Workshop #1 Accepting Voices in Ajax – Fri Nov 24th 2017


This workshop is open to all.
Registration is required, available online NOW with limited number of places at early bird discount rates  until Oct 10.

Limited places available.

 

Community Partners

 

Big thanks to Durham Mental Health Services and CMHA Durham Region for joining with us to make this workshop available in Durham Region, Ontario.
CMHA Durham Logo Continue reading

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I’m just a girl – Do Doubt


I’m just a girl
In the world
that’s all you’ll let me be

Oh, I’ve had it up to!
Oh, I’ve had it up to!!
Oh, I’ve had it up to here

Take this pink ribbon off my eyes
I’m exposed
And it’s no big surprise
Don’t you think I know
Exactly where I stand
This world is forcing me
To hold your hand
‘Cause I’m just a girl, little ol’ me
Well don’t let me out of your sight
Oh, I’m just a girl, all pretty and petite
So don’t let me have any rights
Oh, I’ve had it up to here!
The moment that I step outside
So many reasons
For me to run and hide
I can’t do the little things
I hold so dear
‘Cause it’s all those little things
That I fear
‘Cause I’m just a girl
I’d rather not be
‘Cause they won’t let me drive
Late at night
Oh I’m just a girl
Guess I’m some kind of freak
‘Cause they all sit and stare
With their eyes
Oh I’m just a girl
Take a good look at me
Just your typical prototype
Oh, I’ve had it up to here!
Oh, am I making myself clear?
I’m just a girl
I’m just a girl in the world
That’s all that you’ll let me be!
Oh I’m just a girl, living in captivity
Your rule of thumb
Make me worry some
Oh I’m just a girl, what’s my destiny?
What I’ve succumbed to
Is making me numb
Oh I’m just a girl, my apologies
What I’ve become is so burdensome
Oh I’m just a girl, lucky me
Twiddle-dum there’s no comparison
Oh, I’ve had it up to!
Oh, I’ve had it up to!!
Oh, I’ve had it up to here
Songwriters: Gwen Stefani / Thomas Dumont

 

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I am what I am – Gloria Gaynor


I am what I am
And what I am needs no excuses

 

 

 

I Am What I Am

I am what I am
I don’t want praise, I don’t want pity
I bang my own drum
Some think it’s noise, I think it’s pretty
And so what if I love each sparkle and each bangle
Why not try to see things from a different angle
Your life is a sham
Till you can shout out
I am what I am

I am what I am
And what I am needs no excuses
I deal my own deck
Sometimes the aces sometimes the deuces
It’s one life and there’s no return and no deposit
One life so it’s time to open up your closet
Life’s not worth a damn till you can shout out
I am what I am

I am what I am
And what I am needs no excuses
I deal my own deck sometimes the aces sometimes the deuces
It’s one life and there’s no return and no deposit
One life so it’s time to open up your closet
Life’s not worth a damn till you can shout out
I am what I am

I am, I am, good
I am, I am, strong
I am, I am somebody
I am I do belong
I am, I am, good
I am, I am, strong
I am, I am somebody
I am I do belong
I am, I am, useful
I am, I am true
I am, I am worthy
I am as good as you
I am, I am, useful
I am, I am true
I am, I am worthy
I am as good as you

Written by Mark Owen • Copyright © BMG Rights Management US, LLC
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how psychiatric diagnosis becomes “proof” of the “chemical imbalance” that causes psychiatric diagnosis


Short 5min video at xtranormal brilliantly sums up the utter bollox that is psych diagnosis…
 

So,
I’m depressed because I have a chemical imbalance …

and I have a chemical imbalance because I’m depressed?

 

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Normal is that which none of us quite are


Sure, I’ve never seen an average day
I’ve never met a normal man or woman

Professor Timothy FX Finnegan called
“Murphy’s first fundamental finding”.

Couldn’t find an average man
couldn’t find an average woman
couldn’t even find an average dog

I’ve never saw an average dog
I never saw a normal human being

Nothing is normal

The normal and the average
are statistical abstractions
that don’t actually exist.

There are no normal people,
any more than there are normal dogs, normal giraffes
normal events, normal days, average …

Nobody is the average size
Nobody is the average weight

These are all pure fictions.

The normal is that which none of us quite are…

 

 

More on Sean Murphy and Prof Timothy FX Finnegan.
http://www.rawilson.com/csicon.html

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Fidelity – Regina Spektor


I got lost in the sounds I hear in my mind
All these voices I hear in my mind
All of these words I hear in mind
All this music
And it breaks my heart

all together now…. ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah

I never loved nobody fully
Always one foot on the ground
And by protecting my heart truly
I got lost in the sounds I hear in my mind
All these voices I hear in my mind
All of these words I hear in mind
All this music
And it breaks my heart
And it breaks my heart
And it breaks my heart
Well, it breaks my heart
Suppose I never ever met you
Suppose we never fell in love
Suppose I never ever let you
Kiss me so sweet and so soft
Suppose I never ever saw you
Suppose you never ever called
Suppose I kept on singing love songs
Just to break my own fall
Just to break my fall
Just to break my fall
Just to break my fall
Break my fall
Break my fall
All my friends say
That of course it’s
Gonna get better
Gonna get better
Better
Better
Better
Better
Better
Better
Better
I never
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Workshop#1- Accepting Voices @ UoT: Fri 27 October 2017


Shortlink: http://wp.me/p1gxmN-47E


This workshop is open to all.  Registration is required, limited places available.

NOTE: If you are a current Grad Student at U of T please see note about spaces available to you for free through UTGSU Grad Minds.

Very pleased to announce opportunity to participate in innovative, ground breaking workshop, offered in partnership with
University of Toronto Graduate Student Union’s Grad Minds Committee.

About Hearing Voices

Hearing voices is intentional, ordinary language descriptive of a range of human experience that has been mystified, is often feared and yet which is also remarkably common.

Hearing Voices also refers to an emancipatory approach that accepts such experiences as very real and meaningful if sometimes difficult to live with, and that seeks to share ways we can learn to live with such difficult experiences and support and connect with each other.

This approach also includes many other similar experiences that can be hard to live with and harder to talk about and make sense of.

When we learn to put aside our fear of both ourselves and each other we generate possibilities that we can find and create new roles, connect with each other, and find richer experiences of being human as we co-create a world that’s easier to live in for all of us.

 

Continue reading

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Chokehold: Stop and Frisk


Black people are many times more likely to be given a diagnoses of “mental illness” especially those involving what gets called “psychosis”.

No wonder.

This from an excellent series in The Guardian, Paul Butler looks at policing in US, which may be more extreme than in other countries, but really, not entirely different.

This part focuses on Stop and Frisk / Search and impact on black men in particular.

Paul Butler in The Guardian.
Chokehold: in four Parts
Aug 2017
Part Three: Stop n Frisk


Stop and Frisk

“For African American men, stop-and-frisk is a form of government. It is the most visceral manifestation of the state in their lives.

Most black men have never been convicted of a crime.

About half of black men get arrested at some point during their lives.

But virtually every African American man gets stopped-and-frisked.”

 

Full article at

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Thunderstruck – Steve’n’Seagulls


Big thanks to my friend SD for this one…

Who knew Finnish Bluegrass-Metal was a thing?

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I’m Shippin’ up to Boston – Dropkick Murphys


I’m shipping up to Boston whoa
I’m shipping up to Boston whoa
I’m shipping up to Boston whoa
I’m shipping off…to find my wooden leg

“I’m Shipping Up To Boston”

I’m a sailor peg
And I’ve lost my leg
Climbing up the top sails
I lost my leg!

I’m shipping up to Boston whoa
I’m shipping up to Boston whoa
I’m shipping up to Boston whoa
I’m shipping off…to find my wooden leg

I’m a sailor peg
And I’ve lost my leg
Climbing up the top sails
I lost my leg!

I’m shipping up to Boston whoa
I’m shipping up to Boston whoa
I’m shipping up to Boston whoa
I’m shipping off…to find my wooden leg

 

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