Hello lovely mad people! MAD CAMP 2023 WAS A HUGE SUCESS SO WE ARE DOING IT AGAIN!
Here is the pitch:
Hello everyone living with visionary altered and extreme states of consciousness who has escaped from, is on the run from, is trying to flee, is in hiding from psychiatry and/or wants something different!
And hello to all our wonderful allies and supporters!
We are the Mad Camp crew, survivors of psych diagnosis and extreme states who live outside psychiatry and have been activists and advocates for abolishing the mental health system and replacing it with love.
We are gathering for Mad Camp Summer 2024
Now announcing the barn-raising to make this happen, including asking for donations for travel and scholarship money. Please join us to make this a reality!
We want to feel stronger connection with you the amazing incredible people of the mad movement, and we want to enliven our community solidarity with each other. Since the early days of the movement summer camps have been an antidote to burnout and key to weaving friendships and sharing our vision. We are called to reignite this spirit through MAD CAMP!
We are very excited to announce MAD CAMP 2024 and hereby invite planet earth’s survivors/evaders/ outsiders/escapees/rabblerousers/changemakers of psychiatry living with altered/visionary and extreme states of consciousness: join us for a 5-day (!) summer camp slumber party in Northern California late summer 2024.
And yes of course people taking meds, not taking meds, receiving services, not receiving services, people new to the mad movement… If you identify with the mad movement, you deal with or ever dealt with visionary mad states of some kind, and you want psychiatry to change!
And we ask everyone – including allies and family members and supporters of the mad movement – to please help make this happen! We need you to donate to our scholarship fund!
Donations are tax deductible through our fiscal sponsor Mental Health Association of Portland (thanks to longtime Portland Hearing Voices supporter Jason Renaud)!
Mad Camp 2024 will be: fun, friendship, community, healing, replenishment, fun, dancing, music, listening time, mutual aid, remembrance, art-making, more fun, swimming, hiking, hanging out, open mics, delicious food, canoeing, frisbees, poetry, meditation, scavenger hunts, nap times, ecstatic dance, acupuncture, storytelling, healing offerings, starry sky gazing, jenga / board games, sun lounging, campfire hang outs, swimming pool disco happy hour, hanging out doing nothing, let’s-connect and get to know each other gatherings, optional day-long breathwork session, optional it’s-all-groovy community spirit ceremony, optional raging against the psychiatric machine (but encouraged), and optional scheming for activism (also encouraged).
You are also totally welcome to hide in your tent the whole time! No judgment! This is the MAD MOVEMENT!
Where? All at the incredibly gorgeous Four Springs nature forest retreat in Northern California, 2 hours north of San Francisco. Cabins, tents and car camping, plus add-on options.
We are at the very very early stages of this – the people discussing this so far all share a lot of excitement and are eager to join together to help. So we want to take the first step and announce this and set the universe in motion to make it happen!
Date is July 18-22 at Four Springs retreat, a location 2 hours north of San Francisco.
We are thinking – no alcohol or substances (except your regular day-to-day). Allergy aware, no-scents. Healthy and plentiful veggie food. (Disabled access, language, and other needs contact us). Participation encouraged – if you want to share an offering or service or something let us know! Check the website for details www.madcamp.net
All organizing is volunteer. All funds raised go to costs and scholarships. All finances transparent. 5-day event all-inclusive tickets probably in the $400-500 range (we are trying to keep costs with included food very low, if you have ideas let us know; tiered pricing by ability to pay, add-ons for nicer cabins etc, we are working on it). Fundraising is crowdsource only: not accepting foundation, grant, or public funds.
Space limited! Accepting applications for 40-50 person capacity soon – selection will be by group balance plus lottery.
Start saving money for your ticket and travel costs now! Cross-country, international, intergalactic, and interdimensional travelers welcome! Consider combining with CA visit, lots of festivals and things to do in late summer. Volunteers welcome but we can’t guarantee scholarships work trade tickets etc at this time, too complicated at the moment!
THANK YOU for your generosity.
We expect to not be perfect and humbly ask forgiveness! We have lots of questions too, we are figuring it out. We are doing our best to make this awesome – please offer feedback any time. Our hearts are really warmed by this vision of reigniting the core of our movement with community and connection.
Lots of love
the Mad Camp crew
Please everyone sign up for the Mad Camp email list here: https://madcamp.substack.com/
Check our website http://www.madcamp.net
Contact: madcamp2024@gmail.com
Need your donation to be TAX DEDUCTIBLE? Contact us and we will sort it out!
Need to send a check?
Send to
Mad Camp c/o Will Hall
PO Box 830
North San Juan, CA 95960
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