CMHA Ottawa will present a workshop with legendary recovery activist and “disruptive innovator” Pat Deegan on October 5 in honour of Mental Illness Awareness Week. The workshop will be held at the RA Centre, Clark Hall, 9:00 am – noon. Cost of the workshop is $50.00. Space is limited and pre-registration is required. Please contact [email protected] or 613-737-7791 to register. The workshop will be in English.

Workshop Description: “Recovery from Severe Mental Illness: A Conspiracy of Hope”

For centuries a prognosis of doom and chronicity has surrounded a diagnosis of mental illness. Drawing on lessons learned from her own recovery after a diagnosis of schizophrenia, Pat Deegan will describe the journey to recovery and wellness. She will then widen the lens and discuss how peers, families, communities and service providers can create recovery enhancing environments in which people with diagnoses can grow and achieve their human potential. A panel of local advocates will reflect on Pat’s talk and add their perspectives. There will be ample time for audience interaction.

About Pat Deegan

Patricia E. Deegan Ph.D. is a principal with Pat Deegan & Associates, LLC. For over 30 years she has been a thought leader and disruptive innovator in the field behavioral health recovery. Pat founded a health information technology and consulting company run by and for people in recovery, CommonGround, that helps individuals, families and psychiatrists engage in shared decision making to find the best treatment for recovery. Pat is an activist in the disability rights movement and has lived her own journey of recovery after being diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager. She is an Adjunct Professor at Dartmouth College, Geisel School of Medicine and received her doctorate in clinical psychology from Duquesne University.