Mental Health Association of Portland
The Mental Health Association of Portland is an American charitable organization interested in education, advocacy, and research about mental illness in Portland, Oregon. The organization is the state's impartial and independent advocate for persons with mental illness and addiction and acts as the fiscal agent for projects defined and done by persons with mental illness or in early recovery from addiction.
Described by The Oregonian newspaper as, "Oregon's foremost independent advocate for persons with mental illness and addiction," the all-volunteer organization has exposed routine abuse of persons with mental illness by police, jails, governments and the psychiatric industry. Long-standing board members include social justice advocates Will Hall and Jason Renaud, journalist Jenny Westberg, and attorney Chris O'Connor.
The organization's web site is one of the largest archives of mental health history in the English language.
Recent projects include the documentary film Alien Boy: The Life and Death of James Chasse; the peer-run support group Portland Hearing Voices, part of the international Hearing Voices Movement; the nation's widest circulating peer-edited newsletter Eyes & Ears; exposing dangers for patients at the Oregon State Hospital; and political advocacy in response to the police-caused deaths of Brad Morgan, James Chasse, Aaron Campbell, Jackie Collins, Keaton Otis, Lukus Glenn, Dickie Dow, and many others.
Further reading
- Oregon police officers are rarely held accountable for undue violence. Here are six possible reasons. June 2015
- Death by cop: Who’s at risk? May 2015
- Our newest, not-so-new police directive: Just walk away, January 2015
- Someone Has to Do It: No One's Been Reliably Tracking Police Shootings. Here's a Start. December 2014
- Portland police, DOJ settlement fails on multiple fronts, August 2014
- An open letter on Portland’s settlement with the Department of Justice, October 28, 2012
- Beyond the Department of Justice Report: Cease Fire Now, September 2012
- “Suicide By Cop” Means Manslaughter, March 2012