Intentional Peer Support was developed as a grassroots, dialogue-based approach to mental health/illness. It emerged out of a desire to create community-based alternatives to the mental health system, where peers encourage and support one another to make new meaning out of their experiences via the vehicle of healthy, mutual relationships. This approach has begun to inform not only grassroots groups of peers, but also many providers, community groups and schools; it’s really about building healthy communities. (continue)

This issue guide was created in 2007 by Kansas State University’s Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy (ICDD) in association with the National Association of Mental Illness (Kansas).  David Proctor, ICDD director, has made this issue guide available for anyone who is interested in using it to deliberate about mental illness and public policy. The 16-page guide, titled Addressing Mental Health Care: a handbook for discussion & deliberation, presents three possible approaches for deliberation: Approach One – Consumers Come First Supporters of this approach believe that privacy is paramount and that individuals should have ... (continue)

Bereavement Support Groups: Breathing Life into Stories of the Dead is a must-read for therapists, grief counselors, facilitators, and anyone who has lost a loved one. This book fills the gap between the challenges to conventional grief psychology and the practice of bereavement counseling. The deceased person has often been left behind in counseling conversations, requiring the bereaved to distance themselves from honoring memories that could soothe their heartache. Ironically, the stories about the dead person have not featured prominently in the grief experience. The ... (continue)

This 2004 Kettering Foundation report about public forums held using the National Issues Forums (NIF) issue discussion guide Examining Health Care: What’s the Public’s Prescription? was prepared by Paul Werth Associates.  The findings in the report are derived from some 40 deliberative forums held in various locations around the country.  The report also includes an analysis of 1,027 post-forum surveys that were completed by forum participants. Find more details & order info on the NIF website. From the report… (continue)

In this book, you’ll find stories to inspire you to initiate Healing Conversations with your elders and dying loved ones. Questions and conversation starters are also provided, to help you know what to say and do. The handbook section will guide you, step-by-step, as you engage in these new conversations. They will open your heart, give you a better understanding of loved ones, ensure that you have the conversations you need and want to have. You will find peace and have no regrets and so will your loved ones. (continue)

One of the National Issues Forums Institute’s issue guides, Weighing the Options: How Can We Encourage Healthy Weights among America’s Youth? outlines this public issue and several choices or approaches to addressing the issue. National Issues Forums do not advocate a specific solution or point of view, but provide citizens the opportunity to consider a broad range of choices, weigh the pros and cons of those options, and meet with each other in a public dialogue to identify the concerns they hold in common.  From ... (continue)

This 42-page Public Agenda Report, written by John Doble, Jared Bosk, and Samantha DuPont, and prepared for the Kettering Foundation, presents outcomes of the 2008 National Issues Forums (NIF) where participants used the issue book titled Coping with the Cost of Health Care: How Do We Pay for What We Need? in deliberative public forums around the country.  Find more details & order info on the NIF website. (continue)

On June 9 and 10, 2006, the Kettering Foundation, Public Policy Institute, and the National Issues Forum sponsored a two-day event at the Carter Presidential Library, hosting 46 participants. The first day’s activities focused on framing issues for public deliberation, and three fellows from the University of Georgia’s chapter of the Roosevelt Institution (Roosevelt), a national-network of student-run think tanks, facilitated discussion in three small groups. A general guide provided by the Kettering Foundation governed how the three fellows, Gabe Allen, Jennifer Oliver, and Elizabeth ... (continue)

Toward Wiser Public Judgment (2011) revisits and expands upon Yankelovich's seminal 1991 book, Coming to Public Judgment, which argued that people advance through several distinct stages to form politically meaningful judgments about public issues. In particular, citizens must "work through" the temptation to opt for easy answers or engage in wishful thinking, reconcile conflicting values, and come to terms with tough tradeoffs, before they can truly support a new course of action. (continue)

AmericaSpeaks' newest case study highlights the 2009 Advancing Futures for Adults with Autism National Town Meeting. More than 1,000 people in 16 cities and online came together to set an agenda for addressing the service needs for adults with autism. The 4-page case study can be downloaded here... (continue)