Wayne PSS Training

from Gerald Butler

11/26/2007

The first Peer Support Specialist training to be held in Wayne County was completed Friday the 9^th of this month at St. Paul’s Retreat, and hopefully there will be many more to come. Veda Sharp (Detroit-Wayne County Mental Health) and Michelle Vasconcellos (Customer Services Director) presented certificates on Thursday just after dinner. The entire movement towards "Recovery with Dignity” has taken a giant step into the future. Through Peer Support we are now able to turn our poisonous past experiences into medicine to help heal others who are where we used to be. The only downer was that the person who was most instrumental in bringing Peer Support to Michigan ‘Irene Kazieczko’ could not attend due to ill health. That’s okay because at least we know she was there in spirit.

Friday, the 16^th was the Recovery Council meeting at which it was announced that Wayne County CMH and the Guidance Center have been awarded the ‘Virtual Center of Excellence’ grant. I spoke with Kari Walker (Dir. of Programs) and David Cherry (Program Development) of the Guidance Center, both of whom promised to put consumers first, so this was exciting news. The afternoon was filled with Yale University’s Dr. Pricilla Ridgeway’s (Pathways to Recovery) presentation titled “Implementation of Recovery Enhancing Environments” and it was super. Dr. Ridgeway has developed a method of enhancing the recovery process that everyone (from the consumer to the Physician) can utilize, raising the odds of a successful recovery journey. Even her satisfaction survey is unique in that it forces us to consider how much we are contributing to our own recovery.

Someone suggested it might not be a wise idea for consumers to have confidence in such lofty ideas as successful recovery. The Michigan Department of Community Health gave us Person Centered Planning and today Michigan is a national model of that program. Michigan’s WRAP program, also championed by MDCH, is providing consumers across the State with vital tools needed in the recovery process and it too is showing promise of becoming a national model. Larry Fricks and Ike Powell, the designers of Peer Support, have offered their highest praise and excitement for our efforts here in the State. Every member of the Recovery Council is more than capable of telling the difference between beneficial and non-beneficial methods. Taking all these things into consideration, I feel every consumer in the State can and should have faith and trust in Dr. Ridgeway’s “Pathways to Recovery”. After all, when it comes to making our dreams a reality, MDCH has not let us down so far and I don’t feel they are about to start.

The consumer band ‘Recovery’ gig for ‘Corrections to Work’ at the Charles H. Wright Museum was not only a hit, but we demonstrated that consumers are capable of giving back to the community. It has been my experience that it takes years for any band to play such a venue, yet we have been together a mere 8 months. By applying peer support to everything we do: our rehearsals become more productive, we demonstrate to other consumers and society that we can and do recover, because we know each others story, we develop an appreciation and respect for each other uncommon in most other bands. We like to consider ourselves as Peer Support in the flesh.

Yes, the Freedom Train has left the station and more and more folks, consumers and professionals alike, are climbing on board daily. HOPE, is what we live for, it is why we arise in the mornings. Consumers in Michigan have every reason to have hope and trust in the future.