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Portland, Oregon

Outreach Specialist

I am known to many as a consumer/survivor. That is to say, I have been hospitalized, psychiatrized, demoralized, and reprioritized. I was the one who did that later, reprioritization that is. After being left on the shelf, forgotten, and being told that I would never work and do no better than a Social Security check, I fell into the consumer/survivor movement. Elected first president of the board of directors of Mind Empowered Incoroprated in 1987, I learned from other board members -- who had psychiatric labels -- that I did not need to follow the dictates of mental health professionals who did not really know me. I could make my own decisions. I took their advice, and my life changed dram