Michigan Recovery Council Meeting: September 19, 2008, Part 2

Council Members are telling about various consumer events, including a consumer conference at Baycliffe in the UP.  Now going through the approval of the minutes from the July 18th meeting.  Irene then welcomed the members of the Improving Practices Leadership Team (IPLT), and explained the collaborative approach that IPLT are using to build new practices, and that all we do with adults with mental illness is grounded in recovery.

Priscilla started her presentation on the REE. She thanked the Recovery Council for its efforts to make recovery the framework for services in Michigan. She went through the history of recovery and its denial. She sees her work as supporting individuals in recovery. Gradually, individual stories of recovery lead to the assumption of the peer responsibility by those individuals, and final recommendations by the government that all mental health services needed to be framed by the principles of recovery. in the late 90's and early part of the 21st century. The system of services should be driven by the lived experience of peers.

Performance measurement of recovery outcomes is critical to making the system honest. Output measures are typically ineffective at showing real change for individuals in their lives. Priscilla started looking at Recovery from the perspective of peers. She started out with peers stories, and then she talked to peer specialists.

Her model of Recovery has 3 parts:

1. Identity (hope, sense of meaning and purpose, more than a mental patient)
2. Self-Management (requires a shift in perspective, focused on wellness)
3. Reclaiming your life (living a full life, belonging, basic resources, connections to others, being productive)

One person brought up the problem of CMH's not hiring peer specialists. Priscilla pointed out that recovery will be the system in 4-5 years, and that is the model the CMHs will be held to. Without peer specialists, they will not look good. Also, she pointed out that there are other roles peers can play besides specialists, including evaluation and monitoring. One group of peers performed their evaluation for a professional, peer, and family audience as a play, producing a far deeper effect than the numbers would.

The measurement and monitoring process also supports the individual doing the measurement  in going forward in their recovery.

End of Part 2.

Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/