Icarus was just the beginning. We are needed now more than ever.
Building the Future of Radical Mental Health: Ways to Connect In This Moment
Hey!
You’re seeing this because at some point in the last 20 years you and I have connected over radical mental health advocacy, movement building, mutual aid, or surviving in a world that doesn’t make space for the mad ones. Whatever brought you here, welcome! It’s time to reignite the conversation.
The Icarus Project Archive: Living History & New Beginnings
The Icarus Project was a movement, a language, and a network of people pushing the limits of the mental health system. It was a space to tell our stories, define who we are, and create something outside the pathologizing medical model. It recognized our struggles, visions, and extremes as wisdom. If you want to learn more, check out this Retrospective of the Icarus Project video.
The Icarus Project Archive is preserving the zines, writings, and history of the movement. We’re also prompting new conversations about what radical mental health means now, to learn from the past and start something new.
📢 What’s Inside?
This Substack as a place to reflect, document, and dream. You will find:
✅ Essays on the legacy of radical mental health and how we’ll build something meaningful now.
✅ Guest columns from those thinking critically about madness, peer support, and collective care. (you’re invited—more on that below!)
✅ Archival materials—bringing Icarus history to life in new ways.
Recent substack posts:
📺 Mental Health at a Crossroads: The Icarus Project and a New Vision for a Fractured World
🎥 Video Retrospective of the Icarus Project: Lessons for Contemporary Mental Health Movements
📝 Loneliness and the Mirage of Peer Support: A Call for Collective Re-Vision
If you want to get the most out of the Icarus Project archive join us on Substack where you can connect with others, comment and be a part of the growing community.
Upcoming Workshop:
Building Strong Connections with T-MAPs
Facilitated by Sascha DuBrul, community activist and co-founder of The Icarus Project.
Sunday, March 30, 2025
10am - 12pm PST / 1pm-3pm EST
T-MAPs (Transformative Mutual Aid Practices) is a set of tools that grew directly out of the The Icarus Project.
The T-MAPs workshop is for anyone who wants to:
Gain clarity on their mental health and emotional support needs
Learn how to create a personal guide for themselves and their community
Explore collective care beyond the conventional mental health system
Expect awareness exercises, journaling, small group discussions, and practical tools utilizing Internal Family Systems and transformative peer support models.
This is a free/sliding scale ($0-$40) workshop:
📅 Sunday, March 30th
⏰ 10am-12pm PST | 1pm-3pm EST
💻 Online via Zoom
💰 Sliding Scale: $0 - $40
✍️ Want to Write a Guest Column or Share Your Story?
We’re designing this space to learn from each other. If you have a reflection on the intersections of mental health and political struggle, or a powerful mental health experience you’d like to share, get in touch and tell us more! We’re also starting a related podcast about the intersection between mental health, politics and the arts. Learn more about it here.
📩 To be in touch about contributing reply to this email or reach out here:
🖤 Support the Work (and Get a T-Shirt!)
This project is a labor of love, and if you want to support the archive, there are a few ways to do that:
The Icarus Project Archive is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of The Icarus Project Archive must be made payable to “Fractured Atlas” only and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
👕 Buy an Icarus Project T-Shirt and Check out the Icarus Archive Shop
Rock the history, support the future.
Let’s Keep the Conversation Going
Everything is shifting right now. As authoritarian governance rises, public services collapse, and digital technologies redefine the way we interact with the world, we are being forced to rethink mental health from the ground up. Some see this moment as a crisis. We also see it as an opportunity.
The Icarus Project Archive is about creating new pathways forward. Mental health movements are at a crossroads—institutions are failing, institutional peer support has been co-opted, and the need for creative alternatives has never been greater.
Icarus was just the beginning. Let’s go further now.
So hit subscribe, and if there’s someone in your life who should be here, please share the message.
With gratitude & solidarity,
Sascha Altman DuBrul, co-founder of The Icarus Project
Thanks to the Ittleson Foundation for the 2025-6 funding.
Thanks to the Institute for the Development of Human Arts for constant inspiration and camaraderie since 2017.
Thanks to ISPS-US for the strategic partnerships.
Thanks to Brooke West from Mad Yoga Network for admin support
Thanks to David Nishizaki and Chad Nelson for holding down the tech end in this dystopic cyberpunk clusterfuck of a time to be organizing in the mad movement.
Thanks to all the past Icarus Project members and staff from the discussion boards to the old Drupal site to the local groups all over the world. Let’s reconnect and keep building. The world needs us right now. Be in touch!