About Voice Plates

On this plate (4 sections)

Voice Plates is a small educational publication. It explains how mental health advocacy and patient movements developed, what advocacy and peer support are, and how a person can speak up in their own care. The editors write in plain language and date everything they state.

Why plates

Each page is a numbered plate: a single idea or milestone that can be read alone, cited by number and compared with its neighbors. The timeline is the long sheet that holds the dated entries together, and the four series (ideas, history, law and policy, practice) group the rest. A short drawing sits at the head of each plate. The drawings are schematic illustrations made for this site and do not depict real people, places or events.

What this site is not

Voice Plates is independent. It is not an organization with members, a charity, a campaign, a coalition or a service. It runs no events, takes no donations, offers no counseling or referrals and is not affiliated with any advocacy group, practice, company, agency or government body. Mentions of laws, programs and institutions describe what the cited sources say, and no endorsement is implied.

Who writes it

The pages are written by "the editors", which means the publication speaks and no individual author claims credentials, clinical experience or personal stories. Nothing here is medical, legal or clinical advice. A clinician, a qualified legal adviser or an official body can speak to a person's own situation, and each plate says so where it matters.

How it is checked

Every date, law, name and figure comes from a page the editors opened and read, and each plate lists its sources. The sources and dates page explains how sources are chosen, what "as at" a date means for laws, and how corrections are handled. For the practical side, see how to advocate for your own mental health care.