We’re Not Crazy, the System Is

Listen 28 min

“Hey man, are you crazy?”   “Sister Friend, I think you need some counseling.”  “Are you off your medicine bro?”   Many of us hear those phrases everyday.   They’re said teasingly by friends or rudely shouted from a car waiting as you cross the street.

Many people hear these phases from doctors and government leaders in ways that are neither cute or funny.  Join us to hear what happens when someone with a mental disability smashes into the institutions and services of state and county government.

Susan Rogers

How much help is available? 

Which state hospitals are more dangerous than jails? 

Where’s the hope?

We’re joined by Susan Rogers who has been active in the consumer/survivor/ex-patient movement since 1984.  Susan is director of the National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse, a peer-run national technical assistance center.  She also was an organizer for the successful Occupy the American Psychiatric Association (APA) protest in May.

Poster from the Cramps, a punk rock band that once did a concert at the Napa State Hospital.

Karen Rose is here too.  A local therapist who lives with a visual impairment, Karen has spent 28 years in the field of mental health, including many years supervising and counseling graduate students at John F. Kennedy University and San Francisco State University. 

Plus, a new commentary by Jacob Lesner-Buxton on how left organizations treat disability issues.

Produced by Jacob Lesner-Buxton and Adrienne Lauby. Hosted by Adrienne Lauby.

Some California Bay Area Resources:
Alameda County Access (800) 491-9099;  SF (415) 255-3737)  Berkeley Mental Health 

Suicide prevention Hotlines: 1-800-suicide; in SF  (415) 781-0500

Karen Rose Career Counseling

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