| Purpose: |
Freedom Center in Northampton, Massachusetts is a group of people diagnosed with severe mental illnesses such as bipolar, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorders who work to provide alternatives to the mainstream system. Since 2001 we have offered a resource to people seeking holistic, peer-based, and non-medical approaches to their severe emotional problems, people who do not fit in to the model offered by other organizations and who are exploring and discovering their own paths to recovery. We work to protect human rights and ensure that people have true informed consent, to provide alternative treatments, and to end all force and coercion in mental health care.
We overcome the stereotypes, isolation, and despair that goes along with mental illnesses, and offer a positive vision of hope, community, and recovery. We help people avoid hospitalization, find meaningful relationships, overcome fear, volunteer in the community, return to work, and speak out about their experiences.
We have weekly support group meetings, yoga classes, free acupuncture clinic, weekly radio show, a film series, and public events. |
