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Maybe time to move towards funding approaches which do not exclude service user-led organisations which may be more effective than bigger organisations, just because they cannot bid on a large scale?

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Q for Sam : Lifecraft funding cuts has parallels with Lifeworks being shut down by CCCG too

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Q for Sam : Lifecraft funding cuts has parallels with Lifeworks being shut down by CCCG too

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The Lifeworks user led occupation and campaign mid 2010s led to five year stay of execution and retaining the day centre drop in for "complex cases" / people living with personality disorders in Cambridgeshire. The service was sadly closed last year and service users discharged back to primary care GPs despite the evidence their "diagnosis" / support needs are likely to remain permanent and don't show short term outcomes. Lifeworks like Lifcraft saved lives. Solidarity.

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Leaving people with lived experience unsure whether their services will be their from week to week, due to funding issues, is cruel & unnecessary. Plan ahead!

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People with lived experience should be at the forefront of decision-making, when designing & delivering your services.

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Consult people who run and use services before  putting out to tender.  Recognise waste of tender/commissioning system that occurs on so many levels. If decision is made to stop funding, transition periods must be considered and supported. Use qualitative outcome measures to guide decisions around funding - people can say why things work or don't work for them. Smaller organisations may not have as much money but that doesn't mean they add less value. People with lived experience should be involved in tender decisions so that process isn't completely top down and disadvantages smaller, user-led organisations

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Consult people who run and use services before  putting out to tender.  Recognise waste of tender/commissioning system that occurs on so many levels. If decision is made to stop funding, transition periods must be considered and supported. Use qualitative outcome measures to guide decisions around funding - people can say why things work or don't work for them. Smaller organisations may not have as much money but that doesn't mean they add less value. People with lived experience should be involved in tender decisions so that process isn't completely top down and disadvantages smaller, user-led organisations

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Give people with lived experience a seat at the table

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Give people with lived experience a seat at the table

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Lived experience perspectives should be given a place at the table, as equal stakeholders with service providers, in designing & delivering the mental health services upon which they rely.

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Lived experience/service user unions or similar provide a unified front, & allow for organising & activism around the interests of people with lived experience.

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Provide how-to-vote cards, based on each party/candidate’s perspectives on mental health topics, to inform voters in the lead up to elections.

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Platforms like Zoom provide great alternatives to real-life groups, for those able to access technology & the internet. Wildflower Alliance (formerly Western Mass Recovery Learning College) has created an online Discord community which is an excellent example of an online space created to replace the physical space they were running pre-pandemic. They also offer a bunch of groups online, in addition to their Discord server, all of which can be found here: https://wildfloweralliance.org/online-support-groups/

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About online groups

Most of our on-line groups used Zoom to meet. New to Zoom? Learn about joining Zoom meetings by watching this video.

Time Zones

All times listed are Eastern Time in the US. If you aren't sure how your time zone lines up with Eastern Time in the US, you may CLICK HERE and look for the time in Boston, Massachusetts or other east coast US-based cities. Please keep in mind that if you are on the other side of the globe from us, the group may meet on a different day for you.

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Online and Phone Supports - Wildflower Alliance

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Most of our on-line groups used Zoom to meet. New to Zoom? Learn about joining Zoom meetings by watching this video. All times listed are Eastern Time in the US. If you aren't sure how your time zone lines up with Eastern Time in the US, you may CLICK HERE and look for the time in Boston, Massachusetts or other east coast US-based cities.

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One key thing is getting people registered to vote – I did a campaign on this during the general election in 2019. You can register to vote if you're under section which lots of people don't know. We need to mobilise so people know their rights

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Create alternatives to the biomedical model

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Create alternatives to the biomedical model

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Peer-run respites & warmlines, community-run crisis alternatives, & similar have great potential for good, & can be created to operate without the power disparity clinical services inherently embody.

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Samuel talked about engaging with the formal political system while Keira spoke about direct activism and creating new spaces outside of these systems. I was wondering what the panellists view is on the most effective way that service users/survivors should look to mobilise and organise?

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We need data on the effectiveness of something other than biomedical interventions

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We need data on the effectiveness of something other than biomedical interventions

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If we can prove the effectiveness of alternatives to traditional clinical interventions, we stand a higher chance of being able to receive funding grants, & being provided with spaces for service provision. Getting hard data on this would be fantastic, as would doing qualitative research on the lived experience of service users.

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Keira: do you think there is a role for disorderly spaces in formal mental health services? Or do these spaces depend on rejecting formal services?

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Keira: do you think there is a role for disorderly spaces in formal mental health services? Or do these spaces depend on rejecting formal services?

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Keira - are there ways that mental health professionals in statutory services can learn from these user-led spaces to listen better and be with? (or is it just too hard because services are so focused on agendas and efficiency)

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Keira - are there ways that mental health professionals in statutory services can learn from these user-led spaces to listen better and be with? (or is it just too hard because services are so focused on agendas and efficiency)

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People's own explanations and understandings of themselves and their experiences is often more important than labels. Listening to them without judgement, rather than trying to get people to see psychiatry's version of reality

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We need to raise the profile of qualitative data to match quantitative data in the eyes of the people writing health and social care guidelines (like NICE, etc.).

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Liz – thank you for sharing your story. Sometimes services use the term resilience, but what they actually mean is discharging people and stopping them relying on services. How do you think this could be avoided?

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Liz – thank you for sharing your story. Sometimes services use the term resilience, but what they actually mean is discharging people and stopping them relying on services. How do you think this could be avoided?

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Q for Keira - thanks for sharing your research in an thoughtful presentation. I wanted to ask whether that way of listening that you witnessed in the activist groups through your research has shaped also the way in which you listen and observed during your fieldwork? & following up, what do you think it is the potential of these spaces in transforming anybody who participates/transits through them?

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Q for Keira - thanks for sharing your research in an thoughtful presentation. I wanted to ask whether that way of listening that you witnessed in the activist groups through your research has shaped also the way in which you listen and observed during your fieldwork? & following up, what do you think it is the potential of these spaces in transforming anybody who participates/transits through them?

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from Paola Debellis Alvarez

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We need to look beyond stigma, & instead focus on the core issue - discrimination, & the denial of the human rights of those of us with lived experience

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We need to look beyond stigma, & instead focus on the core issue - discrimination, & the denial of the human rights of those of us with lived experience

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Australian activist & advocate Fay Jackson said something along the lines of this at a conference a couple of years ago.

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If NHS / Health services / clinical services can't, can mental health orgs and charities be confident to hold disorderly spaces for their members?

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@Sam @Liz @Keira : a common thread I heard from your talks was how important it is for people in mental distress to have safe spaces to be heard or just to be. But these are being cut as not appreciated fully by the medial model approach to mental distress. How can we push for a social model approach?

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My question is for Liz. We still live in a materialistic era, in which spiritual explanations are not considered relevant to explain mental illness and psychoses in particular. According to your experience, what is the role of spiritual approaches in building resilience in mental illness?

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A more holistic approach is needed, with improved availability and easy access to therapy and other healing modalities, such as meditation, yoga, art therapy and exercise. 

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A more holistic approach is needed, with improved availability and easy access to therapy and other healing modalities, such as meditation, yoga, art therapy and exercise. 

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How can people who do not suffer from mental illness be educated so that they can break through the barriers posed by bureaucracy and the high stigma of traditional mental health?

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How can people who do not suffer from mental illness be educated so that they can break through the barriers posed by bureaucracy and the high stigma of traditional mental health?

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Mutual aid is excellent for building community

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Mutual aid is excellent for building community

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Ensuring the basic needs of community members are met is an excellent way of building solidarity, & thus, community.

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​If health and social care providers and commissioners were democratically accountable to the local communities they serve, would this lead to a better quality of life for psychiatric survivors?

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​If health and social care providers and commissioners were democratically accountable to the local communities they serve, would this lead to a better quality of life for psychiatric survivors?

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Look into Emotional CPR training, to help clinicians unlearn some of their bad habits...

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Emotional CPR Shows Promising Evidence of Community-based Support

Presented by Amanda Myers, MPH, Research Associate, Schneider Institutes for Health Policy, Heller School, Brandeis University, and Shira Collings, BA, Youth Coordinator for the National Empowerment Center, Youth Emotional CPR trainer.

In May 2020, the UN called for wide-scale community psychoeducation, yet few programs currently exist. In wake of COVID-19 and associated shutdowns, increased loneliness, grief, trauma, anxiety, depression, and substance use, the need for community-based support is ever-present. This presentation discusses the implementation of the Peer and Academic Partnership to study the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of Emotional CPR (eCPR). The qualitative and quantitative studies were set to examine eCPR: a psychoeducation program developed by persons with lived experience of mental health challenges designed to be delivered by anyone for anyone in the community.

Emotional CPR Response to COVID-19

In these times of fear, uncertainty and increased isolation, NEC believes our society needs more than ever to connect and feel empowered. Social distancing has been recommended as an important way to slow the spread of COVID-19. We need to distinguish between physical distancing of at least 6 feet and social distancing. Physical distancing is recommended now, but social distancing can be damaging and retraumatizing, especially to vulnerable individuals. However, even when we are physically distant we can socially connect online. Those of us with lived experience of severe emotional distress are well prepared for this disaster because we have long known that our healing and resilience are enhanced by our connecting at a heart-to-heart level. So we need not turn physical distancing into social isolation. We have developed Emotional CPR (eCPR) as a way to enhance everyone's capacity to Connect, emPower, and Revitalize each other through mutual support. To adapt to present life, we have developed an online version of eCPR which we are rolling out now. We are now offering online eCPR certification trainings, support groups, and communities of practice. These efforts are helping to alleviate the trauma of social isolation through physical distancing and lay the foundation for healing.

Check our offerings at https://emotional-cpr.org/training.htm, and please send us a message if you want to participate.

Webinar: Emotional CPR Brings Hope, Life and Community to a Sad World

British Columbia Psychosocial Rehabilitation | Advanced Practice is very pleased to announce a webinar with Dr. Daniel Fisher CEO of The National Empowerment Center, and Shontelle Prokipcak from Mental Health and Addiction Services of Ottawa! Click here for the webinar overview

Veterinarians Find Emotional CPR Helpful

The University of Tennessee Veterinary Social Work program is now training students in Emotional CPR. The program sees Emotional CPR as helpful in many ways, both to the veterinarians and their clients. Veterinarians have a high stress and emotionally difficult job as detailed in this recent article that highlights the elevated suicide rates among veterinarians. The bond between pets and owners is like family, and veterinarians have to support not only the pet, but also their owners. Animal lovers themselves, veterinarians see a lot of sickness and death and often end up in the role of grief counselor when pets die. Emotional CPR is not only helping veterinarians connect with their clients' emotions, but it is also helping them to connect with their own emotions and support each other around this difficult work.

Dan Fisher's keynote address, "Heartbeats of Hope" to the Asia Pacific Conference, Brisbane, Australia, October 25, 2016

The radio interview of Dan Fisher and Jenny Speed on topic of Emotional CPR, by Australia Broadcasting Corporation, Dec. 4, 2016

Psychiatrist Daniel Fisher would like to shift the paradigm of mental health services and empower people to play a strong role in their own recovery-so he's teaching emotional CPR. Click to listen

MH Weekly quotes Daniel Fisher pointing out the value of eCPR in avoiding hospitalization

It's a decades-old debate - what is the best form of treatment for people with mental illness who are incarcerated or homeless? A number of contributors to the New York Times opinion page, "Room for Debate," on May 9 tackled that question by commenting on what works and whether asylums should be reopened. Click to view/download (PDF, 234KB, 8 pages)

New Introduction to Emotional CPR Training Video is now available

A Public Health Education Program

This DVD uses a combination of discussion and scenarios taken from real life to illustrate the values and practice of Emotional CPR (eCPR), an exciting and innovative public health education program designed to teach people how to support others through emotional crisis/distress and into recovery.

Click here to preview this training video.
Click here to purchase the video.

Emotional CPR:Saving Lives, Healing Communities - Webinar Archive Now Available!

Click here for the archived webinar recording.

Endorsements

CARF International cites Emotional CPR

CARF International cites eCPR as "a holistic, empowering approach to assisting persons served to cope with emotional crisis" in their Behavioral Health Standards Manual. eCPR is included as an example of staff training in the use of alternative interventions. CARF accredits health and human services, including behavioral health, on five continents.

Emotional CPR (eCPR) is a public health education program designed to teach people to assist others through an emotional crisis by three simple steps: C = Connecting, P = emPowering, and R = Revitalizing. People who have been through the training consistently report that the skills they learned have helped them communicate better in all their relationships. They tell us that eCPR is a way of life. Presenters used real life stories to explore how eCPR is healing communities, including:

How eCPR is being incorporated into diverse cultures and communities across the U.S. and overseas

How eCPR is being used to heal trauma and intergenerational violence

How eCPR is an effective suicide prevention approach

How eCPR is useful for law enforcement/public safety personnel

Click here for a flyer with presenter information (PDF, 306KB, 2 pages)
PDF version of PowerPoint for webinar (PDF, 1.48MB, 29 pages)
Click here to watch this informative webinar from 2012 which describes the fundamental concepts of Emotional CPR.

Use of a Reflecting Team

Emotional CPR (eCPR) Participant Workbook

This workbook was developed for the eCPR certification training and provides a thoughtful discussion of the values of eCPR, the features of dialogue, and the primary components of eCPR: C = Connection, P = emPowering, and R = Revitalizing. Other sections include how to prepare oneself to provide eCPR as well as tips for self-care. The workbook is filled with inspiring quotes, real-life examples of embodying the practice of eCPR, sample instructions for role plays, and other exercises. The workbook is designed for anyone who may encounter a person in emotional crisis - law enforcement, mental health peers, mental health providers, family members, and others.
Click here to purchase the workbook
What is eCPR?

Emotional CPR (eCPR) is an educational program designed to teach people to assist others through an emotional crisis by three simple steps:

C = Connecting
P = emPowering, and
R = Revitalizing.

The Connecting process of eCPR involves deepening listening skills, practicing presence, and creating a sense of safety for the person experiencing a crisis. The emPowering process helps people better understand how to feel empowered themselves as well as to assist others to feel more hopeful and engaged in life. In the Revitalizating process, people re-engage in relationships with their loved ones or their support system, and they resume or begin routines that support health and wellness which reinforces the person's sense of mastery and accomplishment, further energizing the healing process.

eCPR is based on the principles found to be shared by a number of support approaches: trauma-informed care, counseling after disasters, peer support to avoid continuing emotional despair, emotional intelligence, suicide prevention, and cultural attunement. It was developed with input from a diverse cadre of recognized leaders from across the U.S., who themselves have learned how to recover and grow from emotional crises. They have wisdom by the grace of first- hand experience.

For more information, to schedule an introductory workshop or a certification training in eCPR, or If you would like to be an eCPR Ambassador and help spread the word about this exciting program, send us an email via the contact form, or call 877-246-9058.

What is emotional crisis?
Crisis as Universal Experience
Emotional crisis is a universal experience. It can happen to anyone, at any time. When we are exposed to this extraordinary situation, we develop amazing and creative ways to protect ourselves, To onlookers, these protective mechanisms may look very odd, even "crazy". To us, they have meaning. Through using eCPR we can better understand and overcome our fear of seemingly unusual behavior brought on by an emotional crisis. Through eCPR we learn how to form supportive connections that empower the person in emotional crisis so they are able to feel revitalized and quickly resume meaningful roles in the community.

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Presented by Amanda Myers, MPH, Research Associate, Schneider Institutes for Health Policy, Heller School, Brandeis University, and Shira Collings, BA, Youth Coordinator for the National Empowerment Center, Youth Emotional CPR trainer. In May 2020, the UN called for wide-scale community psychoeducation, yet few programs currently exist.

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Hello, we are students of the Austral University of Chile, we attend the congress and we want to ask the following question: How people who don't suffer from mental illness can also be educated so that they can break through the barriers of bureaucracy and the high stigma of traditional  mental health?

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Don’t assume funding will be there forever

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Don’t assume funding will be there forever

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Have varied sources of funding and plan for what happens if you lose your biggest source of funding

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Make sure, when services are recommissioned, old services are maintained until new services are up and running. This could have make a big difference in the case of Lifecraft.