Advocacy
The Wildflower Alliance values Human Rights.
Wild Ivy Social Justice Network
Wild Ivy seeks to increase voice, choice, access, and personal and collective power for those who experience life-interrupting emotional distress and other challenges, and who’ve faced additional barriers due to marginalization.
Systems Advocacy
We support access to many options for housing, treatment, basic needs, and other supports, and stand firmly against the use of force, coercion, restraint, seclusion, and other forms of violence in “treatment” and “rehabilitation” settings.
Our advocacy has included:
- Offering training for staff at institutions such as psychiatric facilities, clinical offices, schools, housing providers, and jails.
- Organizing street protests of budget cuts, harmful media campaigns, and new legislation that would attack human rights.
- Publishing articles and information like the many below.
Individual Advocacy
The Wildflower Alliance advocates alongside people seeking to have their needs met and rights respected by the systems they are involved with. This can look many ways including:
- Attending appointments and meetings
- Educating people about their rights and options
- Making phone calls together
- Filling out paperwork together
Latest Advocacy Articles
Low-Income Sex Work In The Era of COVID-19
By Caty Simon, September 2020 Low-income sex workers have suffered enormously during the pandemic. An in-person industry which consists of being in intimate contact with others by definition is one most customers are justifiably unlikely to patronize for fear of infection. CARES Act benefits are hard to access for sex workers with complicated financial lives…
Homelessness During COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on so many people across our country and across the world. However, relatively few are considering the impact of the pandemic on several of our communities’ already most marginalized groups. This includes individuals living without homes. As just about every company promotes messages about “staying safe at home”…
DMH & The Drug Sniffing Dogs
On Thursday, September 12, the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health held a public hearing on changes in regulations that would allow them to make use of drug sniffing dogs in state psychiatric facilities. Over two dozen people made their way to Staniford Street in Boston, some driving in all the way from Western Massachusetts for…
Talking Points Against Drug Sniffing Dogs
The Massachusetts Department of Mental Health (DMH) will hold a public hearing for people to offer their opinions on whether or not it is acceptable for them to use drug sniffing dogs in their efforts to keep Worcester State Hospital (and possibly other hospitals) free of drugs. Laws have already been amended to allow for…
Strength in Together
A Statement from Western Mass RLC Director, Sera Davidow I write this on behalf of the Western Mass Recovery Learning Community (RLC). I also write it as someone who was quite directly impacted by a school shooting that took place back in 1992 at Simon’s Rock College in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. That shooting happened 20…
Mental Health in 21st Century Cures: Digging Deeper
21st Century Cures is a massive piece of legislative text. The actual document is a staggering 996 pages, huge portions of which are only minimally or indirectly related to mental health. Yet even the portion of the bill drawn primarily from the Murphy Bill (H.R. 2646), comprising “Division B” of Cures, includes well over 100…