ABSTRACT
At the Runaway House in Berlin, Germany, people in acute emotional crises can get the support and help they need without coercion or the stigma of psychiatric hospitalization. The guiding framework of the Runaway House stands in striking contrast to conventional psychiatric practice. By seeing emotional distress as something that occurs in a context and is capable of being affected by a support structure, the Runaway House builds people's resilience even as it helps them cope with crisis situations. In addition to its drop-in center, the Second Opinion Society (SOS) offers workshops on alternative ways of dealing with emotional distress, as well as free community lunches that draw everyone from tourists to politicians to people with long histories in the mental health system. Sharing Voices Bradford (SVB) offers the black and South Asian communities in northern England emotional support outside the mental health system. SVB fosters peer support in a non-medicalized context.
