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We thank the many people who have encouraged and advised us.The medical record librarians at the former Queen Street Mental Health Centre and Kingston Psychiatric Hospital kindly assisted in locating the clinical records of Susan and her uncle, Leo Marrin Regan. David Guiffrida, Legal Counsel to the Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office, provided us with information about legal considerations in the use of clinical records.Dr.Mary Seeman,Dr.Brenda Toner, Dr. Margaret Malone, Paul Hogan, Helen Porter, Gail Regan, and Dr. Cheryl Rowe all generously donated their time not only for conversations but also to review background materials and to read and correct transcriptions of the conversations. Dr. Seeman has encouraged our work in important ways well beyond conversation with us. Gail Regan has been generously supportive of our creative efforts over many years. Helen Porter died in September 2007 as we were in the final stages of preparing this book; her life and stories were an enormous inspiration and we deeply miss her.Psychologists Dr.Patricia DeFeudis and Dr. Rickey Miller contributed much insight into hospital functioning . Heather Jacko and Gayla Aitkens completed initial transcriptions of our tape-recorded conversations. Psychiatrist Dr. Cheryl Rowe, psychologist Dr. Sarah Maddocks, Nancy Webb, and Maureen Edgar read and commented on earlier versions of the manuscript and provided much appreciated encouragement ; Dr. Rowe repeatedly answered questions and shared her considerable knowledge about the concerns and psychiatric care of people with serious mental illness. Nancy Webb assisted greatly on a final edit of this text, particulary with names and references. Jacqueline Larson provided gentle encouragement and incisive critique during the final stages of manuscript revision and steered us to Wilfrid Laurier University Press, where the guidance and enthusiasm of editorial, production, ix ● Acknowledgements and marketing staff have sustained us to complete the final work associated with publication. Jacquelyn Waller-Vintar provided professional editing services for an earlier version of the entire manuscript. Family, friends, and the gang at Fraser Lake supported us in many ways including providing feedback on various title and book cover suggestions. James Madden read sections of the manuscript and pointed out the need for a glossary. Chris Hoy and David Schellenberg provided us with helpful technical support as well as a lovely cover design.Various individuals at the Centre forAddiction and Mental Health (CAMH) supported us—we would like to give particular thanks to Jean Simpson, former Chief Operating Officer at CAMH and Dr. Paul Garfinkel, former Chair, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, and President and Chief Executive Officer of CAMH. Susan Macphail, Louise Fagan, Elaine Pollett, and Sheila Simpson, who formed the Shedding Skins Committee of the London Women’s Mental Health and Addiction Action and Research Coalition (WMHAARC), invited us to present a talk and slide presentation to a large London, Ontario, audience in April 2000.The standing ovation we received at the end of the evening encouraged us to believe that this book could offer hope to many people. x Acknowledgements ...

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