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Mad in America: Rethinking Mental Health

Alice and Kenneth Thompson - Bringing Integrative Community Therapy to Pittsburgh

Mad in America: Rethinking Mental Health

Mad in America

Anxiety, Mental Health, Benzo, Science, Hearingvoices, Psychology, Antipsychotic, Mentalhealth, Depression, Panicattack, Psychosis, Medicine, Health, Health & Fitness, Psychiatry, Ssri, Antidepressant

4.8201 Ratings

🗓️ 11 May 2022

⏱️ 60 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Visible Hands Collaborative in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is run by Alice Fox Thompson and Kenneth Thompson. Together, the father and daughter team is bringing a novel form of community healing developed in Brazil, called Integrative Community Therapy (ICT), to the United States for the first time.

Alice Fox Thompson is currently in her fourth year of medical school at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. Before medical school, Alice worked in community organizing and advocacy. She is interested in solidarity-based approaches to community and population mental health.

Kenneth Thompson is a psychiatrist trained at the Boston University School of Medicine. He has served as faculty at Yale University and the University of Pittsburgh and has been the director of many different psychiatric clinics. Ken currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer of the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Leadership Council, a unique state-level education policy and advocacy organization that he helped found.

Ken’s focus as a psychiatrist has always been on social medicine and community psychiatry, having written, consulted, and lectured extensively on issues of public service, whole-person treatment, primary health services, health equity, democracy, human rights, and more.

In this interview, Alice and Ken describe how they both came to Integrative Community Therapy and what they've learned in adapting it to their context in the Visible Hands Collaborative in Pittsburgh. They also discuss the connection between the emotional literacy and community support developed in their groups and broader processes for political change and social justice.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to the Madden America podcast, your source for science, psychiatry, and social justice.

0:14.0

Hello, and welcome to the Madden America podcast. I'm Micah Engle, a doctoral student in psychology, consciousness, and society at the University of West Georgia, as well as a research newswriter for the Madden America website. Today I'm joined by Alice and Ken Thompson. Alice Fox Thompson is currently in her fourth year of medical school at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine.

0:40.4

She plans to begin her residency in psychiatry at UT Austin, Dell Medical School, in June of 2022.

0:48.2

Before medical school, Alice worked in community organizing and advocacy.

0:52.6

She is interested in solidarity-based approaches to

0:55.9

community and population mental health. Kenneth Thompson is a psychiatrist trained at the Boston

1:01.9

University School of Medicine. He did his psychiatric residency at the Albert Einstein College of

1:07.8

Medicine in the Bronx, New York, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship

1:12.6

and mental health services at Yale University. He has served as faculty at Yale University

1:18.6

and the University of Pittsburgh and has been the director of many different psychiatric clinics.

1:24.7

Ken currently serves as the chief medical officer of the Pennsylvania Psychiatric

1:29.9

Leadership Council, a unique state-level education, policy, and advocacy organization that

1:36.3

he helped found. He continues to offer and oversee mental health services at several

1:41.8

mental health and community mental health centers.

1:46.0

Ken's focus as a psychiatrist has always been on social medicine and community psychiatry,

1:52.0

having written, consulted, and lectured extensively on issues of public service, whole person,

1:58.0

primary health services, health equity, democracy, human rights, and more.

2:04.8

As father and daughter, Ken and Alice run the Visible Hands Collaborative, a project in Pittsburgh,

2:11.7

which aims to bring a novel form of community healing to the United States.

2:17.1

Thank you both for speaking with me.

2:19.7

Thanks for having us. Yeah, thank you, Micah. All right. So, let's jump right in here. So can you

2:25.3

introduce yourselves and talk briefly about your respective backgrounds, either as individuals

...

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