A message from Mad Freedom Advoces Executive Director Cavin Moen.

Farewell Transmission:* A Chapter Closes, the Struggle Continues

Since stepping in as Executive Director of MadFreedom Advocates in January, I have faced some huge challenges, as you can imagine with such a sudden and unexpected transition.

But the most difficult—in fact, devastating—challenges of the past six months have come in just the last few weeks as I have dealt with the impact of the Department of Mental Health terminating our contract.

I have had to tell our entire staff to stop their work for good in the middle of a Wednesday (just three days before Mad Pride), tell POP grant recipients we would not be able to disburse their awarded funds, tell distressed callers that MFA is no longer able to advocate for them or their family members, and tell our community partners that people being held involuntarily on Vermont’s psych units will have no access to a patient representative indefinitely.

I share all this not to gain your sympathy but to try to illustrate the enormity of this loss. There is a great need now going unmet for independent, survivor-led advocacy, a great need for systems change in Vermont led by people with lived experience of marginalization by sanist institutions.

Meanwhile, the political and economic climate across the US (and beyond) is more and more hostile to organizations that genuinely disrupt oppressive systems.

But I maintain hope through the closing of this chapter. Because I understand that MFA managed to accomplish all that it did in its two short years of existence thanks to the brilliant staff, Board of Directors, volunteers, and community that sustained this work. Because all of those individuals who made MFA what it was are not going anywhere.

We are still part of a Mad community and a Mad movement.

In the spirit of that community, I’d like this final message to serve as a resource for mutual aid and connection.

• If you or someone you care about is facing discrimination or experiencing rights violations in the mental health system, or you want to prepare an advance directive, you can reach out to Disability Rights Vermont.

  
  

• If you want to receive updates from an emerging Vermont-based grassroots collective of Mad, disabled, neurodivergent, and criminalized people building spaces for collective liberation, you can sign up at mad-comrades-orcld0.subscribepage.io.

  
  

• If you are concerned about the absence of patient representatives in Vermont’s designated hospitals as mandated by Act 79 (18 VSA §7253), contact Ian at ian@disabilityrightsvt.org.

  
  

• If you have the capacity, please reach out and offer whatever support and solidarity you can to those directly impacted by MFA’s closure, including anyone who was recently laid off from MFA or who is running a peer-operated project that has just been defunded.

  
  

And if you’re trying to get ahold of me or one of the Board members, just know that we are immersed in all the decisions and logistics entailed in winding down operations. We appreciate your patience and look forward to having more capacity to connect with you about the future of Mad liberation in Vermont.

In struggle,

Calvin Moen

Executive Director, MadFreedom Advocates