Open Excellence Podcast

In this episode, guest Chris Hansen talks about working in New Zealand as an activist after a psychiatric hospitalization 20 years ago. She has provided advice and media comment locally, regionally and nationally, including work with the New Zealand Mental Health Commission and Ministry of Health.

In this episode, psychologist and researcher Gail Hornstein, PhD, talks about her research into what makes the Hearing Voices approach so healing for the people who participate in its peer support groups. She is simultaneously training new group facilitators across the United States and interviewing support group participants to better understand the key elements of the approach that make it so successful in helping people cope and find meaning in the experience of hearing voices and other unusual sensory experiences. She hopes her research will help inspire communities across the nation to fund facilitator trainings and host support group meetings in their neighborhoods and health and social service programs.

In this episode, Dr. David Healy, psychopharmacologist and psychiatrist in Wales, UK, talks about the difficulty of making wise decisions about prescription drugs and how people can be savvier consumers of health care.

In this episode, nutrition researcher Professor Emerita Bonnie Kaplan talks about why a nutrient rich diet is essential for mental health.

In this episode, Sarah Smith at MindFreedom International talks about the power of people with lived experience and their families coming together to improve mental health care and save lives.

In this episode, Rob Cotes, Emory University psychiatrist and Open Dialogue practitioner, talks about his research and practice of the Open Dialogue approach in the inpatient unit of Mass General Hospital, with a grant funded by donors to the Foundation for Excellence in Mental Health Care.

In this episode, Giovan Bazen, international speaker and advocate for children in foster care and the juvenile justice system, talks about his journey through a childhood of loss and forced drugging to leadership in a global movement for justice and proper care of children and youth in state custody.

In this episode, science journalist and author Robert Whitaker talks about the one-of-a-kind investigative reporting at MadInAmerica.com, funded by donors to the Foundation for Excellence in Mental Health Care.

In this episode, Cindy Marty Hadge talks about how a Hearing Voices support group in her neighborhood helped her move from a place of despair to a life of purpose and connection.  Cindy's work training Hearing Voices group facilitators is funded primarily by generous donors to the Hearing Voices Research & Development Fund at the Foundation for Excellence in Mental Health Care. 

To learn more about the fund and how to get a Hearing Voices group established in your community, visit mentalhealthexcellence.org/projects/hearing-voices-fund

In this episode, Jeni Johnstone, PhD, clinical psychologist and researcher at Oregon Health and Science University talks about her work studying the impact of micronutrients on the symptoms of ADHD.  

If you are interested in enrolling your child in this study, email [email protected] or call 503-494-3700.