Calendar

In the presentation of her book Freedom From Psychiatric Drugs, Chaya will discuss her work consulting with people coming off psychiatric drugs, what helps them the most, and her other experience working with people in withdrawal from psych meds. She will share wisdom gained from 15 years of professional experience working non-medically with people seeking a variety of alternatives to the mainstream psychiatric paradigm. She will also share from her personal experience of having withdrawn from psychiatric meds herself. There will be time for Q and A so bring your questions.

Author Bio: Chaya Grossberg has been sharing her psychiatric survivor and trauma story publicly for over 15 years and is an advocate and consultant to those coming off psychiatric drugs and/or seeking alternative approaches to distress. She has written a book about her work called “Freedom From Psychiatric Drugs” and has worked professionally with people seeking alternatives to the mainstream psychiatric narrative as a teacher, facilitator, program coordinator, and consultant to individuals and families. She has coordinated open mic speak out style events for psychiatric survivors to share their stories in poetry, speech and performance. She has led many writing groups and support groups as well as taught yoga and meditation for psychiatric and trauma survivors

Inaugural Easthampton Poet Laureate Gary Metras will be reading a selection from his three most recent books: White Storm, Captive in the Here, and River Voice.

Gary Metras’s new books of poetry are River Voice (Adastra Press, 2019), Captive in the Here (Cervena Barva Press 2018), and White Storm (Presa Press 2018), short-listed for the Mass. Poetry Book of the Year by the Mass. Center for the Book. The author of seventeen previous collections of poetry, his poems have appeared in over 250 journals, including America, The Common, Poetry, Poetry East, and Poetry Salzburg Review. He lives in Easthampton, Massachusetts, where he was inducted as the city’s inaugural Poet Laureate in April 2018. He is past president of the Pioneer Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited, the national cold river conservation non-profit. A retired educator, he fly fishes the rivers of western Mass. as often as possible.