Chaya Grossberg Heartscience

10/08/2024

Some research shows high cholesterol is linked to longevity. Doing our own research after getting lab results.

11/07/2024

(finding poetry I wrote some time ago)

Firework Imitations

Marshmallows smell of porcupine spikes.
The water says rinse and reload

so we smile
as we suck and spit

slinky-like, on a bouncy table,
or so we call it,

taking it "to go"
before we stroll down the street,

sauntering and spinning webs of color,

like fireworks made of
something that doesn't fade into nothing
or disappear leaving only the sky.

Instead they are made of shreads of
who knows what?

All that matters is it is a material-it is
something.

So all we say is Yes,
carrying our food in paper bags.

We smell it and it's hot-
but not too hot to eat

so we sit at a picnic table
and gobble it up before we consider
everything.

I think every so often of a man I have known,
but never like this,

never eating take out on a picnic bench in the rain, in the city.
What counts? I start to wonder
as I tally up my life.

Bead by colorful wooden bead,
comparing and contrasting quantities

quickly before they fade
into nothing,

like fireworks and time bombs and
seconds.

Getting some deep breaths in, I count
those, while I stand watching the
fireworks, as if I can feel them
if I mimic them
which I do loudly

putting my fork down eventually,
humming as I walk upstairs,

the steps dusty, the hall hardly lit,
the air cold.

You remind me of nothing and noone
when it really comes down to it-

which is okay because I'm done being
reminded. I'm done reminiscing-

I'm pressing Stop so the Rewind halts.
I'm pressing Fast Forward to skip the stuff I've already seen.

And I'm pressing Play
so I can fall in love with what's in front of me.

09/07/2024

As I get older, I still want art to be my primary medicine.

04/07/2024

If you were harmed by psychiatry/are seeking in person alternatives and community to recover from this, are there resources in Western Mass? There were for me in 2004-2008 and it saved my life.

01/07/2024

If I were to host a picnic in Easthampton/Northampton for psychiatric survivors and their allies (anyone harmed by psychiatry in any way who is interested in life supporting paradigms and their allies), would you want to be invited?

01/07/2024

Reminiscing about “the good old days” in the psychiatric survivor movement when things felt exciting and possible.

01/06/2024

This is not a financial cry for help or a crisis of purpose exactly. But it is a seeking of clarity, direction, evidence.

As I stated in a recent post, online marketing and online business have changed so much for me since I started that I am suffering not only a lack of financial clarity, but a crisis of direction. Of efficacy not only in business but in getting messages out to those who need them and who can and will put them to use and benefit from them.

I know I have a lot to teach and offer. People reflect this back to me consistently. ”You are doing such important work in the world,” is a phrase I hear often from friends, strangers and acquaintances.

Mentorship has been hard to come by. The past 2 score mentors I have tried were not familiar with online business or marketing at all. I just applied for a new one with their new system that lets you chose a mentor based on their profile.

Some kind of in person support group for writers/artists/people with unique and creative businesses would be cool.

I am basically lost as to how to proceed in my work. Online business also has its own overhead of expenses for websites, scheduling systems, etc and time expense to manage even the simplest of systems.

I am not desperate for money. Yet if you have benefited from my work and would like to give me a morale boost at a time when I feel like my efforts have not gone far, I would welcome donations to indicate there are people out there who care that I keep going on this trajectory.

Please only give if you have abundance. Please recognize this ask is coming from a long time of working hard on putting messages out there and feeling drained by the lack of direct returns on my investments of time.

I am @ chayagrossberg on Venmo, PayPal and cash app if you feel inspired. Please donate if it feels good to you to support my work.

29/05/2024

This post is for you if you have been working on coming off psych meds for awhile and are already doing all the things.

You are eating a great diet with ample protein, exercising optimally to your ability, getting fresh air and nature when possible, sleeping or resting extra, taking appropriate herbs and/or supplements for where you are in your process and talking to others who have gone through something similar.

You have also done plenty of research, read lots of psychiatric survivor blogs and stories, and have a good understanding of how the psych system works.

You also have some awareness of your own karmic/creative/healing journey and story and goals to help others. You are already helping others, sharing your process.

What else could you possibly do?

Here’s the secret that cracked things for me: having a solid crew of people praying for me and/or setting positive intentions for me. It does not have to be prayer from any particular religion or tradition, but the prayer or intentions need to be genuine.

Yes, you can ask for prayers/intentions from anyone close to you, anyone who cares about you, anyone who likes to pray or set good intentions for others.

Have you tried this? I have seen such miracles compared to trying to do it all alone or with willpower.

21/05/2024

This is kind of a funky framework (I don’t even use terms mental health, mental wellness, or mental illness to be honest)

…and I’m not sure if Authority magazine has an active social media presence (or if anyone is finding this article) but I do like how the interview itself came out.

I share some personal details and tips in here that I haven’t shared elsewhere.

An Interview With Eden Gold

09/05/2024

Has anyone tried NAD therapy for psych med withdrawal? Curious to hear personal accounts/protocols. Encountered a couple of doctors out there who offer NAD IV therapy for withdrawal as well.

08/05/2024

I shared my Mass Appeal on WWLP interview yesterday about my work and personal experiences with psych drugs.
It came out good! Did you see it? Links often get hidden so comment below if you would like me to post it.

07/05/2024

https://www.wwlp.com/massappeal/safe-ways-to-withdraw-carefully-from-psychiatric-medications/amp/

(Mass Appeal) – If you have been prescribed a psychiatric medication or alternative and are not getting the best results and you’re looking to leave meds behind, there may be help for y…

02/05/2024

I so wish the praise and acclaim so lavishly bestowed upon the recently deceased was so readily offered to the living.

This could change everything about the way we live and die. 💔

30/04/2024

It can be harder to achieve something, like being free from psych meds, for example, if you want it but do not need it.

If you need it, you have no choice. Your being and the world are on the same page and there may be plenty of suffering, but you will necessarily endure it for the sake of your goal.

For those who want but do not need to be free from psych meds, it is much harder to attain.

I recommend finding someone (such as myself, or one of the others out there) who needs to be free and to help others be free and “feeding off of their need”. Giving them something in exchange for their need.

Need is earned, it is not easy to come by.

I am writing a blog about this where I will say a lot more.

29/04/2024

Getting ready for my show episode on Mass Appeal next Tuesday where I will be talking about my work supporting people who are withdrawing from psychiatric meds.

27/04/2024

Today I had the opportunity to be interviewed by an attorney from the Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee to advocate for more peer support and less or no coercive or forced psychiatric treatment in Massachusetts.

I shared a lot of personal and professional experiences to give testimonial of the harm of coercive and forced services and the benefits of peer run supports.

Excited to share the interview once it is released.

18/04/2024

Anyone out there in Massachusetts want to be the financial officer for my mass humanities grant? This is a paid role and we will decide on your stipend. You would manage the finances and budget for the grant.

15/04/2024

I just got confirmation from a fiscal sponsor for the grant I’m applying for to tell oral histories of psychiatric survivors and those harmed by psychiatry in Massachusetts.

I will be the project manager and the fiscal sponsor will be hands off and anonymous.

If I get the grant there will be stipends for various roles including anyone in Massachusetts who would be on a panel discussion and/or tell your story of being a psychiatric survivor or someone harmed by psychiatry.

I would also need scholars. Anyone who has already done research or writing on this topic could possibly get a stipend for sharing your knowledge.

If you would be interested in participating please let me know!  Massachusetts folks only. Please feel free to share.

The grant application is due at the end of May but the project will probably not get started until the fall.

11/04/2024

Made in Manchester productions contacted me to do a radio interview on issues with the DSM and how it compares to other ways to address “mental health problems”.

We will record next week and it will air on BBC World Service likely in May with 360 million listeners.

05/04/2024

 I’m applying for a grant to tell stories of psychiatric survivors in Massachusetts. Any suggestions for a Massachusetts-based nonprofit fiscal sponsor?

02/04/2024

Would anyone who has advice on creating successful Facebook, Instagram or Amazon ads be willing to talk to me?

25/03/2024

Part of a letter I received the other day (sharing anonymously and with permission).

Dear Chaya,

Thank you for giving the talk & telling your powerful story at GPL the other evening. So much of what you shared resonates with my own experience & it is validating to hear it told, with such bravery, out loud, & in public.

I appreciate the work you are doing, which helps to de-stigmatize mental illness in general, and brings more hope to those who would like to heal from extreme states of imbalance, using practices which do not depend on psychiatric drugs.

It is interesting now living in Greenfield. One of my few experiences of this city prior was in fact the outpatient partial hospitalization program, which I went to following my 10 day stay at Cooley Dickenson in 2007. (While at CDH inpatient I was told in order to "get out"/be free again, I would have agree to taking an anti-psychotic. I'll never forget waking up the next morning, after taking Zyprexa for the first time, and not being able to move any of my limbs. I was a solid, heavy mass, and could barely will myself to move for some time.)

23/03/2024

I have some money left in a grant to do marketing for me. Does anyone have recommendations of good marketing people who would be in alignment with my work? It’s not a ton of money but some.

20/03/2024

I had a good book talk at the Greenfield Library. I love sharing my story and how psychiatry and the way we engage with it has evolved over the last 20+ years (with lots of practical takeaways).

One woman asked me if maybe my therapist saw in me what I couldn’t when she suggested SSRIs to me weekly when I was 16. I told her that was not how I see things and that she and I might not see eye to eye.

As she left she told me I have so much knowledge about the psychiatric system and she listed some of the things she had learned.

It is something I am an expert in, have been teaching on for over 20 years, and find endless meaning in sharing my knowledge on.

If you have an established podcast or a group of people eager to learn about the ideas in my book Freedom From Psychiatric Drugs, please reach out.

16/03/2024

Audiobook for Freedom From Psychiatric Drugs is now on Amazon and Audible!!!

This is significant as many people, including me, have had trouble reading while on psych drugs or in withdrawal.

14/03/2024

A couple of things I am appreciating about Developing a Daily Writing Practice.

1. The buddying up system has been uncannily serendipitous.

Last time we had 2 people with the same name who met to write together on video and became good friends, checking in almost every day and going out to a concert together.

A woman visiting from the Netherlands and a man who had lived there buddied up. They hit it off and met at a cafe to chat.

This time: 2 women who are both recently retired and happen to live around the corner from each other. One just moved here. They are both writing stories about family.

Two other women who are both writing about cancer.

2. Appreciating shared humanity across differences. Everyone in the group wrote about dogs besides me. They are all dog people and I am not one at all. Yet I appreciated everything they wrote and somehow did not mind that the subject matter was something I am generally not into.

I love that about writing groups. How everything and everyone comes alive and I am able to put aside differences of opinion, values, preferences and see where there is a connection point.

It makes everything feel so alive.

08/03/2024

My poetry book Reborn: Poetic Codes For Psychiatric Survivors is now available as an audiobook on Amazon!

05/03/2024

If you’re working with a practitioner (therapist, coach, body worker, healer) do you care if they are on psych meds?

Would you want to know before deciding to work with them?

Why/why not?

24/02/2024

What kind of artist are you?

Rather than the confronting “What do you dd for a living?” or the vague, “What do you do?” how about we start conversations with, “What kind of artist are you?”

No debating me in the comments just tell me, what kind of artist are you?