What's On
Mentalympians.tv will offer viewers a wide variety of informative and empowering programming related to mental health, incorporating content on recovery; human rights; mental health advocacy; peer support programs; consumer organizations; employment; national policies; conference presentations; available local services; research findings; evidence-based treatments; and E-health.This community channel will, for example, introduce its audience to mental health advocates from around the globe, including such luminaries as Peter Ashenden, Ron Coleman, Dr Daniel Fisher, and Janet Meagher AM. These individuals stand up for the rights of others in our community, while their own lives simultaneously serve as inspiring and powerful examples of recovery, accomplishment and compassion.
Indeed, programming on this community channel need not be restricted to material specifically on mental health. Programming which features individuals with lived experience of mental illness in diverse roles will establish that people should not simply be defined by an illness. It will also illustrate that the community possesses a depth and wealth of skills, talent, intellect and interesting experience. Such programming might include a cooking show, original music, writing on global warming, soccer tips, political satire, social commentary or other types of entertainment. Moreover, it will be useful to create an online radio program for listeners to enjoy, while at the same time building a supportive culture for recovery. Imagine the potential audience for a monthly program in which a mentalympian interviews different celebrities in the world. Such a show would provide an excellent opportunity to reduce stigma as it would attract a large audience of people without experience of mental illness. Such interaction is predicted to reduce stigma and discrimination based on the 'contact hypothesis'.Peter Ashenden:
Watch highlights of Peter Ashenden's motivating and insightful keynote speech at the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network's 2007 summer conference, while he was executive director of the Mental Health Empowerment Project in the USA. Peter discusses his experience of living without hope with mental illness, his recovery and his firm belief that those who recover have a crucial role to play in helping inspire hope in other individuals who are not yet recovered.
Daniel Fisher, M.D., Ph.D.
Watch 'Building Hope in a Culture of Recovery', a thought-provoking 2008 interview with mental health advocate and psychiatrist Daniel Fisher in Washington, during which he stresses the essential role that hope plays in recovery from mental illness and why it is so importance to create a 'culture of hope' in order to combat the false sense of hopelessness in society in relation to recovery. Dan also discusses the role that hope played in his own personal recovery from schizophrenia in his twenties. As a result of his work in the field, Dan was selected as a member of the White House Commission on Mental Health.
Ron Coleman
Listen to 'Recovery! From Rhetoric to Reality', Ron Coleman's classic keynote address at TheMHS 15th annual conference in Australia during 2005. Ron is a Scottish mental health trainer, author and consultant who has successfully applied knowledge and insight gained from his own person experience of severe mental illness and recovery to design training packages to assist and empower others in the world who also hear voices. During his address, Ron cites the lessons learned from past social movements and urges mental health consumers to be proud of who they are and to stand up together for change.
Janet Meagher AM
Janet is a manager, activist, trainer and lecturer, who was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1996 for her advocacy on behalf of people with mental illness and psychiatric disability. In her 2007 video, Janet recounts that her enduring passion in this field resulted from her experience spending a decade in an institution. Janet addresses that people with mental illness are still mistreated in countries and suggests that such abuse occurs as a result of societal ignorance and people's attitudes. The inspirational humanist promotes the establishment of a consumer-led institute for mental health training and skills to assist workers in human services organizations. Watch Mental Health Vision #5