re-drawn the map of my inner landscape

Transformation, transition

I am shedding skins of inhibitions

I meditate in the holy hedgerow

I died and came back to life

Resuscitated by mother love, unconditional

I can guide you back to light

Deliverance, redemption, grace, my epiphany

I am born again, inside out.

By Grainne Humphrys

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EleLabels; another way.wmv

To Come Home to Yourself

'May all that is unforgiven in you, Be released.

May your fears yield, Their deepest tranquilities.

May all that is unlived in you, Blossom into a future,

Graced with love.'

By John O'Donohue .

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http://www.youtube.com/user/digitaltango

"Tastes of the Wild" wmv

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visit grainnes blog http://madchicklit.blogspot.com/

facebook.com/grainne.humphrys

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Paula Pettit

Paula has worked in mental health for ten years in a variety of roles. She was appointed co-ordinator of a mental health recovery project, Krysalis in Coventry and spent several years developing the project which involved supporting individuals on their path to achieving their recovery using an holistic approach. Paula then moved to South Wales and worked with the organisation Keepwell training in mental health awareness around the UK and in America. At the same time she was also involved in a voluntary capacity in a community project in Newport, South Wales feeding the homeless and supporting their various needs.

Paula was then employed as Black and Ethnic Minority development officer based in Newport. Part of her role was to identify isolated ethnic minority groups within the local area in need of support to establish their own voluntary organisations addressing their cultural needs.

Currently Paula is working closely with women and men involved in prostitution and with women who are suspected of being trafficked into the U.K within the area of Newport. Through liaising closely with the local Police, health authority and voluntary organisations to help meet the needs of this client group who may have substance misuse issues, Paula is able to ensure that their mental health needs are met. The overall aim of the project is to offer individuals an exit strategy out of the commercial sex trade into legitimate employment and this is proving successful.

Paula is an associate of crazydiamond, www.crazydiamond.org.uk offering training in a number of mental health subjects relating to violence and abuse issues and works on a consultancy basis with organisations wishing to develop awareness of prostitution and trafficking.

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Report by Paula Pettit, EleMental Wales on her visit to Nairobi funded by EleMental, May 2009When I travelled to Kisumu it was amazing to see the beautiful countryside but the poverty is a real eye opener. I met with a lady called Mary Okumu who lives out in the rural area. She is a true lady, very elegant and attractive - a teacher by profession and she is due to retire shortly. She runs an organisation by the name of Kawere Widows. This is a group of women widowed because their husbands have died of Aids and also they may be HIV positive themselves. They are looking after their grand children and other children who are in need of ongoing support for schooling and food and much more. Mary has 2 homes next to hers that she would like to donate as orphanages - each one has 2 rooms so all the children can sleep in the one house and study and have the kitchen in the other. They grow their own maize and other vegetables, but the water pump that they have has broken. It would cost approximately Â£300.00 so that they can be self sufficient. Solar lights would be of great help as well as Solar cookers so that deforestation is kept to a minimum. The one thing that I noticed throughout the whole experience is that no matter how bad it seemed to me and it really was, they held onto their faith and smiled through their trials and tribulations.Letter from Mary Okumu, Chair Kawere Widows, KisumuMy husband died in 1996. He left me 3 children, my firstborn being 18 years old then. I am employed as a teacher in the Kenyan government. Due to the little pay I earn I have been supplementing my earnings by doing some other occupations, like small scale farming and quarrying in the sand, harvesting from the small pieces of land that we have.My life challenges include looking after 4 orphans left to me by my late sister and brother in law. I am also challenged by sickness which is recurrent due to living with HIV. I was tested positive in the year 2006, ten years after my husbands death.We have come together as widows to help other orphans left to older grandparents who have been disabled by sickness and old age. We started a home for these children to make them feel that they belong. Due to lack of funds we cannot run this home because we still lack a lot of the requirements. So we are offering them assistance in their foster homes where they are taken care of by their extended family adopters.We try to make ourselves happy as much as we can by coming together as a group to play games like netball, races, singing traditional songs and dancing. This we do once in a while when we organise events to lift our spirits and make us forget some of the life challenges which face us.EleMental is working closely with Paula Pettit (EleMental Lead Wales) and Julius Otieno (EleMental Lead, East Africa) to support the Kawere Widows. If you wish to make a donation please contact Paula at paulaavonia_hotmail.co.uk for further details

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Labi Siffre

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"This too will pass"

I was taught these words by my grandmother as a phrase that is to be used at all times in your life

When things are spectacularly dreadful: when things are absolutely appaling: when everything is superb and wonderful and marvellous and happy -

Say these four words to yourself

They will give you a sense of perspective and help you also to make the most of what is good and be stoical about what is bad

Claire Rayner

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Paula and Owen's Wedding - Don't Stop Me Now, Queen

Happiness is a perfume

you cannot pour on others

without getting a few drops on yourself

Ralph Waldo Emerson

contact

paulaavonia_hotmail.com

Paula Pettit EleMental Lead Wales

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Amy SmithHello, I am one of many Amy Smiths in the world. There are over a hundred of us in Denver alone! I have lived in Denver, Colorado, USA, all my life. Colorado is very beautiful, with 14,000 foot high mountains & so forth. The people who live here to be frontier types, stubborn, independant & headstrong. About 40 years ago, I was labeled with mental illness - I was 15 and a sad & lonely teenager I guess. ( Neither my sister or I remember our childhoods or our parents.) I was an artist and a lot of my odd behaviour was attributed to my being a "crazy artist". So, eventually the psychiatrists had their way with me, even though I resisted anything but talk therapy for many years. I ended up on 13 psychotropic drugs for years! Three mood levelers, 3 anti-depressants, 3 anti-psychotics, 3 benzodiazepines, and a muscle relaxer. Its a wonder I could even move! I certainly was a strange person during that period of time,hallucinating, violent, incontinent, balding & drooling! Wow! Well, about three years ago, I met a psychoanalyst who lives in New York City, an elderly, cranky, Jewish, Freudian psychoanalyst that I spoke with on the phone once a week. She helped me transition off the last two psychiatric medications, for which I will be forever grateful to her for. I had been working in the public behavioral healthcare service delivery system for the last ten years, and here my mind has suddenly changed- drastically- I was able to experience my emotions, relate to people, create art, etc. etc. Most importantly, though, I was no longer compliant and cooperative as I once was! I began to question what I heard and think about what I was told. Up until that point in time, I had been the primary dog & pony show in Colorado, constantly standing in front of vast crowds with a microphone in my hand, proclaiming for all the world to hear that the Consumers of Colorado are HAPPY with their services. Suddenly, I wasnt as sure of that, plus I was coming to realize we had no clue what was happening in other parts of the USA, not to mention the rest of the world! I had come to think of myself as quite the advocate & even activist, yet all I knew how to do was advocate for more services! This was a somewhat difficult period of time, not just for me as I re-learned how to manage emotions, feelings & dreams, but for those around me. My personality changed drastically and I was not nearly as pleasant as I used to be! So here come Mike & Marion from the United Kingdom. I was absolutely flabbergasted at the materials they brought with them- I was able to read a couple of their books, but not allowed to attend the trainings the first year they were here. I was wonderfully surprised to read about things I had previously only been able to vaguely wonder about. The next year, I was able to attend the trainings, and spent a lovely week, soaking them in! By this time, my responsibility at my job was running a large education program, with a peer-driven curriculum, things folks have told me they wanted to learn about. My intention was to bring the national-level voice to Colorado, and start introducing new concepts and ideas to the community. I developed an extensive history curriculum, and the more I worked on that, the more convinced I became that not knowing history is like being a leaf that doesnt know it is part of a plant. As I studied the history of psychiatric care, the fiscal, political & social reasons we have the system we do, it became more & more clear to me we are on a continuum, and where we are today is by no means the end of the road. And there are a couple very predictable routes we can take from this point forward, some of them being very uncomfortable & downright scary. And some truly wonderful & inspiring. I feel my role now is to support the wonderful choices we can make, and by supporting THRIVE, EleMental & the Crazydiamond philosophy, I will be doing just that. I feel honored for being included in the Crazydiamond & EleMental community and am here to be of service! Much love & affection to you all! AMY SMITH voxfuror_aol.com
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Amy Smith, USAcrazydiamondusa_gmail.comAmy is known across America for her inspirational work in the Recovery movement both as a former consumer and in a variety of professional capacities. For many years she was Colorado State Lead for Consumer Involvement and testified for the USA Senate. An employee of BHI for over ten years, Amy has been teaching the Colorado consumer community about the civil rights movement and history of mental health care for ten years. She initiated EleMental Peer Support Groups in Colorado in 2009 and has now joined crazydiamond as an international associate and THRIVE facilitator. Amy is the founder and programme Director of RISE University, Colorado. RISE (Recovery-based, Individualized, Strengths-based Education) offers a variety of programmes with options to take a certification course, or be a RISE University graduate in one of five tracks.

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Teenage Mental Patient - Leah Harris

"Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

C. S. Lewis

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EleMental comes to America - Rise, Flobots

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My first road trip of my life- from Colorado to Alternatives in Anaheim last week- was quite an event- I feel much like the guy who found a pair of sunglasses that clearly reveal half the people around him are actually insects. My entire time at Alternatives was spent gasping in horror and clutching at the wall behind me as person after person revealed their adherence to the party line, whether they believed it or not. ca-ching, folks, bought & paid for. Robert Whitaker has been my hero for ten years, Mad in America along with Paula Caplanâ€™s They Say You're Crazy, were my literary springboards for reading over 200 books in the next decade, including many by anthropologists, sociologists, friends & foes, ancient & modern, not just US, in other words. The facts, based on science, are inescapable; we have bought into a massive trick, a giant lie that is not going to be quietly swept under the rug, like Henry Cottonâ€™s escapades were as they creep on to the next intervention. This time around, the great pharmacology experiment has them by the throat, (see the APAâ€™s brilliantly-timed support of long-term use of both psychiatric drugs & ECT) pharma will never let go until pierced through the heart. This has been a long, slow, difficult road for me- nearly a decade as the dog & pony show of Colorado, going off drugs in 2007, leaving my high-paying-no-credentials-required-job in managed care in 2010, & all along, studying, listening carefully, keeping note of who benefited from what was said, who was getting paid & who not? It did not all fall into place for me until this road trip with Marion Aslan & Dr. Mike Smith of EleMental International, and now, after years of study & thoughtful contemplation, talking to thousands of my brothers & sisters around the world, only this last two weeks can I fully see the fallacy of believing you can heal emotional distress with pills! I challenge anyone: take 20 EleMentalists from anywhere in the world, as defined by a person who has been labeled with an SMI, and has subsequently used a different approach than medication to remain healthy- against 20 of anyone in the world maintained on any level of drugs that claims â€œrecoveryâ€- check us out in 5- 10- 15 years! Who will fare better? Who will still be alive? And, in context of power issues- who will ultimately end up costing society, fiscally & culturally, and who will end up contributing as happy citizens? You want outcomes? We got â€˜em, not counted because our people LEAVE when they get better & do not hang around with our hands outstretched at the mailbox for our disability checks while we pop pills & claim recovery!
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Amy Smith EleMental Lead USA

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JULIUS AMBA OTIENO I hold a Bachelor of Arts degree in social sciences with a bias in sociology.Presently pursuing ACCA Qualification but I am yet to sit for an examination especially because things went out of my expectations and I am yet to settle to a level where I can effectively prepare for any examination. The friend who offered to sponsor me for this is that understanding and we await a better time to be able to sit the examination.1999 to July 2001: Executive officer of National Youth Organization.I did found this outfit with a good friend who has since died to operate in Kenya as a voluntary organization working in collaboration with the government departments and internal agencies to bring together Youth Groups interested in development, capacity building, advancement and general improvement on the welfare of the youth. This was a purely voluntary job and when I got married in 2001, I had to look for a salaried job in the insurance industry and my friend and other colleagues did push for sometime with it but later because of lack of funding and the chairmans death did it the last blow.October 2005- To date: Programmes officer of Flag IntraGlobal This is an international non-governmental organization headquartered in Kenya. It is focused on mitigating/alleviating poverty in Africa and Kenya in particular through various community participatory initiatives for instance through a twinning concept in which communities from the developed world are hooked up with their counterparts from the developing world through group centred micro-publishing teams. Sustaining this programme has met setbacks.In June 2006 to present time, I was singled out by the community and requested to serve as a member of the board of governors for the Kobala Mixed Secondary School and upon my acceptance, it was consummated through government official letter of appointment by the minister of education.In 2007 .together with a few friends, some drawn from the academia, we formed a central body called association of heads of civil society to bring together the leadership of non governmental organizations community based organizations otherwise known in the UK as voluntary organizations/third sector outfits to a round table for purposes of exploring common interest that would lead to effective existence of such players. It was as a result of this initiative that I later secured a commonwealth scholarship to the UK to foster my understanding of how such voluntary organizations run their affairs particularly in areas such as: Capacity building to individuals/Communities Networking and its benefitsProject management; stakeholders engagementProject collaboration; global bondingEnhancing third sector involvement in the delivery of citizen-centered servicesWorking across public sector boundariesPublic, private partnership initiatives in service deliveryWe had hoped to get DFiD funding through the intervention of the commonwealth but sometime late 2008 we got a letter of regret. Early this year I did submit a joint application with a Wales based voluntary organization to the European Union, and this also did not go through.I also volunteer as Executive Secretary for Osodo Kawere Development Society which is based in Nairobi and that caters for institutional development and welfare of its members. My letter of recommendation to one Lazarus Hassan as previously attached is an appropriate exemplification.I am also the patron of Kawere widows self help group that comprises basically of widows most of whom are living with the HIV virus.Inspite of my horrible circumstances; I have these ladies in my mind all the times. They have kids and I feel if they live well and longer they will nurture their kids to maturity. Together with Paula, we intend to put up an orphanage for such kids. I know of a grandmother left behind with her grandchildren and she is going recently turned blind and there is no one to step in to assist her regain her sight. Marion, mine with my family is a constant stress but I feel sad that my empathy with this poor lady can not be actualized in action through facilitation of hospitalization. I did, however, send some little money for help from the money sent to me by Mike recently.In retrospective, I was assisted in my education by a well-wisher when I lost my dad in 1986 while still in high school and I just cant help but have irreducible empathy with orphans and wish to assist in every way possible.Challanges are enormous and I am yet to succeed in this dream.Sometime last year I was approached by a community based children learning and feeding centre here in Nairobi to join the directorship of Great Hope Learning Centre-mostly Kenyas post election violence victims; OVC-and inspite my reluctance they persisted and I did finally accept to join in helping but it has been terrible. The photos that I sent out to you, where I was on top of some building were actually taken at the centre but the landlord has been unhelpful yet the building is far from completion. Here feeding programme is the single most serious challenge, and whereas food is lacking a lot of these kids always say they long for day break I order to be back to school to feed because they hardly get any foods with their carers who are equally very poor, sometimes sick ling. Here again, young souls cant be helped to attain education.At personal level and in collaboration with others, I strongly feel Elemental Kenya will take shape and will address very pertinent issues with far reaching positive out comes.But between 2001 and early 2007, I was in a salaried job where I was heading investigation departments with two local insurance companies, although finding time also to continue my pet preoccupation in community initiatives.Analogy with ElementalI had the opportunity now to read print outs from the materials you sent and am way above what I have been in terms of understanding the concept.It fits well with my current state. Since 2008, things have been a bit hectic and this has occasioned severe distress to both my wife and me. As the head of this family of three daughters, I feign that all is well but in my privacy, I really feel it. My wife actually succumbed to this pressure and she has been ailing since around March this year and was diagnosed with high blood pressure which she is still fighting. We have had to make a few drastic changes like shifting the two kids to a new school.For most part of late 2008 till early 2009, I would be carrying palliative drugs in my pockets but it dawned upon me that at that rate I would affect myself and I had to begin a new thinking and even though all is still way off the balance I am happy that I did dispense with the daily use of drugs; I now take once in a while just when am extremely stressed up especially around month ends when utility bills and childrens school fees obligations come forth.I am seeing my involvement with elemental as that which is founded on my personal experience that affects my wife individually and my self too as an individual, and this I feel is a credible thresh hold.Parting shotFrom the few discussions that I have made so far, I think it will go a long way in opening a new chapter in peoples thinking about the general state of mental health and how this affects the totality of mankinds overall health status.I9 would therefore not mince words but put it straight that you are forming a team of the 21st century that need not only the support of governments but it is the kind of league that all need to play in.If it is not for professional pride, health practitioners should all come on board so that we chart a new realistic and self sustaining course for mankinds well being. Individuals have the unique privilege to discern their own state of affairs, and by engaging the gear of self assessment, will spontaneously cure themselves without recourse to conventional medicine.
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EleMental Great Hope School - For Your Babies, Simply Red

Thanks to all who have contributed to EleMental Great Hope School -

Sylvia May, Rowland Urey, Adie & Tony Regan, Sahar Ghanbari, Faranak Lashkari, Paul Gardner, Pauline Small, Sempela Kaulu, Shaun Murray

Natasha Lyons, Teresa Hardy, Suki Jeyaraja, Sam Warner, Janet Braid, Omolere Gbenebor, Irene Harper, Olayinka Kasali, Bear, Kelly, Dean Smith,

Many thanks to Woodside Avenue Methodist Church, Coventry Women's Own Group for raising Â£40

To help sponsor EleMental Great Hope School you can transfer money to the following account;

Cooperative bank, Michael A Smith

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see EleMental Projects for further details

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EleMental Great Hope SchoolWe are a community based organisation in Kayole, East Nairobi working for the support and welfare of all children within our community. Currently we are catering for over 120 children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Our centre was started in 2002 by founder Moses Ogweno Kinaga.Our objectives are;1. To promote good health practice for the children, especially orphans and other children with disadvantages2. Promote education for the children3. Promote social-cultural development of the children4. To enforce childrenâ€™s rights as stipulated in the childrenâ€™s Act5. To teach the children about the dangers of HIV / Aids through counselling6. To encourage the children to conserve the environment7. To offer vocational training8. To educate on the dangers of drug abuse9. To enhance balance in formal education and vocational training for their parents and guardians10. To embrace, love and support the childrenOur missionTo help shape the lives of all the children so that they can grow up and develop into responsible members of society who will enjoy their rightsOur valuesTo be loving, protective, supportive and fair to all children, regardless of their social, cultural, religious backgrounds in accordance with the Childrenâ€™s Act as stipulated in the Human Rights CharterKey achievementsThere are a number of strategic goals which are currently working well;â€¢ We have a feeding programme in conjunction with the government of Kenya and since starting this programme have a high number of students who were not previously attending schoolâ€¢ We have enrolled orphans and children with disabilities in our centre. Some of these children had previously been abandoned by their relativesâ€¢ We have initiated a counselling programme for those children who were depressed because of frustrations due to poverty, and for those who did not want to learn at all have invited professional counsellors in who are currently volunteering their help â€¢ Last year the children were able to sit for K.C.P.E. examinations and the results were very encouraging. 15 pupils passed and this year joined form 1 due to the high marks they scoredâ€¢ We are currently training parents and guardians in various courses that can enhance their livelihoodsâ€¢ Our pupils managed to excel in sports last year. They performed very well in athletics and footballâ€¢ The pupils also performed well in singing and dramaâ€¢ Our pupils have managed to keep our community clean and we encourage them to participate in clean-up exercises within our communityâ€¢ Our pupils are peer leaders in HIV/Aids hence they encourage other children within the community to behave responsiblyâ€¢ We have been able to support some street children who were previously scavenging for food in the rubbish dumps adjacent to our centreâ€¢ Our sustainability programmes are a) Woodwork / carpentry workshopsb) Metal Work workshopsc) Dressmaking

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RESILIENCE

contact Julius - nyakwarmoko_yahoo.co.uk

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Julius Otieno Elemental Lead Kenya

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elemental-australia_hotmail.comVirginia is an occupational therapist with a passion for helping people find ways of reclaiming their lives following mental distress. She worked in community psychiatric teams in England and Ireland and ran an EleMental group in London before returning earlier this year to her native city Perth to work. She is now developing the concepts of Recovery and Thriving in a variety of settings across Perth and liasing with a number of organisations to set up EleMental Self Help groups.
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EleMental Comes to Australia - Heaven Heath, Mellow Candle

I am an occupational therapist who has been working in the area of mental health for the last 10 years, in both Australia and the UK. I am constantly amazed by the strength of the human spirit and the ability of some people to recover and thrive in spite of significant trauma and distress. Over the years I have been inspired by so many of the people with whom I have worked- their stories of strength, hope, faith and resilience in the face of extremely difficult life circumstances. It is these stories that have fuelled my passion for all things recovery and convinced me of how possible it is for people to reclaim their lives. My experiences as a therapist have informed me that people's distress is related to the things they have been through in life. I believe that the most important thing I can offer as a therapist/supporter/worker is to hold hope for my clients and believe in them no matter what the situation. I enjoy helping people to realise their potential and create a life that's worth living. I am particularly interested in recovery from psychotic experiences and making sense of voies and unusual/distressing beliefs in order to help people move on with their life. I have worked a lot in the area of psychosis and voices, both in Australia and the UK. I also work a great deal with individuals who self-harm or have difficulties managing their emotional experiences. It is my great pleasure to be involved with EleMental: to be a recovery champion, advocate for the de-medicalisation of distress and to work alongside inspiring people from other countries around the world to be a force for positive change.
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"One Four Five" The Cat EmpireListen doctor I have pain That grows inside myself Shelf me please I just can't ease the pain I need some drugs to help Ah pollution fills my lungs And convolution fills my mind Ah my legs do ache I contemplate That living's less than fine My spine does tingle When I think of being Freed from this curse But what is worse I feel Life is a bubble Blown until it's burst Oh doctor I am desperate To get rid of this feeling Oh doctor I am desperate For some good soul healing The doctor turned and gave a grin And reached into his bag But instead of an injection Got a record with a tag That said listen to this daily With hip shaking and such things Then he puts the record in Grabs a mic and starts to sing You need some One four five To make you high to make you high To make you high to make you high When heaven falling from the sky To make you high to make you high Doctor I am feeling better What was that you sang Did you write it or recite it Or just steal it from a band Ah my bones are feeling stronger And my spirit's feeling fresh Ah that dose of 145 has put the life Back in my breath 'yes yes yes' the doctor said Then he sat me down and say 'young man don't think I wrote These chords they're written in Your brain' And when you hear them There's a shakedown that begins within The mind

The Cat Empire - One Four Five

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AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN FIVE SHORT CHAPTERS

by Portia Nelson

I walk down the street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk

I fall in.

I am lost ... I am helpless.

It isn't my fault.

It takes me forever to find a way out.

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I pretend I don't see it.

I fall in again.

I can't believe I am in the same place

but, it isn't my fault.

It still takes a long time to get out.

III

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I see it is there.

I still fall in ... it's a habit.

my eyes are open

I know where I am.

It is my fault.

I get out immediately.

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I walk around it.

I walk down another street.

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No Frame

Virginia Pulker, EleMental Lead Australia

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No Frame

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Thoughts on my new jobMy new job is going well even though it doen't have much to do with mental health. But let me write a little about it.I'm working for a big hospital with 1,000 beds now! I go to work four days a week. And I work from 9 pm to 5:15 pm. I never have to work overtime or be on call. The hospital is about 11 kilometers from home. I enjoy driving my Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car to work. Most of the patients there are the elderly with no hope for recovery. Their family sends them there because it would be too hard for them to look after them at home. I'm in charge of 40 patients. Majority of them are on tube feeding and barely conscious. But I always try to talk to them as if they are conscious. Sometimes I'm surprised to hear them talk back to me. The other day I was surprised to hear one of my patients say, "Yes, I have pain." when I asked her, "Do you have pain?" That was the first time I heard her talk. Most of them stay there until they die. In a way, the hospital I'm working for is a cross between a nursing home and a regular hospital. They are too sick to be at a nursing home but not sick enough to be in a regular hospital. I don't know how long I'll work for this hospital. Maybe not too long. But I'm thinking of trying to be as nice to the patients as I can until I quit.Yoshi

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yoshi david oaks

Yoshi with David Oaks, Mindfreedom International

Street performance Portland, Oregon

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No Frame

Tsuyoshi Matsuo EleMental Lead Japan

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Rowland Urey, EleMental UK Rowland has been a campaigner, mental health activist and proponent of Recovery and Values for fifteen years. He is Chair of Oldham Open User Forum in Oldham, England. In 2003 he won a national award from NIMHE Making a Difference in mental Health for his work in advocating helping and supporting people in mental distress, defending their human rights and striving to bring about a cultural and philosophical sea change. In recent years he produced the first ever guidelines with NICE on Obsessive Compulsive Disorders. He currently works with EleMental and crazydiamond to change peoples presumptions and prejudices and societys perceptions of mental distress.Rowland has represented EleMental in the United States at the Mental Health Centre of Denver in Colorado rowlandoouf_hotmail.com
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