Abstract
The article presents a grounded theory case study of a consumer-run alternative services organization, operated by and for people labeled chronically mentally ill in Michigan. We analyze the organization's emergence and development as a process of revitalization through which participants mobilized to transform their private and public identities. Innovations, including self-disclosure rituals and advocacy strategies, were developed by the group's founder during a period of social dislocation following deinstitutionalization. Subsequently, through their advocacy efforts for and with other consumers, group members laid the foundation for a unique form of locally-based political activism, blending innovative self-advocacy strategies with a critique of conventional mental health care. Active participants' efforts have created a mental health consumer organization that members perceive as an empowering and sometimes rehabilitative alternative within Michigan's public mental health care system.
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McCoy, M.L., Aronoff, M. Against all odds: Revitalization of local self-help alternatives by longterm mental health consumers. Qual Sociol 17, 365–381 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02393336
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02393336