Peer Support

'Peers' are people with similar life situations. In MSS, peers are those who share various experiences related to being Mad Students. The purpose of 'peer support' is for MSS members to connect with each other on our own without the involvement of people working in the psychiatric/mental health systems, family, or other 'allies'. MSS encourages peer support by holding monthly peer support meetings and moderating a listserv so Mad Students can connect with each other. Peer support also happens outside of these activities when individual members decide to connect in other ways.

Advocacy

Advocacy is when an individual or group acts to make changes to a system, institution, process, or attitude. MSS is concerned with the educational and psychiatric/mental health systems and how their operations impact Mad Students and the rest of our psychiatric survivor/mad community. We are also concerned with issues in society that affect the psychiatric survivor/mad community such as mentalism/saneism and other forms of discrimination. We endeavour to make change through outreach, presentations, letter-writing, and other activities.

MSS Meetings

Peer support meetings are held the 2nd Saturday of every month from 3:30 - 5:30 pm on a campus in downtown Toronto. Additional meetings happen in other cities in Southern Ontario, wherever members want to gather. Upcoming meeting locations include North York and Hamilton.

MSS Listserv

MSS members stay connected with each other and their broader communities through a email distribution listserv hosted on Google Groups. The listserv is a private place for MSS members to use when wanting to converse with other Mad Students, receive support for mad issues, inform other members of various events in the community, post resources relating to madness, and to organize additional gatherings. The listserv is open to people living anywhere in the world.


If you are interested in attending a meeting, joining the listserv, arranging a presentation or have any further questions, please contact outreach@madstudentsociety.com.