Hi

1. Miles.  Last week I took B.J. from Modesto to Eureka and back. My car did 1075 miles on this trip, and it held up well. B.J. has been lacking in opportunities to connect with the North Coast counter-culture, being largely involved in the problematics of the Central Valley/Modesto, for decades. I think this worked very well for her. We stayed with Tom Harkins in Eureka, checked out hehehe starfishes & redwood trees. During this period Tom had a meeting of the Adult Services Committee of the Humboldt County MHB. Probably associating with us was helpful, anyway he was able to articulate very clearly and in a measured way what was inoperative about the ‘peer recovery’ scheme that HCMH is pushing .. apparently to replace/do away with Day Treatment.
   
   
2. Psychology I.  We also stopped at Sharon’s place in Laytonville, which is in northern Mendocino County. B.J. had never met Sharon, but I do think they connected very nicely. Sharon reported to us on the evident choice to close down the PHF in Ukiah, due to their non-response to the Grand Jury report on violence against clients there. Ask Sharon <sclaus@asis.com> for more detail. B.J. and I wanted to scope out her place as a site for an A.C. retreat on client psychology. We envision a need to get together and talk out the various aspects of this Vision. There are practical issues like having comfortable sleeping arrangements for people who are fragile in various ways; we are puzzling on the details, but it should work out.  :-)
   
   
3. Kacki.  Good news is that when we got back to Modesto after three days, B.J.’s cat Kacki was still in a good humor, tho’ tired out waiting. B.J. is working graveyard Sun. AM and Mon. AM at Turning Point, a local non-profit provider. She is way undervalued for her skill and her contributions, but at least she is working significantly.
   
   
4. Mhocca.  Another side effect is that we inspired Tom H. to post his issue on <mhocca>, viz. “Psych Charts.” This has produced the best discussion on that list, maybe since it started last summer. Generally the effort to get the A.C. online is slow and difficult. Some people are slow on the uptake, e.g. Annette and Jose. Others have major mechanical/computer involvement issues, such as Alison, B.J., Kay, Sharon. Sharon says she’s bugging her son Caleb the computer whiz, who lives near Kay, to help her with her mechanical problems. I’m pleased to say that Phil and Tom J. are pretty well ‘plugged in’ now at that level. BTW I put a picture Sharon took of Tom J. and Kay together (from Annette’s place) on our website.
   
   
5. Mosher.  David Oaks, the political leader for SCI/RC and the current ‘old tradition’ strategic agenda known as Hilander 30 did a program last Friday in San Francisco, that Sally Zinman advertised on <mhocca>, jointly with Dr. Loren Mosher of Soteria House fame. This amounts to the ‘old tradition’ statement on how they want to change the system. Mosher was with NIMH organizing ‘schizophrenia’ research, 1969-80, up until the drug companies/NAMI had him ‘bumped off’. Anyway I knew that David has strategic designs on California client politics, that Sally gave him carte blanche at the 1999 Forum and that she had Judi Chamberlin’s keynote at San Diego 2000 presented directly from the ‘Hilander 30’ frame. So I made contact with Mosher and started what amounts to a meaningful dialogue. He thinks ‘responsibility’ is the answer to the medications/forced treatment preference in vogue today. But he hadn’t really extended this analysis  :-(  to the question of responsibility INSIDE the clients movement, to upgrading social relations in the manner of our ‘social accountability’ perspective.
   
   
6. Union.  Am also pursuing a conversation with Nancy Pena about the union recognition notion/agenda. Now that she’s the Director she means to go forward. She wants her staff to ‘plug in’ to independent client organizing. I think something will be worked out there. This involves re-centering the way professionals and clients work together. The current ‘partnership/recovery’ approach championed by DMH and the CNMHC leadership is based on the parameters of the ‘old tradition’, see my point on Dr. Mosher above. I’ve been working with Stephen Blum, the Director of Student Relations at CSPP in Alameda (a.k.a. Alliant University). He’s been mentoring me on consulting issues for years, so in particular his help with this helps us to change the dialogue in Santa Clara County in a way that also is to be palatable for the professionals. Nancy Pena BTW is a graduate of CSPP.
   
   
7. Psychology II.  In that regard, there is also a follow-up issue to the retreat we are projecting [early spring?] for Laytonville. Following that, we would do [late spring?] a Conference on Client Psychology, with the purpose of putting this agenda on the map publicly. It would include many/most of us in prominent roles, and it could/should involve some invited presenters/participants who are professionals. These could include [here I’m brainstorming] Nancy Pena, Phil Cushman (of CSPP), Coni Kalinowski, Medea Benjamin (Global Exchange), ..] Stephen is willing in principle I understand to help us put this on. [My projection here is — joint sponsorship by CSPP and the Accountability Caucus.]
   
   
8. Course.  Right now I’m working in a day-to-day way on the SJCC client course to be held at the Alliance Vocational Services facility at Autumn St., downtown San Jose. Yesterday we had our first ‘orientation’ meeting, at Catholic Charities’ Focus for Work. Tim (the client we hired on County M.H. funds to act as instructional aide/client culture facilitator), Phil and I met with five clients who were interested in possibly taking the course. This is just the beginning .. we are learning to make this work, and we are hopeful. The flyer is online. We are hopeful to get enough students so that this course will “go.”

Andrew