Long-time consumer survivor activist Judi Chamberlain passed away on Sunday. Her book, On Our Own: Patient Controlled Alternatives to the Mental Health System, shaped and defined a movement.In the early 1990's the Rae government in Ontario tried to put these ideas into play. Though these efforts were largely captured by more entrepreneurial professionals and damaged by a government that lacked the moral courage to follow through on helping some of our most vulnerable citizens, they made a difference.
More important, the book and the movement that it spawned gave those who had been mauled by the psychiatric industry the tools to fight back and to help themselves. Though much remains to be done, her presence made a real difference in the lives of many, many people.
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