Mental Health Association of Portland

The Mental Health Association of Portland is an American charitable nonprofit interested in politics, education, advocacy, and research about mental illness in Portland, Oregon. The organization is the state's impartial and independent advocate for persons with mental illness and addiction and acts as fiscal agent for projects defined and done by persons with mental illness or in recovery from addiction.
Described by The Oregonian newspaper as, "Oregon's foremost independent advocate for persons with mental illness and addiction," the all-volunteer organization has exposed routine abuse of persons with mental illness by police, jails, governments and the psychiatric industry. Long-standing members of the board and advisory council include advocates Beckie Child, Kevin Fitts, and Jason Renaud, filmmaker Brian Lindstrom, journalist Jenny Westberg, and disability rights attorney Bob Joondeph.
Their web site is one of the largest archives of mental health history in the English language. The organization is the archivist for family therapy pioneer Carl Whitaker, and produces the Northwest Law & Mental Health Conference and Oregon Housing Conference.
Recent projects include the documentary film Alien Boy: The Life and Death of James Chasse; the peer-run support group Portland Hearing Voices, part of the international Hearing Voices Movement; exposing dangers for patients at the Oregon State Hospital; and political advocacy in response to the police-caused deaths of Brad Morgan, James Chasse, Aaron Campbell, Jackie Collins, Keaton Otis, Lukus Glenn, Dickie Dow, and many others.

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