Short Bio — Ken Braiterman
Getting Well, Staying Well, Making Systems Well: A long-time journalist and advocate of recovery-oriented services, Ken Braiterman writes about overcoming adversity, and adverse systems of care.
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Ken Braiterman
GETTING WELL, STAYING WELL, MAKING SYSTEMS WELL A journalist since 1968, Ken Braiterman has been advocatIng for recovery- and trauma-informed services since 1977, full-time since 1997. He is board...
View ArticleThe Bureau of Bears Kept Me Alive
The Bureau of Bears kept me alive when I was driving a cab all night in New York City, with a raging undiagnosed traumatic psychosis. I knew the bears were a conscious product of my imagination, not a...
View ArticleNH Sued for Mental Health Rights Violations
People with mental illness who could live in the community with supports are being confined in the Glencliffe Nursing Home in northern New Hampshire against their will. The NH Mental Health Authority...
View ArticleState Trooper Awarded $1.5 Million for Being “Driven to a Nervous Breakdown”
A retired NH state trooper was awarded $1.5 million, in May 2012, in Conrad vs. New Hampshire, for being wrongfully confined by his supervisors, driven to what his lawyer called a “nervous breakdown,”...
View ArticlePeople With No Alternative Say What They Have Is OK
Four out of five adults, youth, and family members of community mental health centers (CMHCs) in New Hampshire told researchers they are satisfied. Three out of four said their quality of service is...
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Tuesday Dinner with the NAMI Mommies
Author’s Warning: If the word NAMI sends you into uncontrollable rage, spare yourself. This is about NAMI people who are open to our movement. It’s not intended for readers who already hate them....
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What I Really Think About NAMI: An Apology and Clarification
In a previous blog about NAMI NH, I provoked many people in a way I did not intend. There is no defense for forced treatment and confinement, outpatient commitment, the chemical brain disease theory,...
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Update: Judge Overrules $1.5 Million Verdict for State Trooper Driven to a...
A New Hampshire judge overruled a jury verdict that awarded $1.5 million to State Trooper James Conrad, who claimed he was wrongfully detained by his superiors in state police headquarters. While...
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Peer Support in CMHC’s is an Oxymoron, Peer Support Pioneer Says
Recently, a Facebook discussion asked if peer support specialists in community mental health centers really do genuine, helpful peer support. Most people said no. Peer support pioneer Shery Mead, my...
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Strength-Based Tools in Distress Model Treatment, Peer Support, and Recovery
Strength-based treatment concepts are even more important in distress model peer support than in clinical settings. Peer support should be strength-based by definition, according to Shery Mead and...
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Shabbos is Jewish Mindfulness is Spirituality is Healing
Every recovery program I’ve seen suggests that spirituality is a good wellness tool that’s not for everyone. Any connection, valid to the believer, to a comforting reality greater than oneself is a...
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Complete Honesty About Psych Meds Must Be Nuanced, Not Black-and-White
Most of us know that every individual reacts differently to every different psych med, but sometimes we forget to say that they help some people sometmes, at least in the short term, Here’s one way to...
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Why Mainstream Media Ignore Our Movement or Get It Wrong
Having been a news reporter for a small-city daily for many years, I know some reasons why mainstream media ignore our movement, or get it wrong, that have nothing to do with hostility or being bought...
View ArticleI Never Had Bipolar
In 1977, when I was 29, I was hospitalized, diagnosed, and medicated for “manic depression, combined form (bipolar I and II), rapid cycling, with psychotic overtones.” No doc has ever challenged or...
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Don’t Ban Guns Just for “Mental Defectives” Like Me
Once again, in the wake of another senseless mass murder with an assault rifle, there is renewed talk about more laws limiting the sale and possession of guns. I support some of them. Nobody needs a...
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I’m Lucky Like Lou Gehrig
A similar story first appeared on www.wellnesswordworks.com I have Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS). It has no treatment, cure, known cause, or hope. Acceptance is the key to my serenity. good attitude,...
View ArticleMoney Alone Won’t Fix Public Mental Health Systems
All the money in the world won’t fix the problems of the state-funded mental health systems. No state can afford to give everyone with a problem a psychiatrist, case manager, expensive medication,...
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