Peer employment training

I’m back from training!
Over the past three weeks I attended two trainings: one, to be a peer specialist supervisor; two, the certification training to become a certified peer specialist. (Yes, I sort of did them backwards.)
The certification training in particular was wonderful. Two weeks, back-to-back, Monday through Friday. Class was from 9 AM to 5 [...]

Reinvigorated

I’ve been working as a peer specialist for several months now–without actually being certified.
This month, I am finally getting the certification training.
I was already excited about that–finally getting the training–but this afternoon, that excitement just ratcheted up a notch. Because this afternoon, I found this: Mental Health Recovery.
It is module 2 of the peer [...]

Just… talk

I am 28 years old.
It took me 28 years to figure something out. Something rather simple.
That simple thing is this: to have a conversation with someone, I just have to open my mouth and say whatever I’m thinking.
Sounds ludicrous that it took me so long to figure out that, doesn’t it? And yet it’s true.
That [...]

What is mental illness?

Is it a collection of symptoms? Is it environmental? It is biological? Is it cultural? Is it spiritual? All of the above?
Is there actually a specific set of chemicals in someone’s body, a “root cause,” for each mental illness? And if so, how do we know that all the people labeled “bipolar” actually have that [...]

The Survivor Psalm

Survivor Psalm
I have been victimized.
I was in a fight that was
not a fair fight.
I did not ask for the fight.
I lost.
There is no shame in losing
such fights.
I have reached the stage of
survivor and am no longer a
slave of victim status.
I look back with sadness
rather than hate.
I look forward with hope
rather than despair.
I may never forget, [...]

My wellness tools

Every person’s recovery journey is unique, and beyond some basic principles (hope, choices, empowerment, self-determination, respect, and so on), what helps each person recover is unique.
However, I think there is value in people sharing what helps them recover. Sometimes I learn a new technique for staying well that I’d never thought of before when a [...]

Transitions and stress in peer support services

Being a peer specialist is hard work. Before becoming a peer specialist, I was employed in another entry-level mental health position, in a day treatment program.
Although work in the day treatment program was challenging, I have found that my work as a peer specialist is even more so. Perhaps because the peer support program is [...]

Trauma, activism, and healing

Many psychiatric consumer/survivors have experienced trauma at some point in their lives. Whether it was an abusive family, inhumane psychiatric inpatient treatment, witnessing a suicide, being raped, or some other horrific event, many of us are intimately acquainted with the long-term effects of trauma.I have had bipolar disorder for years. First diagnosed in 1999 at [...]