• LearnPsychiatric drugs and diagnosis
  • PrepareReadiness for drug tapering
  • TaperPractical how-to information
  • HealWithdrawal survival
  • More

Sharing What Inner Compass Initiative and ICI’s The Withdrawal Project Have to Offer: A Letter from Executive Director Laura Delano

Sharing What Inner Compass Initiative and ICI’s The Withdrawal Project Have to Offer: A Letter from Executive Director Laura Delano

Laura Delano provides an overview of what you’ll find at Inner Compass Initiative and ICI’s Inner Compass Initiative.

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I’m writing to provide information to you about Inner Compass Initiative (ICI), a U.S.-based but internationally-serving 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that my team and I launched in January, and ICI’s first major effort, Inner Compass Initiative (ICI). Since I’m imagining that many of you are contacted quite regularly by people looking for help with psychiatric drug tapering/withdrawal or for quick and reliable information on the safety and effectiveness of psychiatric drugs, I thought it would be helpful to break down exactly what we have to offer, so that you can help these individuals get connected to our resources. This page also provides suggestions for what content to begin with at ICI’s website based on people’s particular interests, needs, and/or circumstances.
 

Our Mission

ICI’s mission is to provide resources that facilitate more informed choices regarding psychiatric drugs and diagnoses and support people who wish to leave, bypass, or build in-person community beyond the mental health system. ICI’s website is currently the world’s most comprehensive online hub of resources for safer psychiatric medication tapering that also helps people on the withdrawal journey to find and connect with one another in their local communities.


What You’ll Currently Find on Our Websites

Among the many resources you’ll find on the ICI or ICI websites are:

  • Honest, straightforward informational resources on psychiatric drugs, physical dependence and withdrawal: ICI’s Learn section provides an accessible introduction to how psychiatric drugs affect the central nervous system, psychiatric drug dependence and withdrawal, and slow tapering. ICI’s Learn/Unlearn section provides accessible, FAQ-style educational resources on the safety and effectiveness of each class of psychiatric drug.
     
  • ICI’s Companion Guide to Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal: This detailed, step-by-step manual walks people through how laypeople prepare carefully for medication withdrawal and taper off using protocols that minimize risks and optimize chances of success.
     
  • ICI Connect: This free online platform helps people who are thinking about, are in the process of, or have past experiences with reducing or coming off psychiatric drugs to find and connect with one another in their local communities based on withdrawal-related interests, experiences, and needs.
     
  • ICI Connect: This free online platform helps people who are thinking critically about the mental health system to find and connect with one another in their local communities based on shared interests in all things “mental health” .
     

Talks and Workshops

Much of our focus this year will be to take our online resources and bring them into local communities via public talks, facilitated dialogues and discussions, and ½-day, 1-day, 2-day, or 3-day medication withdrawal workshops. These events can be customized for mental health professionals, people taking/coming off medications, or family members/friends of people in the mental health system. If you are interested in bringing me to your organization or community to offer one of these events, please write to us at [email protected]. We’ll also be continuing to grow our online resources via written, audio, and visual content, so be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to be kept in the loop.

We are so excited for all that’s to come, and deeply appreciative of any help you’re able to provide us in getting the word out, joining our community, and supporting our organization.
 

Best,

Laura Delano
 

How to Find Out More, Get Involved, and Help to Spread the Word