I am proud to have helped develop these two websites, contributing researching, writing and editing for them. One of the most significant elements is the development of the most comprehensive, self-directed, layperson’s guide to safer psychiatric drug withdrawal ever produced. I include below further details from the organization’s executive director.
Rob
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I am writing with news that I’ve been eagerly anticipating sharing with you for quite some time. On behalf of my fellow co-founders and a growing number of volunteers, advisors, supporters, and contributors, I am incredibly excited to announce the launch of Inner Compass Initiative (ICI), a new 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and ICI’s first major effort, The Withdrawal Project (TWP).
Our mission is to provide information, resources, tools, and connecting platforms ?to facilitate more informed choices regarding all things “mental health” and to support individuals and groups who wish to leave, bypass, or build community beyond the mental health system. (You can learn more about this mission here.)
Among the many resources you’ll find on the ICI or TWP websites are:
- Informational resources on psychiatric drugs, physical dependence and withdrawal: Many people are never given access to honest, frank information about psychiatric drugs when they make the decision to take or come off these medications. TWP’s Learn section provides an accessible introduction to how psychiatric drugs affect the central nervous system, what psychiatric drug dependence and withdrawal are and why they occur, and what “slow” tapering truly means. In addition, ICI’s Learn/Unlearn section provides accessible educational information about the safety and effectiveness of psychiatric drugs in ways that are much more detailed and forthright than typically appear at other major online sources.
- TWP’s Companion Guide to Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal: Despite the astronomical numbers of people taking psychiatric medications, there’s a severe dearth of studies or research into how to safely taper off them. But countless numbers of individuals who’ve come off medications themselves have taken what they’ve learned along the way and developed sophisticated taper protocols that they are finding lead to smoother and more successful outcomes. We’ve gathered this rich anecdotal wisdom and created a comprehensive layperson’s “Companion Guide” to safer psychiatric drug withdrawal that is freely available to all who seek it.
- TWP Connect: When people embark on the psychiatric drug withdrawal journey, they often feel terribly isolated, alienated, invalidated, and afraid – and so we’ve created TWP Connect to help them feel less so. It’s a free online platform that allows registered members who are thinking about, are in the process of, or have past experiences with reducing or coming off psychiatric drugs to find and connect with one another based on their location, interests, and needs.
- ICI Connect: We know that more and more people are losing confidence and trust in the mental health system and seeking out alternatives to it– but they often struggle to find one another in their local communities to discuss, organize, and build different ways forward. We’ve created ICI Connect to meet this need. It’s a free online platform that helps people thinking critically about all things “mental health” find and connect with one another based on their location and specific interests.
I’m so excited to be sharing news of our launch with you. Visit Inner Compass Initiative at www.theinnercompass.org and The Withdrawal Project at withdrawal.theinnercompass.org. You can also subscribe to our newsletter to stay up-to-speed on the latest news from us, and find us on Facebook and Twitter. Lastly, if one or both of our Connect platforms speak to you in some way, please sign up today! They will only become the robust networking and organizing platforms we built them to be if many of us join and give life to them.
Love and liberation,
Laura Delano
Executive Director
Inner Compass Initiative (ICI) is a new 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides information and resources to help people make more informed choices regarding all things “mental health” and to support people who wish to leave, bypass, or build community beyond the mental health system. Its first major effort, The Withdrawal Project (TWP), is a comprehensive online hub for safer psychiatric drug withdrawal. The resources on the ICI and TWP websites include a detailed layperson’s “Companion Guide” to safer tapering from psychiatric medications; mini-booklets that provide detailed, critical information about psychiatric drugs, psychiatric diagnoses, and the mental health industry; and two networking platforms to help people who are thinking critically about the mental health system or seeking support for psychiatric drug withdrawal to find each other in their local communities.
Visit ICI at www.theinnercompass.org
Visit TWP at withdrawal.theinnercompass.org