#ServicesNotSurveillance: Keeping National Security out of Mental Health

The #ServicesNotSurveillance campaign addresses the racialized profiling and surveillance of Muslim, Black, and brown patients in therapy, social work, school counseling, and other related spaces funded by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) program. CVE is a counter-terrorism program that profiles Muslims as inherently prone to radicalization and depends on local partnerships for community access. This puts Muslims and those impacted by Islamophobia at risk of being placed into a pipeline to incarceration when seeking support from the mental health field. As a community of mental health providers and grassroots organizers, Vigilant Love is strongly positioned to mobilize a coalition to address the rising trend of state surveillance in the mental health field. To protect our communities against state surveillance, we must be aware of the tools that national security uses in our most vulnerable spaces.

To learn more about how this is playing out in our communities and in particular take a deeper dive into the recently announced grants by the Office on Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP), join Vigilant Love on September 30th for our first public webinar!

Objectives of Webinar

1. Gain insight about the history of CVE
2. Understand how Mental Health is weaponized and criminalized by CVE programs
3. Map out risks posed to individuals, communities and the mental health industry based on case studies
4. Empower community with resources and knowledge to know their rights and self- advocate to ensure the mental health resources they seek are safe

Overview of webinar This webinar will support community in understanding the relationship between mental health and surveillance programs like CVE

Length of Webinar 2 hours

Platform Zoom

Cost Suggested Donation of $15 (nobody turned away for lack of funds)

This webinar is for communities impacted, activists, educators, religious leaders, non-profits, philanthropists, creatives, and anyone wanting de-securitized mental health services.