Late on November 19, a man wearing body armor entered Club Q – considered a safe haven for LGBTQIA+ folks – in Colorado Springs, Colorado and immediately began shooting. He […]
Community Happenings
Do Signs Telling People not to be Aggressive Help or Harm?
Signs warning that “aggressive behavior will not be tolerated” are popping up everywhere. According to Vice President of Operations and Chief Administrative Officer at Cooley Dickinson Hospital, Anthony Scibelli, at […]
DMH Guidelines for Implementation of Policy #21-01 — LGBTQ Non-Discrimination Policy
August, 2021 If guidelines are released, but no one knows about them, do they really exist? It’s a good question, and in many regards, the answer is probably “no!” That said, […]
SAMHSA’s National Recovery Summit, 2022
In August, 2022, people from across the country gathered both in person and virtually to attend the first recovery summit (or similar) to be held by the Substance Abuse and […]
Job Opportunities with Wildflower Alliance
The Wildflower Alliance is currently hiring for the following positions: Cross Disability Communities connector with the Wild Ivy Social Justice Network (20 hours per week with potential for more for […]
An Open Letter to Domenic Sarno, Mayor of Springfield, and Cheryl Clapprood, Springfield Police Commissioner
An open letter to Mayor Domenic Sarno and Police Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood re: the Shooting Death of Orlando Taylor on January 9, 2022
An Ongoing Trend: Peer Supporters Left Out of Conversations on Peer Support Conversations on Peer Support
There is a growing trend in Massachusetts: Meetings and committees forming to regulate peer support roles where people who have substantive experience working in peer roles are either dramatically under […]
Western Mass Holiday Meals and Volunteer Opportunities
Amherst – Not Bread Alone Soup Kitchen offers a community meal on Thanksgiving Day, in addition to weekend and Wednesday meals. Anyone and everyone is welcome to be part of the holiday celebration, […]
World Health Organization (WHO) Releases Full Report:
Guidance on community mental health services: Promoting person-centred and rights-based approaches Last month, we let you know that the World Health Organization (WHO) would be releasing guidance on rights-based approaches […]
Open Letter to Holyoke Mayor
To Acting Mayor Terence Murphy, On May 25, 2020, Darnella Frazier documented the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis, Minnesota police, dramatically amplifying the need to end […]
Open Letter to the Mayor of Northampton
To Mayor David Narkewicz: We are writing this open letter to you from the Wildflower Alliance (formerly known as the Western Mass Recovery Learning Community or ‘RLC’) in regards to […]
“Assisted Outpatient Treatment” Arrives in Massachusetts Behind the Backs of Advocates
The BOAT has arrived. BOAT stands for the Boston Outpatient Assisted Treatment Program. (Apparently, they reversed the order of the second and third word from what is most commonly seen to […]