The Great Escape Bed Push protests have now taken place each summer since 2005. Go here http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=52152268 for a film of the most recent English escape. Each year we symbolically escape psychiatric institutions, dressed in pyjamas and 'hot tail' it with a psychiatric bed to a place of safety and celebration. We aim to raise awareness about the over-use of forced treatments in mental health services and the need for holistic choice based services. In 2007 we went global, because the mistreatment of psychiatric patients is a global problem. There have now been Bedpushes in England, Canada, America, South Africa and Scotland. The latest Bedpush news is that a 12km bedpush is taking place in Adelaide, Australia. Rob Fitzpatrick writes: we are pushing a hospital bed with a Giant Shrek on it for mental health day on the 9th of oct 2009. We will leave from the old Hillcrest Hosptital (which is now Oakden campuss) to the Glenside mental health hospital in Adelaide (About 12 km). Our main reasons for this are to promote a greater understanding of mental health in the public in Adelaide, reduce stigma and promote human rights with specific highlight on a review of the shackling and physical restraint policy that still goes on within the general and mental health facilities. You can contact Rob at
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If you would like to organise your own bedpush things we have found useful to do are to have:
A series of planning meetings with the people interested in taking part.
A hospital bed with good wheels (we used a porters bed).
pyjamas.
A giant syringe (You can make this, artists can help here)
A good leaflet.
somebody to send press releases to local newspapers radio TV and chase them up.
take a picture of what you might look like for the press release.
Have some people willing to talk to the press about the experience of forced treatment and the alternatives.
To organise accomodation if it is a long journey (camping / friends houses/ cheap accomodation).
A loud horn for blowing everytime you start to push the bed a bit further (good for morale).
A megaphone for telling people what you are doing on the journey.Use humour 'we have escaped the psychiatric hopital!' 'We are mad, but they are madder!'
A map! Use roads where you can, its important to (peacefully) disrupt the traffic... this is an important human rights issue!
A sound system at times can be good formorale ('all you need is love'.. 'Madness' songs etc).
A party at the end of the bedpush; speeches samba band music cake drumming, dancing etc.
We will be happy to put pictures notices, and stories about the bedpush on this bedpush website.
Our most recent bedpush in England involved ‘escaping’ from St Ann's hospital in Tottenham and pushing the bed to Parliament hIll fields on the 10th of october 2008.
Previously we escaped Callington Road Psychiatric hospital in in Bristol (BS4 5BZ) at 9.30AM on Friday 13th of July 2007. We went ‘on the run’ and pushed the bed to Bath arriving Saturday the 14th of July at a Mad Pride Celebration (organised by the Mad Hatters of Bath) at Queen Square. Here there was a carnival atmosphere with music, theatre and dance.
Meanwhile in Toronto Canada at the same time there was a Bed Push starting at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health on Queen Street and ended up at Parkdale Activity and Recreation Center for a celebratory meal and an open stage for entertainment. Also in Northampton, Massachusetts, U.S.A. an Escape from Psychiatry Protest also took place. For more details see: http://www.freedom-center.org
The Great Escape Bed Push protests aim to raise awareness about the poor levels of choice of treatments and the widespread use of force used in the psychiatric hospitals. The Great Escape Bed Push Team believe in its current state psychiatric care often makes people’s problems worse and that the use of unnecessary force is on the increase. "Forcing patients to take medication against their will is a spirit-breaking practice. It can put someone off mental health services for life, as it breaks down trust between staff and the individual they are supposed to be taking care of" (Dr Rufus May, Clinical Psychologist and former patient).
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