New York City Voices: Home

Ask the Attorney Ask the Doctor Ask the Housing Experts Ask the Peer Specialists Ask the Pharmacist Ask the Therapist Editor-At-Large: As I See It Mental Health Comic Strips Roving Photographer Sex and Relationships Veterans' Issues: The Long Walk Home Ward Stories

WINTER 2009
Prev Edition « » Next Edition

Featured Articles

» Strangers in a Strange Land

: "…it stands to reason that, since the psychiatric profession calls refusal of reality a mental illness, all of our society is, in fact, mentally ill."

» Mental Health Empowerment Project Twentieth Annual Peer Network Gathering

: "People have learned how to chop off the heads of the leaders---so leadership must be diversified!"

» RENEWED BELIEF – RECOVERY

: "One life can be a credit to all life."

» View All Winter 2009 Articles

Strangers in a Strange Land

Harvey Newman

I just finished reading two books that resonated very deeply with me. One was an old science-fiction book called Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein, and the other was a non-fiction work by Ernest Becker called The Denial of Death. That I happened to read these two books in sequence turned out to be a wonderful example of how synchronicity operates in life.
Stranger in a Strange Land is the story of Valentine Michael Smith who becomes an orphan on Mars and is brought up as a Martian. When a second expedition arrives on Mars years later, they decide to bring Valentine Michael... (Click Here to Read More)

Mental Health Empowerment Project Twentieth Annual Peer Network Gathering

A Keynote Address by Vanessa Jackson LCSW

Paul Chipkin, Senior Peer Advocate, Staten Island Peer Advocacy Center

“I am unapologetically an angry black woman! Why aren’t you angry?
We want a queen! We want a queen! Kill the queen! Kill the queen!
You just need to discharge your rage so that you don’t destroy the person next to you, trying a different strategy!
People have learned how to chop off the heads of the leaders, so leadership must be diversified! There are all sorts of people out there doing things that we never hear about! What are your passions? What is your neighbor living for?
What happened to you? How does it affect you now? What do you need to heal? Though still wounded, what... (Click Here to Read More)

RENEWED BELIEF – RECOVERY

Recovery is a renewed belief in the human experience

Jeffrey Perry

Baltic Street, AEH, Inc. [Advocacy, Employment and Housing, (incorporated)] Bridger Program
Program Supervisor and CPRP (Certified Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioner)

Recovery is a renewed belief in the human experience—a belief in one's self, as well as, the belief in others. We can easily lose trust when situations have low merit; when we live in subhuman conditions that are below the poverty level without moral economic norms. Here no human being finds a love for one’s self. This coupled with a devastating mental health issue can deplete a person of any belief in themselves.... (Click Here to Read More)