Mad News!

Legal challenges to mental health laws appear to be having some impact on Australian mental health practices with better, fairer outcomes for people facing tribunals for Community Treatment Orders (CTO’s) now possible….. more

Madness is no joking matter.   Jim Flannery,  a “mad” comedian, activist and psychiatric survivor was recently taken into custody by mental health authorities following a performance at the Buttonwood Tree Performing Arts Center in Middletown, Connecticut, USA….. more

The Pink Panther Movement represents about 5 Million Australians who at any time are experiencing mental health problems. If you take into account the families and loved ones also affected, the problem becomes astronomical. Refusal of authorities to face the many long outstanding issues around effective treatment and resources is resulting in untold misery and suffering.

This is the place to have your say about these problems. It is also a place for us to try and collectively do something about them as well as building relationships with other wonderfully mad people.

As mad individuals acting alone we typically find ourselves isolated and without a public voice. We are also very vulnerable to those who are all too ready to take advantage of our situation.

 Dealing with mental health problems is difficult enough. We don’t need the additional burden of control freaks who want to treat us like children or worse. We can also do without poor quality, unaffordable or unavailable services as well as laws that deprive us of our human rights, justify institutionalized abuse and believe it or not even condone archaic practices that  are commonly regarded as dangerous, ineffective and regarded by some as torture.

 

There are four practical things we are trying to do about these problems – 

1. Provide peer support for people wishing to contest mental health tribunal hearings or wanting to transition off  unnecessary, addictive psychiatric medication including involuntary treatment. 
2. Encourage and support people who have been subjected to significant mental health abuses by governments and/or mental health service providers to join together to initiate legal class actions for damages.
3. Initiate or support challenges against state and federal laws and government practices where they contravene international laws or policies.
4. Initiate or support community based peer-to peer programs that have been shown to offer better, gentler, kinder and more affordable alternatives to the existing dysfunctional system

 

You can help by – 

• Joining this movement. Every member counts. We need numbers to make our concerns and opinions count.
• Becoming aware of what is going on and talking to any one who will listen.
• Have your say online by responding to written articles.
• Write an article yourself. We will help you polish up what you have written and make it look and sound great. Just remember we need factual information, not adjectives.
• Helping where you can. This is a voluntary organisation where we try and help each other to the best of our abilities. There are lots of jobs, both large and small that will need doing to keep a movement like this moving along and getting results.
• Whistle blowers are most welcome. We know you’re out there. We will do our best within the limits of the law to keep your identity secret if that is what you want. Please contact us anonymously before sending any information. 

We are not anti-psychiatry, anti-psychology, anti-medication, anti-government or mental illness deniers.

We are opposed to involuntary treatment, involuntary confinement, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment including  punishment or  torture in accordance with  the World Health Organisation  (WHO) Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2030 and the United Nations  Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
We are also opposed to treating human beings who are unfortunate enough to succumb to mental health problems (it can happen to anybody) as sub humans who deserve contempt and abuse, rather than compassionate help and support. 

We are  aware that many people working in mental health services share these concerns but often feel powerless to do much about the current situation.

We support the international Mad Pride movement.