CONSUMER AFFAIRS BULLETIN
Volume 4, No. 1 Spring 1999

Consumers and Psychologists Continue to Dialogue

There will be a mini-convention this summer at the American Psychological Association (APA) Annual Meeting in Boston, Mass., entitled, "Consumers and Psychologists in Dialogue." Its purpose is to open a dialogue on the topic of recovery from long term mental illness between the larger psychological community and the community of recovered and recovering consumers of mental health services, and to begin the process of developing partnerships and coalitions to our mutual benefit.

The idea for the mini-convention was generated during a weekend in August 1998 sponsored by CMHS, SAMHSA, in which ten representatives each from the psychological and the consumer communities were invited to Washington to work on developing a dialogue. The participants found this meeting to be of such significance that we decided that it would be a good idea to present some of the content to the larger community of psychologists. Many consumers are interested in collaborating with psychologists, and deeply believe from their own experiences that psychotherapy and psychosocial rehabilitation can be very beneficial. But to develop such a coalition, consumers state clearly that psychologists must understand the perspectives of consumers on such matters as participating in their own recovery, the integration of self-help with professional services, living with a diagnosis of serious mental illness, forced treatment and its alternatives, and on the abuses that many have experienced in the mental health system.

The mini-convention will consist of 10 sessions including a "Town Hall Meeting," in which psychologists specializing in long term mental illness conduct a dialogue with consumers of mental health services, and in which prominent leaders in psychology serve as discussants. The co-chairs are: Ronald Levant, Ed.D., Catherine Acuff, Ph.D., Robert Coursey, Ph.D., and Ronald Bassman, Ph.D.

Consumer Affairs Bulletin
Volume 4, No. 1, Spring 1999