Mental Health Programs
About CMHS
CMHS National Advisory Council
Subcommittee on Consumer/Survivor Issues
Appendix B: Letter to National Advisory Council
September 7, 2000
To: CMHS National Advisory Council
From: CMHS NAC Subcommittee on Consumer/survivor/Survivor Issues
Re: A Note of Appreciation and Three Recommendations
As we begin our work, the NAC Subcommittee on Consumer/survivor/Survivor Issues states its appreciation to the CMHS National Advisory Council for their support of consumer/survivor/survivor initiatives including: the Alternatives Conference—the annual national gathering of consumer/survivor/survivor movement participants; the creation of the CMHS Consumer/survivor Affairs Specialist position—the first federal position to be held by a consumer/survivor/survivor advocate; and innovation in mental health policy programs via federal grant programs largely overseen by the National Advisory Council.
We want to particularly thank NAC member Frank Burgmann for engaging a broad range of consumer/survivor/survivor leadership in the Planning Group that led to the creation of the NAC Subcommittee on Consumer/survivor/Survivor Issues. In that process and in our diverse membership, we see opportunity to voice, at federal levels, the diverse and common ideas and values of the consumer/survivor/survivor movement.
As our Subcommittee on Consumer/survivor/Survivor issues first met and began to talk about ourselves and our issues, we were struck by commonalities of our stories of recovery and resilience. Our stories are based on our participation in the consumer/survivor/survivor movement that responded to us as persons and emphasized our strengths. Each of us has also experienced unsatisfactory providers, programs, and policies that left us isolated, that used language that responded to us as diagnoses, and focused on our weaknesses.
In our common experiences and observations, we see the value of "people first" language and of the consumer/survivor/survivor movement as a resource for resilience and recovery among people who use mental health services. As such, we recommend that the CMHS National Advisory Council:
- Support the use of "people first' language within mental health research, policies, programs, and professions. By so doing, the CMHS National Advisory Council affirms a similar resolution made by the National Council on Disability.
- Endorse the use of the phrase "discrimination and stigma" rather than ‘stigma' alone. We believe that use of the word ‘stigma' furthers the isolation and exclusion of people who experience mental illness by creating a special vocabulary.
- Encourage research on the value of the consumer/survivor/survivor movement as a resource for recovery and resilience among people who use public mental health services and to engage consumer/survivor/survivors in development of that research.
We look forward to your consideration of these recommendations as well as to an ongoing productive, collaborative relation with the NAC.
Back | Table of Contents | Next
|
