Wild Ivy Social Justice Network

The Team

Director of Wild Ivy Social Justice Network

Fern Fairchild

Fern Fairchild (she/her) is the Director of Wild Ivy Social Justice Network. She is a Mad, Transfeminist and East Asian artist, activist, and organizer working to build community power as a basis for harm reduction, psychiatric abolition, and Mad liberation. She is a survivor of trauma, childhood abuse, and transmisogyny and has experience navigating thoughts and feelings of wanting to die from an early age, self injury, and more.

Her work has focused on building power for the abolition of policies and structures rooted in psychiatric oppression, racism, ableism, transmisogyny, and similar, and increasing protections against the use of force and deprivation of autonomy over our lives, minds, and bodies.

She is the former Executive Director of Keep The Promise Coalition in Connecticut, where she worked to deinstitutionalize the state’s mental health system, protect against the use of force, coercion and disempowerment, and in their place, create harm reduction supports led by people with lived experience.

Fern is also an analog photographer, making work about gender, nature, and madness, and is mom to two beautiful kiddos in Western Mass, where she lives with her beloved boyfriend.

Email:fern@wildfloweralliance.org

Cross Disability Community Connector

Lionel

Lionel: Cross Disability Communities Connector

I am working towards accessibility and liberation for all those impacted by the intertwining chains of oppression. I do so through art, coalitioning, and dreaming. I’m white, Deafdisabled, a mad advocate, and co-conspirator of any movement that aims to free all of us & not only some of us

Email:lionel@wildfloweralliance.org

LGBTQ+ and Youth Community Connector

Micah (he/him)

Micah is a white queer and transgender trauma survivor who grew up as a fundamentalist Christian in the southeastern US. He’s had experience working in peer support, working with young people in and outside of the traditional mental health system, and doing LGBTQ+ community organizing. Micah spends most of his time trying to figure out how to be a good parent to a young child, wondering about the possibilities of true community in the context of a changing world, facilitating virtual support spaces while sitting next to his 2 cats, and appreciating the beauty and abundance of rural New England.

Email:micah@wildfloweralliance.org

Mical Henriquez (they/them/elle)

Mical (they/them/elle) is the Assistant Director and Latine Communities Connector for the Wildflower Alliance’s Wild Ivy Social Justice Network. They are a black queer disabled trans non-binary first generation Afro-Indigenous Kiskeyane (Dominican). They are passionate about re-indigenization, liberation, restorative justice, decolonization, social justice advocacy and centering queer, trans, black, brown, and indigenous communities. They currently reside in Western Mass where they also co-facilitate a community theater collective for trans and gender expansive youth and adults, as well as songwrite and perform under the name Red Jasper. In their free time they enjoy spending time with their dog Appa and rabbits Ella and Louis, being with friends and community, astrology, hiking, dancing, watching cartoons and scary movies.

Mical (elle/they/them) es el subdirector y conector de comunidades Latines de la Red de Justicia Social Wild Ivy de Wildflower Alliance. Elle es Kiskeyane (dominicane) afroindígena negra, trans, no binarie, discapacitade, de primera generación. Elle le apasiona la re-indigenización, la liberación, la justicia restaurativa, la descolonización, la justicia social y centrarse en las comunidades queer, trans, negras, latinas y indígenas. Actualmente vive en Western Mass, donde también co-facilitan un colectivo de teatro comunitario para jóvenes y adultos trans y de género expansivo, además de escribir canciones y cantar bajo el nombre Red Jasper. En su tiempo libre disfrutan pasar tiempo con su perro Appa y sus conejos Ella y Louis, estar con amigos y la comunidad, la astrología, hacer caminatas, bailar, ver muñequitos y películas de terror.

Email:mical@wildfloweralliance.org

Click our photos to read our bios

Would you like to get in touch with us?
Le gustaria conectar con nosotros?

We are always eager to hear from our community and are happy to answer questions or connect you to the kinds of resources or information you may be interested in. Please feel free to reach out to any one of us in particular, or to the team as a whole using the emails listed below.

Siempre estamos interesados en escuchar de nuestra comunidad, ya sean preguntas sobre nosotros o otros recursos, informacion general sobre el bienestar mental, o sugerencias para nuestro equipo. Favor de contactarnos usando el correo general o, si busca conectar con alguien en particular, favor de usar su correo individual o el formulario.

General email: wildivy@wildfloweralliance.org

• Fern Fairchild, Director of Wild Ivy Social Justice Network & LGBTQ+ Community Connector
  • fern@wildfloweralliance.org
• Mical Henriquez, Assistant Director and Latine Community Connector:
  • mical@wildfloweralliance.org
• Lionel Frechette, Cross Disability Community Connector
  • lionel@wildfloweralliance.org
• Micah Matthias, Youth Community Connector:
  • micah@wildfloweralliance.org

Wild Ivy’s Organizing Principles / Points of Unity

Wild Ivy Social Justice Network is Wildflower Alliance’s power building and community organizing arm. It builds power for Mad Liberation and Racial and Social Justice in Massachusetts’ mental health and related systems. Wild Ivy creates spaces where Mad people and others impacted by emotional distress, psychiatric diagnosis, trauma, extreme states, homelessness, problems with substances and other life-interrupting challenges are empowered to use their voices to advocate and organize against psychiatric oppression.

We have established four organizing principles to serve as points of unity and guide our work. Through these, we hope to create spaces where Mad people, psychiatric survivors, trauma survivors, and others may join forces for our collective liberation.

1. ABOLITION AND DEINSTITUTIONALIZATION

Psychiatric incarceration is traumatic and ableist, and violates our autonomy. Psychiatric commitments are rooted in white supremacy, colonialism, and anti-Blackness, making deinstitutionalization a racial justice issue that disproportionately impacts Black and Brown people. 

We will fight for freedom and to abolish the institution, which confines and disrupts the lives of Mad people and others impacted by psychiatric oppression. 

In its place, we will support and envision a world with non-carceral, community-led, liberatory supports built by people with lived experience.

2. ALTERNATIVES AND COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT

Through an over reliance on medication, assessment, and loss of autonomy, community-based and clinical supports often replicate some of the most coercive and disempowering practices in inpatient facilities. 

We will organize to build power for peer-run supports to empower and train those most impacted by the psychiatric system and its abuses: psychiatric survivors, Mad people, trauma survivors, and others impacted by psychiatric oppression

3. FULL AUTONOMY OVER OUR MINDS, LIVES, AND BODIES

The use of force in psychiatry is disempowering and traumatic. 

We will organize against the use of force, and fight to defend personal autonomy over our minds, lives, and bodies. 

This includes our commitment to defend against proposals for Involuntary Outpatient Commitments and other attempts to chip away at the rights of Mad people and others impacted by distress, psychiatric diagnosis, trauma, extreme states, homelessness, problems with substances and other life-interrupting challenges.

4. CO-CONSPIRACY WITH OTHER INTERSECTIONAL EFFORTS FOR LIBERATION

By diagnosing our distress and other experiences as illness, psychiatry pathologizes diverse human experiences and gives cover to various forms of oppression and social injustice.

We will co-conspire and act in solidarity with other struggles for liberation which intersect with psychiatric oppression, and whose communities experience psychiatric coercion and oppression under the guise of “help”. 

We understand that oppression itself is often the cause of distress, extreme states, problems with substances, system involvement, and subsequently, psychiatric oppression.

Wild Ivy Resources and Involvement

Community and Public Awareness

Involuntary Outpatient Commitment Information Center
The Massachusetts legislature is currently considering whether to introduce Involuntary Outpatient Commitment (IOC) to MA. IOC is a legal process which allows a person’s community to petition courts to disempower them by committing them to involuntary outpatient treatment, under the threat of hospitalization under Section 12 if they do not comply. IOC t has been compared to probation and parole orders. Click here to view our IOC info center and take action to STOP IOC.

Understanding the Mental Health System: Section 12
Panel discussion with Rachel Chunnha, lawyer and ally, and lived experience Alternative to Suicides trainer, Martha Barbone, on your rights before, during, and after a Section 12 in MA. Strategies to mitigate harm are discussed with Q&A in the last half. Recorded in December, 2020. Video link here.

Close the Judge Rotenberg Center: End Violence Against Disabled People
A 1.5 hour panel discussion with disability justice activists Lydia X.Z. Brown and Shain Neumeier on the campaign to close the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC), a residential special education facility in Canton, Massachusetts that has been widely condemned as the only facility in the US to use electric shocks as punishment on disabled people. Video link here

Diccionario de Leyes: El Sistema Psiquiatrico
Guia basica de leyes gobernando el tratamiento psiquiatrico en Massachusetts. Aprenda varios terminos, procesos, recursos, y sobre sus derechos. Haga clic aqui

Education and Training

Peer Support Partnership with Community Action Youth Programs
A partnership with Community Action youth programs to create and offer a responsive, interactive, youth-specific peer support training series. Basics of the peer support model were covered, as well as information and statistics about the prevalence and management of trauma, and more in depth material on setting and maintaining boundaries. Four 1.5 hour sessions were offered, and over 30 youth successfully completed the trainings.

Stigma and Mental Health: A Presentation for UMass Psychology Students
Sharing of the Wild Ivy Social Justice Project as well as personal experiences and challenges navigating the mental health system.  The discussion included changes needed around  interactions with providers, and the stigma of diagnosis and labeling.  Followed by a Q&A.  This presentation was recorded for the RLC archives.

For more information on trainings available from our organization, please refer to the Wildflower Alliance Training page where you’ll find the core values that animate our trainings, our training team bios, and our currently available selection for individuals in and outside our community, mental health practitioners, and organizations

Support

Peer to peer support means coming together as regular people who have “been there” ourselves, and exploring whatever people are struggling with, side-by-side. We welcome you to find community in our current peer to peer support groups:

Online support: Join our Discord
People from MA and all over the world use our Discord to give and receive support, discuss topics that are important to us, share pictures, music, memes, etc, join live support groups and activities, and connect with others who have similar identities and experiences. Check it out here.

Online support: Zoom Groups
Exploring Relationships to Psych Meds Group. For anyone wanting to examine their relationship to psych meds, whether they plan to taper, withdraw completely, or remain on medication. This is a non-clinical space with two facilitators. Email Zoe if interested: zoe@wildfloweralliance.org

Spiritual Explorations Group. Spiritual Explorations group is a place to share about our relationship to our faith and wisdom traditions without judgement. Email Caroline if interested: caroline@wildfloweralliance.org

Advocacy

The Wild Ivy Social Justice Network is committed to advocating for our community through direct involvement with existing advocacy bodies, committees, legislators, and emerging groups engaged in the push for social change. Our approach is guided by the reality and the need for intersectionality and solidarity, and the value of lived experience as living wisdom:

“Nothing about us, without us.“

Some our current memberships include:

Hearing Voices Network board membership. The Hearing Voices USA website contains a wealth of information and resources for voice hearers, including information on accessing a support group in your area.

PAIMI Advisory Council membership. The Protection & Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness (PAIMI) Advisory Council was established to advise the Disability Law Center on priorities and issues important to people who are knowledgeable about mental health services in the Commonwealth. The Disability Law Center is the federally mandated Protection and Advocacy agency for Massachusetts.

MassHealth 1115 Waiver: Care Coordination Work Group membership. Please review the information on the waiver, work groups, and its role in mental health services here