Freedom Center organizing meetings are at the Quaker Space 43 Center St., second floor, side entrance, Northampton -- twice monthly. Second and Fourth Tuesday at 7:30. Email Freedom Center for more info, freedomcenterinfo(at)gmail.com .

Freedom Center is going strong!

After more than 9 years of fast-paced activism focus, Freedom Center is going strong -- and evolving. We're concentrating on our community support and wellness programs these days: support groups, yoga, writing, and acupuncture. We're also continuing to co-sponsor Madness Radio and we collaborate with the Recovery Learning Community and the Statewide Harm Reduction Coalition.

Healing Homes Film w/Daniel Mackler Premieres in March; Multiple Showings!

Abuse, Trauma & Madness with Jacqui Dillon: Tuesday, March 22nd, 730pm @ Mount Holyoke College

Join us for a tantalizing Spa Night! On Friday January 21st from 530-830pm at the Quaker Friends Meeting House on 43 Center St. in Northampton is an opportunity for you to come relax while also supporting social justice work.

Spa night is an opportunity for YOU to get a relaxing and affordable massage, acupuncture treatment, craniosacral treatment, shamanic reading, and more! Tickets start at just $5 and an unlimited pass to get as many treatments as you want cost %50.

Congratulations Oryx!

I am thrilled to be joining the National Empowerment Center (NEC) team as its Technical Assistance Center (TAC) Director. I am also looking forward to working with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to continue systems change state by state. The most important piece of what will inform my work is my lived experience with altered states of consciousness: being diagnosed, hospitalized, and subsequently finding a path to healing.I

MEMORIAL-- Tuesday Dec 28 at 2 pm in Williamstown at the First Congregational Church, in the chapel downstairs

Watch the video Dave's sister Mecca made here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB_I0WwsYG8

Freedom Center celebrates our memories of Dave Burns, one of the original Freedom Center organizers. Dave's activism led to important reforms in the Northampton area mental health system by exposing and denouncing abuses and pressing for improved treatment. He was a key organizer in local group homes and among mental health consumers in Northampton, who he met on the streets and in low income residences. Dave was also an important link to the past, because he lived in RD Laing's therapeutic communities in London. He was a great guy and his spirit is very much alive in the work of the Freedom Center.

 

 

 

Listen to a great interview with Dave here.

 

"I truly found hope and light through the Freedom Center.... 5 1/2 years later -- I am med free (since April 25, 2005) and living life to the fullest."

Five years after discovering Freedom Center, a member writes of coming off all his meds, returning to work and school, and now heading for law school...

Thank you Judi Chamberlin for all your inspiration, your years of friendship and support for Freedom Center, and the inspiration you have given the survivor movement.

Judi passed away. She recently wrote:

I don't believe in an afterlife; I think when I die it will just be a return to the same nothingness as before my birth. I believe that the only 'afterlife' is the way one lives on in people's memories, and it has been so gratifying to me to hear from so many people who appreciate the work I've done and the positive effect I've had on their lives. So I feel confident that I will live on in the memories of many, many people, and that thought gives me great comfort.

http://www.freedom-center.org/we-love-you-judi-chamberlin

http://knowledgeisnecessity.blogspot.com/2010/01/judi-chamerlin-requiem-for-hero.html

A blog article by former Boston Globe health journalist and _Side Effects_ author Alison Bass profiles the Freedom Center & Caty Simon. Fairly accurate, and yay coverage, and yay Alison Bass.
http://alison-bass.blogspot.com/2009/06/freedom-center-alternative-to.html

We have recently received over $1000 worth of donations! We have so much gratiude for the people keeping us going right now! Yet, The Freedom Center is still in a semi-urgent place. In several months we will be receiving our annual grant of $2,500 from the city of Northampton that will help us  maintain our programs and we may currently re-applying for our annual grant from the Resist foundation. Right now however, we do not have  much in our bank account. Head to our Donation page or go to our Cause on Facebook to make a tax-deductible donation: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/288347

Newsweek magazine just did a big story on Mad Pride and The Icarus Project, profiling Freedom Center co-founder Will Hall.

Check it out on the Newsweek site here; view a .pdf of the magazine here; and you can also take a look at the art gallery they put together here. And feel free to leave comments and join the discussion on the Newsweek site.

Yet again, the city of northampton has recognized the valuable services that Freedom Center has provided and has given the Freedom Center additional funding to keep our programs going. The city of Northampton awarded the Freedom Center $2,500 towards helping to maintain our weekly writing group, acupuncture clinic, yoga classes, and support group. All of these programs take place in Northampton and are free and open to the public and therefore provide lots of benefit to northampton residents.

 

 

 

 

 

The solicitation ordinance, which if passed would have de facto criminalized panhandling in most of downtown Northampton, has been withdrawn by the mayor's office & the police department from the Northampton city council'sconsideration and is "tabled indefinitely".