[Lizzie B]

I'm in MA, is the recovery movement happening in other states? By this I mean Certified Peer Specialists holding jobs in psychiatric hospitals and the like, just curious. I also go to the Recovery Learning Community run by peers from the top down. It has helped me significantly.

[Callmebj]

Yay, good news Lizzie B. I can't tell you if we have anything like this here or not. I live where they have one of the State Mental Health Facilities...so most go there for any
help they might need.
Hugs, bj

[Lizzie B]

Originally Posted by Callmebj

Yay, good news Lizzie B. I can't tell you if we have anything like this here or not. I live where they have one of the State Mental Health Facilities...so most go there for any
help they might need.
Hugs, bj

They are closing all the state hospitals in MA. Worcester built another large facility on the grounds of the old state hospital. Everyone left in state hospitals will eventually be moved there. Hopefully, the "recovery movement" will be moving your way soon.

[gma45]

I don't know if it is where I live either, but it does sound like a great idea. I would like to know more.

[Lizzie B]

Originally Posted by gma45

I don't know if it is where I live either, but it does sound like a great idea. I would like to know more.

Peer stuff you can google
Certified Peer Specialist
WRAP
Recovery Learning Communities
Transformation Center

SAMHSA (substance abuse mental health services administration) Now has a definition of mental health recovery i.e. even the government believes people with mental illness can recover.

National Empowerment Center- Run by Dan Fisher a psychiatrist who doesn't believe in meds and recovered from schizophrenia.
Those are great places to start and they have links to other recovery oriented sites.
Have Fun

[buttrfli42481]

I happen to be a Certified Missouri Peer Specialist. It is a great, rewarding job. I work for a local community health center. Yes, I said job, I do get paid to be a mentor to other mentally ill young people. I am able to work with people between the ages of 16-25. Right now, I am working on getting my case load to have 8 or 9 clients, which will keep me busy. Feel free to ask me questions about being a CMPS, I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.

trusting these people is an irrational act, ignoing facts. I believe.

[Lizzie B]

Originally Posted by buttrfli42481

I happen to be a Certified Missouri Peer Specialist. It is a great, rewarding job. I work for a local community health center. Yes, I said job, I do get paid to be a mentor to other mentally ill young people. I am able to work with people between the ages of 16-25. Right now, I am working on getting my case load to have 8 or 9 clients, which will keep me busy. Feel free to ask me questions about being a CMPS, I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.

Great to hear Missouri has CPS training/jobs as well as Massachusetts. I took CPS training as well as WRAP and Peer Facilitator. Currently, I'm caregiver for my elderly parents 24/7 however. My peers in MA love their "lived experience" paid positions as well. We have a Recovery Learning Center and peers run it from the top down. I would love to keep in touch with you perhaps we can be "friends" on this site.

[Lizzie B]

Originally Posted by brookwest

trusting these people is an irrational act, ignoing facts. I believe.

Do you mean trusting other peers to assist you?

We aren't professionals and are in no way replacing them. We have mental illness and are just like your peers on Psych Central. Giving support because we've been there.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by Lizzie B

I'm in MA, is the recovery movement happening in other states? By this I mean Certified Peer Specialists holding jobs in psychiatric hospitals and the like, just curious. I also go to the Recovery Learning Community run by peers from the top down. It has helped me significantly.

yes here in NY its called "internship" "volunteering" and "mentoring".

its called internship when a mental health treatment provider / anyone student or not that is certified works with a hospital or mental health agency under the guidance of a supervisor.

its called volunteering when mental health treatment providers or others that are certified are working with a mental health agency or hospital but are not getting paid for the time they put in.

its called mentoring when a mental health treatment provider or others that are certified spends more than one visit with a person with a mental illness, to help them in what ever they need help with.

[Lizzie B]

Originally Posted by amandalouise

yes here in NY its called "internship" "volunteering" and "mentoring".

its called internship when a mental health treatment provider / anyone student or not that is certified works with a hospital or mental health agency under the guidance of a supervisor.

its called volunteering when mental health treatment providers or others that are certified are working with a mental health agency or hospital but are not getting paid for the time they put in.

its called mentoring when a mental health treatment provider or others that are certified spends more than one visit with a person with a mental illness, to help them in what ever they need help with.

A Certified Peer Specialist is someone with a mental health diagnosis who applies for and is accepted into the CPS training program. It's a two week intensive study of the principles of mental health recovery. Following that they have to pass the CPS exam. Upon passing they apply for paid positions in Recovery Learning Communities, PACT Teams, state psychiatric hospitals and the like. Not all states have CPS training yet. Hopefully, they will soon.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by Lizzie B

A Certified Peer Specialist is someone with a mental health diagnosis who applies for and is accepted into the CPS training program. It's a two week intensive study of the principles of mental health recovery. Following that they have to pass the CPS exam. Upon passing they apply for paid positions in Recovery Learning Communities, PACT Teams, state psychiatric hospitals and the like. Not all states have CPS training yet. Hopefully, they will soon.

I see ok, here where I live, thats our "bridges" programs. and what you call a "Certified Peer Specialist" we call "peer counselors", and "peer facilitators", "peer mentors", "mentors"

we have many names for what you call CPS. each of our counties, towns and cities have their own vocabulary so to speak so its called by many names here.

[Lizzie B]

Thanks, that's great information to know. I thought the US was going to be uniform about titles. Hope the recovery movement is going well in NY.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by Lizzie B

Thanks, that's great information to know. I thought the US was going to be uniform about titles. Hope the recovery movement is going well in NY.

titles in the US are uniform for things like mental disorders because treatment providers use the same diagnostic manual.

But for something like this peer oriented events,can be called anything the peers want it to be.. sometimes though what its called depends upon many factors like what the person will be actually doing example the title peer facilitator means the CPS person is guiding a whole group of people in the same topic of support or work shop where as a CPS person that meets with clients on an individual basis and doing more work than just being the head honcho of the group, is called a peer counselor. when working with children because things like doctors, therapists and counselors are pretty scary for children to think about we use the term peer mentor, or mentor instead of the title peer counselor.

it all depends upon many factors.. job description, ages of the clients, the agency rules and regulations... and many others.

here in the USA we have free will, no one tells us what we **have*** to call our job positions. one person may say teacher another may say educator, another may say tutor, one person may say doctor, another may say physician another may say treatment provider, another one may say the guy who dishes out my meds,... one person may say janitor, another may say garbage collector, another may say custodian, another person might even call it a maid.. another may say the servant.... someone may call it a tv others may call it a tellie, others may call it the boob tube,....the USA is a big country where we have many different towns, cities, valleys, mountains.....many different races, cultures, religions, political views....so we have many different languages, vocabularies and standards of speech.

[Lizzie B]

Originally Posted by amandalouise

titles in the US are uniform for things like mental disorders because treatment providers use the same diagnostic manual.

But for something like this peer oriented events,can be called anything the peers want it to be.. sometimes though what its called depends upon many factors like what the person will be actually doing example the title peer facilitator means the CPS person is guiding a whole group of people in the same topic of support or work shop where as a CPS person that meets with clients on an individual basis and doing more work than just being the head honcho of the group, is called a peer counselor. when working with children because things like doctors, therapists and counselors are pretty scary for children to think about we use the term peer mentor, or mentor instead of the title peer counselor.

it all depends upon many factors.. job description, ages of the clients, the agency rules and regulations... and many others.

here in the USA we have free will, no one tells us what we **have*** to call our job positions. one person may say teacher another may say educator, another may say tutor, one person may say doctor, another may say physician another may say treatment provider, another one may say the guy who dishes out my meds,... one person may say janitor, another may say garbage collector, another may say custodian, another person might even call it a maid.. another may say the servant.... someone may call it a tv others may call it a tellie, others may call it the boob tube,....the USA is a big country where we have many different towns, cities, valleys, mountains.....many different races, cultures, religions, political views....so we have many different languages, vocabularies and standards of speech.

Good Point. Maybe there are more peer workers out there than I thought. It's just that a lot of different names are being used.

[Willcat]

In my town there are peer specialist. There is a department in the Behavioral Health building run by Recovery Innovations that provides wellness classes. The peers run the classes and over see the "community connections" room. Also in another location there is a wellness center run by peer specialist.

I myself do some community work as an addiction recovery coach that specializes is secular recovery methods. Its good to give back to the community when I can.

[Lizzie B]

Originally Posted by Willcat

In my town there are peer specialist. There is a department in the Behavioral Health building run by Recovery Innovations that provides wellness classes. The peers run the classes and over see the "community connections" room. Also in another location there is a wellness center run by peer specialist.

I myself do some community work as an addiction recovery coach that specializes is secular recovery methods. Its good to give back to the community when I can.

Great to hear. Now, I gotton responses from peer workers in California, Wisconsin and New York!