Exploring Psychiatric Drugs: Harm Reduction, Withdrawal, and Mutual Support

Join us for three days of exploring our relationship to psychiatric drugs as individuals and as a community, leading up to the development of an ongoing peer support group on this topic.

 

 

Day 1 – Personal Exploration: A time to explore different aspects of your relationship with psychiatric drugs, including: your beliefs about what they are and how they work, the impacts they’ve had on your life, relationships, and sense of self, and the changes you might be considering moving forward.

 

Day 2 – Practical Considerations: An opportunity to consider the various factors involved in thinking about and preparing for coming off or reducing psychiatric drugs, including: the impacts of psychiatric drugs on the body and why this matters for reducing or coming off them, possible risks and benefits of withdrawal, common experiences during withdrawal, how to prepare yourself in a way that optimizes your chances of success, and strategies for more effective communication and self-advocacy with prescribers or family members.

 

Day 3 – Building Local Supports: Thinking about putting together a group for ongoing exploration of this topic, including: hearing from individuals who’ve run psych drug-related groups before, hearing from individuals who have come to different places on use of psych drugs through their own processes, and values and approaches we want to incorporate in any group that would exist in our own community.

 

Speakers will include Laura Delano, Sascha Altman Dubrul, Malaika Puffer and more.