[OCSC-news] NEWS: Oregon Mental Health Consumer/Psychiatric Survivor Coalition

Wed Apr 23 18:45:32 PDT 2008

Congratulations to everyone -- in Oregon and out -- who has supported  
this dream of a new coalition -- please help get out the word! Tell  
people, forward this, print it out! Thank you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEWS RELEASE - 23 April 2008 - PLEASE FORWARD!
http://www.mindfreedom.org/as/act/us/or/ocsc

    New Oregon state-wide coalition of groups representing
    mental health consumers & psychiatric survivors launches.

    First board of directors and assembly of organization
    representatives of "OCSC" officially begins.

    Board unanimously elects Tracey Dumas, PhD first President.

Yesterday, 22 April 2008 was Earth Day. And there was some Earth- 
shaking news for the future of mental health care in Oregon.

Yesterday, the state-wide voice in Oregon for mental health consumers  
and psychiatric survivors became a little stronger. And if their  
plans go well, that voice may become a lot stronger.

After a year of planning and development, a state-wide teleconference  
facilitated by nonprofit attorney David Atkin launched the board of  
directors and assembly of organization representatives for the new  
alliance in Oregon.

For short, the name of the group is OCSC which stands for "Oregon  
Consumer/Survivor Coalition."

The longer name is Oregon Mental Health Consumer and Psychiatric  
Survivor Coalition. Incorporation was on 31 August 2007 via a grant  
from McKenzie River Gathering Foundation through MindFreedom Oregon  
to supply technical assistance, and after months of preparation and  
discussion of principles, mission, bylaws, the first board officially  
began yesterday afternoon Tuesday, 22 April 2008.

The start-up board of directors resides in all five regions of Oregon  
identified by the start-up committee, which felt that geographic  
diversity in the large State was a high priority:

OCSC BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Tracey Dumas - President
Rebecca Edens - Chair
Rebecca Eichorn - Vice President
Mark Fisher
David Oaks
Erik Palmer
Beth Quinn - Secretary
Rollin Shelton
Nancy Snider - Treasurer
Amy Zulich

Tracey Dumas of Eugene, Oregon, OCSC's first board president,  
experienced involuntary electroshock at the age of 19, and yet went  
on to win her PhD in sociology from the University of Oregon. Tracey  
is a well-respected leader of mental health clients, and is widely  
admired in Oregon and nationally.

For a Register-Guard newspaper article about Tracey's work  
challenging psychiatric drug company abuse, including a photo of  
Tracey, see:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/psych-drug-corp/eli-lilly/reconsidering- 
psychiatric-drugs

or if that link doesn't work go to:

http://tinyurl.com/6rrczm

Also made official yesterday were the 14 initial sponsor  
organizations in the coalition. Each group of mental health consumers/ 
psychiatric survivors in the coalition has a representative on an  
"assembly" to hear throughout the year from the grassroots and --  
after this start-up -- to elect future board of directors. More  
groups are welcome to invited to join:

OCSC ASSEMBLY

# Safe Inc. - representative: Donalee Smith, Springfield

# MindFreedom Oregon - representative: David Oaks, Eugene

# State of Oregon Mental Health Consumer/Psychiatric Survivor  
Advisory COUNCIL - representative: Rebecca Eichorn, Salem

# BEARS - representative: Marie Parcell, Corvallis

# Project ABLE - representative: Nancy Snider, Salem

# OCTA-Peer LiNC Oregon - representative: Rollin Shelton, Portland

# Empowerment Initiatives, Inc. - representative: Rick Snook, Portland

# Rainbow Clubhouse - representative: Beth Quinn, Bend

# ShelterCare Consumer Council - representative: Tracey Dumas, Eugene

# Oasis of Klamath County - representative: Pam Speaker

# GOBHI Consumer Caucus – Baker Co - representative: Erik Palmer

# Lane County Mental Health Consumer/Psychiatric Survivor Advisory  
Council - representative: Joyce Ann Findley

# The Union Drop-In Center in Grants Pass - representative: Mark Fisher

# A Place of Our Own - representative: Rebecca Edens, Tillamook

OREGON COALITION APPLIES TO JOIN USA COALITION

In their first order of business, the new OCSC board voted  
unanimously to apply to become one of the sponsors in The National  
Coalition of Mental Health Consumer/Survivor Organizations (NCMHCSO),  
which unites state-wide organizations in the USA representing people  
diagnosed with psychiatric disabilities. For info about NCMHCSO see:

http://www.ncmhcso.org

Most USA State governments provide some level of support for the  
state-wide voice of mental health consumers and psychiatric  
survivors, such as a state-wide conference, newsletter, office of  
mental health consumer affairs, etc.

Oregon is one of the minority of USA States to provide no funding at  
all for such state-wide activity since that budget item was totally  
eliminated in 2003. In the words of Oregon's official State motto,  
the historic beginning OCSC "flies with her own wings."

For a newspaper article in _Street Roots_ about the OCSC launch see:

http://www.streetroots.org/past_issues/2008/04_01/ 
news_mental_health.shtml

or use this web address:

http://tinyurl.com/5rs45b

YOU ARE INVITED TO FIND OUT MORE -- BECOME ACTIVE IN OCSC!

To ask questions, make suggestions and find out how about your  
organization may join the coalition assembly, contact board member  
Mark Fisher by e-mail at:

mfisher88 at msn.com

To stay in touch with OCSC, join the free public e-mail announcement  
list OCSC-NEWS here:

http://www.intenex.net/lists/listinfo/ocsc-news

To network with others and ask questions about OCSC you may join a  
free moderated discussion list:

http://www.intenex.net/lists/listinfo/ocsc-talk

For background about OCSC including bylaws, geographic regions, and  
more, see:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/as/act/us/or/ocsc

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ URGENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  * * * YOU CAN HELP GET OUT THIS IMPORTANT NEWS TO THE  
GRASSROOTS ! ! ! * * *

PLEASE TELL other Oregonians personally.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS ALERT to all appropriate places ON and OFF the  
Internet!

Please PRINT OUT and post this, especially where Oregon mental health  
consumers and psychiatric survivors may read it.

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