Welcome to the Western Mass Recovery Learning Community
The Western Mass Recovery Learning Community (RLC) supports healing and empowerment for our broader communities and people who have been impacted by psychiatric diagnosis, trauma, extreme states, homelessness, addiction and other life-interrupting challenges through:
- Peer-to-peer support & genuine human relationships
- Alternative Healing Practices
- Learning Opportunities
- Advocacy
Essential to our work is recognizing and undoing systemic injustices such as racism, sexism, transphobia and psychiatric oppression.
The RLC is made up of PEOPLE (not places) and is wherever and however YOU and others from the community may choose to connect. Together, we offer a variety of events, workshops, trainings, advocacy and leadership councils, as well as a peer support line, three resource centers (Springfield, Greenfield, and Holyoke) and a Peer Respite in Northampton. Above all else, we create space for anyone who has a genuine interest in taking part in our community and holding its values to share and find connection, information, ideas and opportunities to make change in their own lives and/or the community around them. Our shared experiences and ‘humanness’ are what unite us. Our stories, collective wisdom and strength are what guide us and our community forward.
The Recovery Learning Community (RLC) is a peer-run project providing supports to individuals with lived experience. One of the founding concepts behind the RLC is that human relationships with people are healing, particularly when those people have similar experiences. And so, above all else, the RLC strives to create forums through which human relationships, community and a regional network of supports can develop. On a day-to-day basis, that effort may take the form of a community meeting, a support group, a computer workshop and/or simply offering a safe space where people can communicate with others or simply be. The RLC also acts a clearing house for information about other resources in the community.
The Western Massachusetts Recovery Learning Community is funded, in part, by the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, the United Way of Franklin County, and a variety of private foundations and donations.
And Our New Name is...
After several go rounds and surveys and input from lots of different places, we have settled on:
Wildflower Alliance
What is the significance of wild flowers?: Since there beginning of RLC existence, our logo has been a boot with flowers. The boot is worn and torn, and meant to represent the bumps and bruises we experience on our path through life, while the flowers are meant to represent the beauty and growth that are born of that journey. It was created by Janice Sorensen who was a member of the original Guiding Council of Western Mass (formed a couple of years before the RLC was funded), and also worked as the RLC's County Coordinator in Franklin County (among other contributions). Recently, Janice reminded us that the daisies pictured in the boot are actually one of the most popular and well known wild flowers around. So, in some ways, this name represents coming into alignment with our visual representation (logo).
The significance goes beyond just that, though. Wild flowers are also often mistaken for something to be gotten rid of, as weeds. They are misunderstood, and sometimes their beauty is ignored or devalued. Yet, wild flowers are strong, and able to grow and flourish in a variety of places. Some wild flowers (like dandelions, for example), form tremendously strong underground networking systems with their roots, and represent survival even in the most challenging conditions.
Ultimately, for all these reasons, we see wild flowers as being much like ourselves: Sometimes our power, beauty, and wisdom gets overlooked or dismissed. Yet, we remain strong and resilient (able to bounce back from the bad things that happen to us), and through connection with others, we are able to build networks that can help us survive the most difficult storms. Our potential for growth is great, if given a chance.
New On-line Group: Hearing Voices Network Family & Friends Support Group
Starting August 5th, Mondays, 8pm to 930pm EST
Access by phone or web!!
E-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more details or to get login information!
This group provides a space where people can discuss navigating the experience of supporting loved ones who may hear voices, have visions, and generally have a variety non-consensus experiences and beliefs. The group's primary focus is on supporting family members and friends to examine their own challenges in being present for such situations and relationships. The group operates in keeping with the values of the HVN-USA Charter.
Facilitators:
David Adams, a graduate of HVN-USA's facilitator training, is a group facilitator for the Central Ohio Hearing Voices Network. He is a parent and he has a sibling's experience of voice hearing and non-consensus beliefs.
Cindy Marty Hadge is a voice hearer who is a trainer for HVN USA and has facilitated HVN groups for years. Cindy is a parent as well and has experienced supporting her five children through a variety extreme experiences.
Anti-Oppression Event: Injunuity
Wednesday, August 14th, 4:30pm-7:30pm
@ DeCice Hall at the Marian Center, 1365 Northampton St. Holyoke, MA
Please join us as we come together to honor the voices and experiences of Indigenous people. We will be screening the film "Injunuity" and will have a panel discussion to follow. The focus of the evening will be to foster a positive awareness of Indigenous people and shed light on some of the realities surrounding their communities and struggles.
The film: Injunuity is a mix of animation, music, and real thoughts from real people exploring our world from the Native American perspective. Every word spoken is verbatim, every thought and opinion is real, told in nine short pieces and covering such topics as language preservation, sacred sites, and the environment. But rather than simply revisit our history, the goal of Injunuity is to help define our future, to try and figure out the path that lies before us, to focus on where we are going as well as where we have been.
Panelists: We will be joined for a panel discussion by Merry Poe (Sistrax̂, Elder and Unangax̂ culture bearer), and Sito A. (drum keeper, activist of the Mexica nation).
Caroline Mazel-Carlton Keynotes at Alternatives 2019
On Wednesday, July 10, 2019, RLC Director of Training, Caroline Mazel-Carlton offered a keynote talk at the Alternatives 2019 conference in Washington DC.
Caroline opened the talk by asking the audience if any of them had ever experienced being told they were “too much.” She also coined the term “twilight people” as it refers to those of us who regularly straddle boundaries, the spaces between light and darkness, who walk between worlds like the one meant for those who are “sick” and those who are “well.” She also speaks about her first jobs in the world of peer support, suicide, and a number of other pieces before drawing to a close, and circling back to where she began: “I just want to thank you for being too much... Thank you. Thank you for honoring our ancestors who were buried as numbers by reclaiming your voices, your identity, your culture. Being loud. Thank you for your tears... For your anger... And for your sensitivity, especially to injustice. And thank you for coming here today to share the wisdom you have gained from navigating these extremes.”
You can view Caroline’s full keynote talk HERE
Madness Radio Podcast: Judaism, Madness, & Spirit With Caroline Mazel-Carlton
On March 27, 2019, Madness Radio released a new podcast featuring the RLC's Director of Training, Caroline Mazel-Carlton, as interviewed by Madness Radio host, Will Hall.
Description: Voice hearers, mystics, visionaries, and mad people are found throughout the scriptures of Judaism. What does Jewish theology have to teach us about madness and psychiatric diagnosis? How can modern Judaism show the way to new responses to extreme and altered states, in our communities and ourselves? Caroline Mazel-Carlton is a survivor of psychiatric crisis diagnosed as psychosis, Director of Training at the Wildflower Alliance – Western Massachusetts Recovery Learning Community, Hearing Voiced and Alternatives to Suicide support group facilitator/trainer, and part of the Jewish Renewal movement studying to be a rabbi .
