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About the Mad Students Society

Who are we?

Mad Students Society (MSS), created in 2005, is a ‘peer’ group of/for students who are attending or planning to attend post-secondary or adult education institutions and have personal past/present experiences with psychiatric/mental health systems. Members have different experiences of madness, distress, and services. We have different perspectives on these experiences and use a variety of terms to identify and describe them. By ‘student’ we mean folks transitioning from high school to other educational institutions, those on a leave from school and planning to return, as well as part-time and full-time students at all levels of study. We are not currently affiliated with any specific school and students join us from a variety of institutions.

How you can support Mad Students Society

The MSS Vision is a community of empowered and mobilized Mad Students who are aware of the history of the psychiatric survivor movement and practice alternatives to medical perspectives on madness by supporting each other. We need educational environments that are free of systemic discrimination and celebrate and support differences of all kinds so that people can achieve their learning goals.

What do we do?

We meet monthly and communicate through an email listserv to support each other, discover tools for self-advocacy, and connect with our history and broader social movements. We have been meeting on various school campuses in downtown Toronto since 2005. In January 2012 we expanded to Hamilton and North York. While these are our current ‘formal’ meeting locations, MSS members connect with each other whenever/wherever we want to. We are open to supporting, as we are able, in-person gatherings in other locales. The MSS email distribution listserv is hosted on Google Groups and is open to members living anywhere in the world. The listserv is a private place for MSS members to use when wanting to converse with other Mad Students, receive support for mad issues, inform other members of various events in the community, post resources relating to madness, and organize additional gatherings. Connections often develop through these ‘structures’ and then spread beyond them. We think this is fabulous!

How can you support us?

The most important way you can support MSS is by telling folks about our group so that other Mad Students can find us. We have promotional materials including brochures and flyers as well as a website. Consider:

• Posting a flyer on your office door or at your organization
• Posting flyers around your neighbourhood like at community centres, schools, libraries, bookstores, etc.
• Making brochures available in your waiting room, office, etc.
• Sending promotional materials to listservs, newsletters, event listings, etc.
• Forwarding information to colleagues, faculty, service providers, friends, family members, students
• Mentioning MSS to individuals and larger groups such as at the beginning of a class or presentation
• Listing MSS as a resource on client hand-outs, course outlines, research projects, website links
• Posting our website info on your Facebook page, wall, or in a group

Please do not assume who may or may not be interested in this information. By promoting MSS widely we are more likely to reach Mad Students who want to connect with us.

For more information, visit our website at
Emailing us at outreach@madstudentsociety.com about other specific ways we can promote the group or connect with Mad Students www.madstudentsociety.com. If you have any further questions, please email Elizabeth/Alisa at outreach@madstudentsociety.com.

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