Organizer Information
The Perch is produced by the Program for Recovery and Community Health (PRCH), a division of the Department of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. PRCH was founded in 1999 by a group of social scientists, clinical and community-based providers, educators, community organizers, and people in recovery, with a mission to promote the recovery, self-determination, and social inclusion of people facing psychiatric disability, addiction, and discrimination by focusing on their strengths and contributions to their communities. The organization conducts research, training, evaluation, and policy development in the areas of recovery from serious mental illness, substance use, citizenship, and health disparities and equity. The Perch itself has been publishing for more than a decade as PRCH's platform for bringing creative and artistic voices into the conversation about mental health, and is co-produced with the College of Letters at Wesleyan University and Central Connecticut State University.
Title & Description
The Perch: The Mix, Volume 9 (Fall 2027)
The Perch, a creative arts journal with a mental health theme, has announced an open call for submissions for its ninth issue, titled The Mix, anticipated to launch in October 2027. The organizer describes the issue's theme as an exploration of the double-sided nature of mental illness and mental health — the "complex, tangled and beautiful mixture of emotions, attitudes and experiences" that can emerge from the experience of psychiatric illness, including both its real pain and limitations and the depth, awareness, and new stories that survivors have described gaining through their journeys. The call states this is a peer-reviewed open call, open to all for consideration, with particular interest in personal stories.
Theme
The Mix — the double-sided, intertwined nature of mental illness and mental health, encompassing both the pain and limitations of psychiatric illness and the depth, awareness, and meaning that can emerge from the experience of recovery, without romanticizing the burdens of illness.
Categories
- Magazine
- Art Writing
- Poetry
- Nonfiction
- Fiction
- Prose
- Creative Writing
- Visual Arts
- Research
Eligibility
- Open to artists and writers across the U.S. and abroad, including people in recovery from all backgrounds and experiences
- All are welcome to submit for consideration (peer-reviewed open call)
Program Benefits & Awards
Not specified in the source. No fee, honorarium, or other financial or in-kind benefit for contributors is mentioned; the benefit is publication and inclusion in the journal and its associated launch event.
Application Fee
None
How to Apply?
Online Application
Key Dates
- Submission Deadline: 31 October 2026
- Anticipated Publication/Launch: October 2027
Location
United States
Additional Details
- The Perch is published bi-annually and has been running for more than a decade.
- The previous issue, Volume 8 (Winter 2026, titled "Social"), was 196 pages and included poetry, creative nonfiction, fiction, artwork, and scholarly pieces exploring social support in mental health recovery; it launched in person and online at Yale on February 4, with editors and contributors reading excerpts. That issue's lead editors were Charles Barber (author and lecturer in psychiatry at Yale) and Chyrell Bellamy, PhD (professor of psychiatry and director of PRCH); design was credited to Jeanne Criscola (professor of art and design at Central Connecticut State University), with Graziela Reis and Kimberly Blackman as managing editors. Volume 8 was partially funded by the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, with the disclaimer that views expressed in the publication do not reflect those of the department or the State of Connecticut.
- For questions about Volume 9: contact graziela.reis@yale.edu or jcriscola@ccsu.edu.