Welcome to the Home Page
of
Pat Risser
Mental Health Consultant
Here's what I look like (click on the picture
to read something about me)
My current favorite quote:
"I don't believe in 'mental illness'. My thoughts, moods, feelings and
emotions are not a disease, disorder or an illness. They are me. They
are the essence of my being and what makes me a unique human being."
My
Story ’Äì Narrative about who and what I am: The Role of an Advocate
"If you have 100 people in a state
hospital and find a way to get 50 of them out, I will celebrate with you for
the release of the 50. But, the next day I will knock on your door asking about
the difference between number 50 and number 51 and wondering why we couldn't
get just one more out. And, I will keep knocking until 99 are out because I'll
still be concerned about number 100. That's my job, my role as an
advocate."
UPDATES
and NEW STUFF
Mental Illness
"Prevention" at work in the community (Stoney Creek Club)
Link to Stoney Creek Club
Medical
Problems That Cause Psychiatric Behaviors
The Wrongness and Problem with Mental Health Court, Forced Treatment, Involuntary Outpatient Commitment, "Assisted Outpatient Treatment"
(Also downloadable in MS Word .doc format)
How to Escape from a Mental Hospital
Stopping Psychiatric Drugs
AndWithdrawing From Psychiatric Drugs
AndQuitting Psychiatric Drugs
A Rant on
Language - I AM NOT "MENTALLY ILL!"
'Recovery'
from Mental Illness: What is it? - Mad Pride!
History
of the Consumer/Survivor/Ex-Patient/Ex-Inmate Movement
(Short
Summary)
(Short Summary in MS Word .doc format)
(Comprehensive Resume/Vita)
(Trauma Resume)
(Training Consumers/Survivors as Providers Resume)
(Recovery Resume)
(Self-Determination Resume)
Pat's Online Brochure (Acrobat .pdf format)
Pat's Online Brochure (MS Word .doc format)
Some
More Information About Me
If you
need to download a copy of a presentation Pat has given at a conference or
elsewhere, go here
Training/Teaching Mental Health
Clients to Help Themselves
Whether it's called 'Peer Support' or
'Consumer-Operated Services' or 'Consumer Providers' or 'Peer Providers', it's
all about someone with lived experience helping another person get through
difficulties by providing non-judgmental understanding and support. This
requires that the helper have some skill and expertise and even some training
to overcome their own issues in order to better help others. This section talks
about how to help others.
Link to
Pat's "Consumers/Survivors as Providers" Web Page
Definition
of "Peer"
(consumer, survivor, ex-patient, ex-inmate, client, user, mental patient, etc.)
Advocacy
Connection to the Internet
Here's where you'll find the best of the rest.
There are email lists to which you can belong to keep informed. There's
also a brief list of web links that will provide you with the resources
you need to be a well connected activist/advocate.
Mental
Health Oppression and the Human Spirit: The Struggle to Overcome
The Mental
Health Client Voice
Force,
Coercion and Commitment Information
A List
of Alternatives to Seclusion, Restraints
and Other Force or Coercion
A Rant
Opposing Mental Health Courts
Amicus Brief by the Association of American
Physicians & Surgeons stating that: "A civilized State does not
forcibly drug its citizens, no matter how offensive. State use of the medical
profession to force such drugs on its patients is improper and vulnerable to
abuse. A precedent allowing forced drugging with mind-altering drugs could
lead, one day, to atrocities analogous to those prohibited by the Nuremberg
Code." Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals
under Control Council Law No. 10, Nuremberg, October 1946-April 1949
(Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O, 1949-1953) ("The voluntary consent of the
human subject is absolutely essential.") (emphasis added).
NAMI
"f-AMI-ly" Style Oppression and Misinformation
Family members and others are entitled to
support for the hardships they endure. However, when they step into the
political arena and claim to be the "Nation's Voice on Mental
Illness" then they are stepping on my voice and the voices of my peers. We
are entitled to our own voice! Adults don't need "mommy and daddy" to
speak on their behalf. Adults need to speak for themselves! That is a fundamental
right!
I always wonder why
"consumers/survivors would want to join NAMI. The answer is invariably
that NAMI has power and clout and is the only support around. My response is
that we need to develop our own supports and our own power and clout. To be forever
sheltered under the wing of parents, family, friends, the system is an
oppression from which we must free ourselves. That is a vital part of our
"recovery" process. We have to grow up to be free and recover.
Also included are: Lies, Lies and More Lies
Lies by TAC (Treatment Advocacy Center)
Lies by E. Fuller Torrey, M.D.
Lies by D. J. Jaffe
Psychiatric
Drug and Mental Health Facts and Information
Parity? No,
thanks! Not if it pays for force!
Viewing
"Borderline" in a more positive light as a Trauma Paradigm or way of
coping
Training
and Consultation in Mental Health Available!
Presentation/Training/Technical
Assistance Fee Schedule
Other Fun and
Interesting Stuff
To E-mail Pat send to
patrickrisser *at* gmail *dot* com
Note there isn't a link to my email
address. With no link, the spam bots that search the web are less likely to
fill my e-mail with their garbage.
Current
Medical History and other Background Information about my heart
LAST UPDATED March 2013