America Out Loud Kick Starter
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America Out Loud connects and challenges citizens to reenvision mental healthcare and mental health rights in their communities. Through its Dialogue and Deliberation (D.D.) program, America Out Loud enhances citizens’ knowledge about mental illness and preventative care, and offers the opportunity for citizens to implement policy change in schools, workplaces, churches, and other environments.
What We Do
Essentially, America Out Loud connects with a community (school, workplace, church, etc) who is struggling with mental health concerns. We launch a 6-12 month mental health campaign. This includes surveying the population to better understand attitudes about mental health, researching the current statistics and policies in place, and interviewing relevant members in the community. We then host a public or "deliberative" forum, where participants will become better informed on the issue as a whole and vote on proposed solutions. These solutions are drafted and published to the community, as well as delivered to decision-makers. We finally then push for implementation of these proposed solutions.
In essence, we guide communities to better mental health policy by providing an equal, informational, and mediated governance process.
It is important to mention that we already have an institution that has agreed to be our pilot program!
Why America Out Loud?
While today’s mental health advocacy organizations offer a wide variety of services, from subsidized counseling to free support groups to educational seminars, there is little focus on society’s institutions and how they perpetuate mental health stigma. In middle schools, high schools, and colleges, students are given stressful workloads and high expectations, but are offered little mental health outlets. In workplaces, employees often hide their mental illness, anxiety, and/or depression -- in fear that they will be treated as less capable, or even let go from their position. In many hospitals, psychiatric patients are treated poorly; woken up in the middle of the night to receive blood work, kept in a small room with minimal to no outside time, the duration of their stays determined by insurance rather than health, and many more low standard treatments.
America Out Loud seeks to challenge these institutions through the practice of “deliberative democracy.”
What is deliberative democracy?
Deliberative democracy is a citizen-centered form of government which provides mediated and equal spaces, known as “deliberative forums”, for citizens to deliberate over challenging issues and to draft a solutions report for community decision-makers.
For more information, check out our website at www.americaoutloud.org !
Thank you so much for your time and support!
Best,
Maura Fitzpatrick
What We Do
Essentially, America Out Loud connects with a community (school, workplace, church, etc) who is struggling with mental health concerns. We launch a 6-12 month mental health campaign. This includes surveying the population to better understand attitudes about mental health, researching the current statistics and policies in place, and interviewing relevant members in the community. We then host a public or "deliberative" forum, where participants will become better informed on the issue as a whole and vote on proposed solutions. These solutions are drafted and published to the community, as well as delivered to decision-makers. We finally then push for implementation of these proposed solutions.
In essence, we guide communities to better mental health policy by providing an equal, informational, and mediated governance process.
It is important to mention that we already have an institution that has agreed to be our pilot program!
Why America Out Loud?
While today’s mental health advocacy organizations offer a wide variety of services, from subsidized counseling to free support groups to educational seminars, there is little focus on society’s institutions and how they perpetuate mental health stigma. In middle schools, high schools, and colleges, students are given stressful workloads and high expectations, but are offered little mental health outlets. In workplaces, employees often hide their mental illness, anxiety, and/or depression -- in fear that they will be treated as less capable, or even let go from their position. In many hospitals, psychiatric patients are treated poorly; woken up in the middle of the night to receive blood work, kept in a small room with minimal to no outside time, the duration of their stays determined by insurance rather than health, and many more low standard treatments.
America Out Loud seeks to challenge these institutions through the practice of “deliberative democracy.”
What is deliberative democracy?
Deliberative democracy is a citizen-centered form of government which provides mediated and equal spaces, known as “deliberative forums”, for citizens to deliberate over challenging issues and to draft a solutions report for community decision-makers.
For more information, check out our website at www.americaoutloud.org !
Thank you so much for your time and support!
Best,
Maura Fitzpatrick
Organizer
Maura Fitzpatrick
Organizer
Atlanta, GA
