21. Building Psychiatric Alternatives: The WeglaufHaus in Berlin with Kim Wichera

When it comes to mental health crises, there are incredible and highly effective healing alternatives to psychiatric institutionalization all over the world! These respite centers offer agency, choice, freedom, and collective care, in place of the dominant “medicate and separate” model. Activists, clinicians, peers, healers, and researchers have been building and uplifting these models for decades, many of which are more cost-effective and keep people out of hospitals for longer or even indefinitely. The issue is, no one is talking about them. Here in Berlin, I got to sit down in person with Kim Wichera, an artist and activist who has spent their life devoted to uplifting alternatives to coercive treatment, and fighting for those who society has left behind. Also in this episode: Disillusionment with the psychiatric system & why it so easily causes harm History of Berlin’s anti-psychiatric movement and why there is a deep need for alternatives How the respite center Weglaufhaus came to exist as one of two centers in Germany Germany vs U.S. mental health system Kim Wichera [GER/PL] (they/them) is an artist and activist based in Berlin, Germany. They play live for dance / theater / performance productions and composes hypnotic sounds for multi-channel installations, virtual reality videos, experimental films, radio art and movement. Their work have been part of the Biennale for Electro-Acoustic Music, the CTM Transmediale Festival and TanzTage Berlin. For self-government projects, international organizations and activist groups, they speak at conferences, gives lectures and publishes books as a co-editor . They have spoken at the UN, at various universities and community spaces in Germany and at conferences in the USA, Turkey, Italy, Austria and France. Member of INTAR [International Network Towards Alternatives and Right-based Supports] and IDHA [Institute for the Development of Human Arts New York]. Links: www.idha-nyc.org Get bonus episodes on substack! ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://depthwork.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Resources: Weglaufhaus- https://weglaufhaus.de/en/ Book anthology gegendiagnose - https://www.edition-assemblage.de/en/books/gegendiagnose/ Bonnie Barstow psychiatry disrupted - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18938352-psychiatry-disrupted https://www.irrenoffensive.de/ Kimwichera.com Disclaimer: The DEPTH Work Podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Information on this podcast in no way to be construed or substituted as psychological counseling, psychotherapy, mental health counseling, or any other type of therapy or medical advice.

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