Icarus and Freedom Center co-produce a weekly radio show on all things madness-related, syndicated through Pacifica. Guests range from author Kate Bornstein and Adbusters publisher Kalle Lasn to Icarus Project members and anyone who has been through extreme states of madness. Ask your local station to broadcast the show! Check it out at www.madnessradio.net; archives and podcast available.

The DSM Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, the 'yellow pages' of mental illness diagnosis, has an online page inviting people to suggest new mental illnesses for its upcoming fifth edition. Join an international campaign to log in to the DSM site and add World Domination Disorder, with the case study based on one example: George Bush. You can spread this url: http://snipurl.com/NewDSMDiagnosis.

Login system streamlined -- if you're confused, read this...

To contact the friendly folks at the Icarus Project with questions or comments write us at:
info(at)theicarusproject(dot)net
local mental health organizing specifically:
support(at)theicarusproject(dot)net
to send us letters or anything:
The Icarus Project c/o Fountain House 425 West 47th street New York, NY 10036
or phone:

877 787 5883
(877-7-URLUVD)

The full text of our Mission statement, including our mission, work, and vision.

Download and print out the first draft of our long-awaited Support Manual, titled Friends Make the Best Medicine: A Guide to Creating Community Mental Health Support Networks.

Click here for info on making a tax-deductible donation to help this work continue!

COMING SOON: Meet the five part-time Icarus project national staff. For more details on what we're up to, take a look at our organizational planning wiki site at www.openplans.org/projects/icarusproject.

When we first created The Icarus Project, we tried to create an inspiring manifesto about the experience of "mental illness" which draws its strength from myth and metaphor as opposed to the paradigms of disease and dysfunction. Here is our original mission statement"¦

Our policy for dealing with difficult communication over email and the internet which easily gets blown out of proportion. We recommend a similar policy for everyone.

Coverage of the Icarus Project in the news media.

Guides and info on using the Icarus website, including how-tos on contributing and editing content, events calendar, etc.

Info on Icarus content through rss feeds.

Icarus staff have done public speaking across the US and even in Europe, we've organized skillshares, and we ar developing trainings for organizers and peer counselors. We work on an ability-to-pay basis: if you might want to set something up in your community, contact us!

Code to copy and paste for an Icarus button/badge/banner on your site or blog, as well as the Icarus news and photo feeds.

Our national office policy governing wellness and sustainability in how we work together and accomodation for experiences and conditions labeled as mental illnesses. We encourage local groups to develop similar policies and practices to prevent burnout and promote sustainabilty.

A key aspect of radical mental health is voicing grievances, airing differences, and opening up healing discussions about how oppression in our own movement affects our work.

A draft of the work-in-progress handbook outlining how local groups collaborate and interact with the national Icarus staff and vision. Looks at autonomy, finances, shared vision, and principles.

Bare ground does not stay bare. Tenacious plants called pioneer species find ways to spread and extend roots deep into the soil, providing homes for all kinds of other creatures and enriching the soil over their cycles of life and death. Many of the most common pioneer plants are the ones we are trained to see as weeds; plants like the dandelion whose strong taproot extends far below the depleted topsoil to the deep layers of subsoil that hold hidden minerals far underground. The dandelion pulls these up and incorporates them into its leaves and flowers; when it dies all the nutrients that were locked underground join the upper layers of soil and make them available to the next generations of plants.