National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy

Schedule of Workshops

1998 NARPA Conference: Redoubling our Efforts
November 19 - 22 in Albany, New York:

Thursday, November 19, 1998

1:00 - 5:00 p.m. NARPA Board of Directors' Meeting
3:00 - 7:00 p.m. Registration

7:00 - 7:30 p.m.    Opening Welcome: Rae Unzicker, NARPA President
Introduction: Ronald Bassman, Ph.D., NARPA Vice President

7:30 - 8:30 p.m.  Keynote Speaker: Kevin Heldman, an award winning reporter who spent a week confined in New York City's Woodhull Hospital psychiatric unit.

8:30 - 10:30 p.m.  Reception (Hors d'oeuvres and cash bar)

Friday, November 20, 1998

7:30 - 4:30 p.m. Registration
7:30 - 8:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast

8:30 - 10:00 a.m.  Introduction and Welcome: Susan Stefan
Keynote Speaker: Michael Perlin, J.D., Professor of Law at New York Law School: "Annie Hall Goes to Court: The State of Legal Advocacy in the Mental Health System"

10:30 - 12 noon. Workshops I

• Systems Impact Litigation to Close Institutions - Cathy Costanzo, J.D. / Steven Schwartz, J.D.
• The Continuing Legal War Against Community Residences for Persons with Mental Health Disabilities - David Popiel, J.D. 
• Prudent Withdrawal from Psychotropic Drugs - David Cohen, Ph.D.
• Caring for the Caregiver - Mel King, Ph.D.
• Planning the Ending of a System Reform Class Action Lawsuit: How will you know when you've won? - Clarence Sundram, J.D. / Michael Perlin, J.D.
• Polar Struggles: The Dynamics of Group Leadership in the Exploration of Antarctica: Lessons for Us - Emmett Dwyer, J.D.

12:00 - 1:30 p.m. Luncheon and Welcome: Tom Behrendt
Introduction: Laura Ziegler
Presentation by Curtis Whiteway, an internationally recognized expert on the Holocaust, who was with the liberating forces at Hadamar, Germany's first extermination center for people with disabilities, and Dachau 3B, scene of extensive human experimentation.

1:30 - 3:00 p.m. Workshops II

• Challenging the Inappropriate Institutionalization of Persons with Mental Disabilities in Nursing Homes - Cathy Costanzo, J.D. / Steve Schwartz, J.D.
• Working to Develop an International Human Rights Perspective on Mental Health Issues - Judi Chamberlin / Eric Rosenthal
• Human Guinea Pigs in Psychiatric Research - Ruth Lowenkron, J.D.  / Cliff Zucker, J.D.  / Frank Marquette
• Effective Advocacy for People in Prisons & Jails - Robert Appel, J.D. , Peter Cubra, J.D. , Emmett Dwyer, J.D. , Bob Fleischner, J.D. 
• Trends in the Mental Health System - Peter Ashenden
• Successful Strategies for Dealing with Atrocious Mental Health Courts - Laurel Spahn, J.D.  / Teri Berge, J.D.

3:30 - 8:30 p.m.  A Special Event • the National Council on Disability (NCD) will conduct an open Public Hearing on public policy impacting people with psychiatric disabilities in conjunction with the NARPA conference, also at the Albany Marriott Hotel. Persons wishing to testify must register in advance so that they may be scheduled to speak.

Saturday, November 21, 1998

7:30 - 4:30 p.m. Registration
7:30 - 8:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast

8:30 - 10:00 a.m. Introduction and Welcome: Stacie Hiramoto
Plenary: Multi-Cultural Plenary Panel - Loretta Gough, Stoney Polman, and Stacie Hiramoto

10:30 - 11:45 noon. Workshops III

• Strategies for Reducing the Use of Restraints and Seclusion - Bill Crane, J.D.  / Susan Stefan, J.D.
• Protecting Children from Institutionalization through Litigation - Ira Burnim, J.D.  
• The Politics of Outpatient Commitment: Recent Initiatives in Three States - Laura Zeigler / Robert Appel, J.D.  / Yvette Sangster / Tom Behrendt, J.D. / Ann Kraus / Mary Auslander
• A Conversation on Religion, Rights and Disability - Marsha Cutting / Cathy Johanson
• Getting What You Want: Special Skills for Negotioting - Elizabeth McEwen and Judith Salisbury

11:45 - 1:40 p.m. Luncheon and Welcome: Pearl Johnson

Presentation Peter Breggin, M.D., Director of the Center for the Study for Psychiatry and Psychology, Bethesda, MD.

1:45 - 3:15 p.m. Workshops IV

• How Can You Recover Your Rights When You Don't Have the Right to Recover? - Dan Fisher, M.D. / Judi Chamberlin / Laurie Ahern
• Developments in ADA Caselaw • Yeskey, "L.C.," and Other Recent Supreme Court and Circuit Court Decisions - Susan Stefan, J.D.
• New Changes and New Challenges for Social Security Recipients and their Advocates • Marie Strahan
• Making Public Policy: How Citizens Influence the Process - Kathleen Blank, J.D.
• Managed Care: How to Deal with it; Recent Cases - Peter Cubra, J.D.
• An Examination of Litigation Challenging State Appropriation of Social Security Benefits to Satisfy Care and Treatment Charges - Ellen Lawson, J.D. / Bill Brooks, J.D.

3:30 - 4:30 p.m. NARPA Annual Membership Meeting

4:30 - 8:30 p.m. NARPA Working Board Meeting  (dinner to be ordered on your own)

Sunday, November 22, 1998

7:30 - 9:30 a.m. Registration
7:30 - 8:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast

8:30 - 10:00 a.m. Workshops V

• Two Dimensions of Suicide - Michael Susko, M.S.
Taking Back Your Privileges: Privileged and Compulsory Testimony in Involuntary Confinement and Forced Treatment Proceedings - Dennis Feld, J.D. / Kim Darrow, J.D. / Bill Brooks, J.D.
• All those Good and Just Fights Make Us Stronger - Ron Bassman, Ph.D.
• Recent Developments in Mental Health Law - Susan Stefan, J.D.
• The Great ECT Hoax - Doug Cameron
• Advocacy is Not for Professionals Only! - Pearl Johnson

10:30 - 12:30 p.m. Psychiatric Panel Discussion

10:30 - 12:30 p.m. Plenary: Psychiatric Panel Discussion
Moderator: Ronald Bassman, Ph.D., NARPA Vice President
Innovative psychiatrists Peter Breggin, M.D., Dan Fisher, M.D., Peter Stastny, M.D., and Ron Leifer, M.D........

* Note: This schedule is accurate as of November 12, 1998. *