Sonoma County, California 94952, United States
who is a peer?
Any one who has lived experience of a mental health challenge
If you self identify as a person who has in the past or currently lives with a mental health challenge you are for the purposes of this council welcomed as a "peer" whether you have a mental health diagnosis or not.
If you are the family, friend or service provider of a person with mental health challenges you are welcome to participate as a mentor or ally.
You do not have to be trained as a Peer Support Specialist (PSS) to participate.
Who is a Peer Support Specialists ? (PSS)
NOTE: You do not have to be a PSS to participate in the peer council
"Peer Support is not new. As long as there have been people on earth, they have come together around shared experience to learn from each other. In mental health we have added a more formal layer to peer support by making it a specific role that is often paid. This is where it may get confusing. In paid peer support you and I come together to learn from each other (like some friendships) but you (the paid peer support worker) actually need to practice a few things". (Importance of Skills training - Shery Mead)
California and South Dakota are the only two US States that do not have licencing requirements for Peer Support Specialists. In California there is currently a bill SB 803 (Beall )that is in deliberation
Working Well Together: Peer Certification in CA Report 2014 ( 102 pages)
Mental Health Recovery-Oriented Language
What is Recovery-oriented language?
We are not mini-clinicians. As peers, we are here to offer support, in as egalitarian way as possible. Traditional clinical, or “medical model” language has an element of one up, one down-ness that is judgmental, stigmatizing, creates a power differential, and puts one in a role of superiority. It may, at first, seem unnatural to use recovery language. But by making this shift, you will be doing everyone at your workplace a favor. You will be teaching others at work about mental health recovery, and speaking to and about your peers in a more respectful way. Here are some alternatives:
Recovery-Oriented Language
Clinical Terms Recovery Language
Decompensated……………………………………Not doing well
Manipulative………………………………………..Getting needs met, strategic
Non-compliant…………….……………………… Doesn’t want to
High functioning……………………………….....Doing well
Low functioning……………………………………Having difficulty
He’s a schizophrenic…………………………….He’s a person with schizophrenia
Mentally ill…………………………………………..Has a mental health challenge, has lived mental health experience
Unmotivated………………………………………..Doesn’t want to
Client, patient………………………………………Name, person I work with
Chronic………………………………………………..In recovery
Delusional……………………………………………Sees or hears things that others don’t
Provided to Peer Pilot courtesy of Kate Roberge, Program Manager, Peer Education & Outreach, Wellness and Advocacy Center 10/20.
Framework
INTENTIONAL PEER SUPPORT: SHERY MEAD
Intentional Peer Support provides a powerful framework for creating relationships where both people learn and grow together... IPS is used across the world in community, peer support, and human services settings, and is a tool for community development with broad appeal to people from all walks of life.
"Peer Support is not new. As long as there have been people on earth, they have come together around shared experience to learn from each other. In mental health we have added a more formal layer to peer support by making it a specific role that is often paid. This is where it may get confusing. In paid peer support you and I come together to learn from each other (like some friendships) but you (the paid peer support worker) actually need to practice a few things". (Importance of Skills training)
“As peer support in mental health proliferates, we must be mindful of our intention: social change. It is not about developing more effective services, but rather about creating dialogues that have influence on all of our understandings, conversations, and relationships.” – Shery Mead, Founder of IPS
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3 Principles
- From helping to learning together
- From a focus on the individual to a focus on relationships
- Move from fear towards hope and possibility
4 Tasks
- Connect
- Worldview
- Mutual Respect
- Moving Towards
"When people are willing to listen to each others stories without providing analysis, and at the same time compare and contrast, experiences, possibilities for transfiguring meaning are endless. Wen we become part of each other's narratives, we not only offer possibility for alternate ( mutually enriching) interpretations, our new shared story becomes a new way to negotiate future challenges and crises while building real communities"
Shery Mead
At the end of the day, IPS is really about building stronger, healthier, interconnected communities.
Mental Health Service Act ( Prop 63)
Client Driven - Community Planning Process (CPP)
The MHSA requires meaningful and ongoing stakeholder involvement in public mental health program planning, development, oversight, implementation, services delivery, and evaluation.
MHSA General Standards
- Community Collaboration (9 CCR § 3200.060)
- Cultural Competence (9 CCR § 3200.100)
- Client Driven (9 CCR § 3200.050)
- Family Driven (9 CCR § 3200.120)
- Wellness, Recovery, and Resilience Focused (WIC § 5813.5(d))
- Integrated Service Experience (9 CCR § 3200.190)
9 CCR § 3200.050 “Client Driven” MHSA puts clients in the driver’s seat:
- Clients have the primary decision making role in identifying their needs, preferences and strengths and a shared decision-making role in determining the services and supports that are most effective and helpful for them.
- Programs and services use clients’ input as the main factor for planning, policies, procedures, service delivery, evaluation and the definition and determination of outcomes
WIC § 5813.5(d) Planning for [MHSA-funded] services shall be consistent with the philosophy, principles, and practices of the Recovery Vision for mental health consumers:
- To promote concepts key to the recovery for individuals who have mental illness: hope, personal empowerment, respect, social connections, self-responsibility, and self-determination.
- To promote consumer-operated services as a way to support recovery.
- To reflect the cultural, ethnic, and racial diversity of mental health consumers.
- To plan for each consumer's individual needs.
9 CCR § 3200.120: “Integrated Service Experience”
Client, and when appropriate the client's family, accesses a full range of services provided by multiple agencies,programs and funding sources in a comprehensive and coordinated manner.
- Provides “seamless” services
- Delivers/coordinates services through a single agency or system of care
- Includes multi-agency programs and joint planning
- Focuses on self-sufficiency (adults) and safe family living (children and youth)
Counties may allocate up to 5% of their total annual MHSA fund for the Community Program Planning Process (WIC § 5892(c); 9 CCR § 3300(d)).
Cooperative organizational development
Arizmendi Association of Cooperatives
Organizational mission is to:
- Assure opportunities for workers’ control of their livelihood with fairness and equality for all
- Develop as many dignified, decently paid (living “wage” or better) work opportunities as possible through the development of new cooperatives
- Promote cooperative economic democracy as a sustainable and humane option for our society
- Create work environments that foster profound personal as well as professional growth
- Exhibit excellence in production and serving our local communities
- Provide continuing technical, educational and organizational support and services to member cooperatives
- Seek to link with other cooperatives for mutual support, and to
- Provide information and education to the larger community about cooperatives
If you would like to learn more about our Association here are some helpful media links:
- The Replication of Arizmendi Bakery: A Model of the Democratic Worker Cooperative Movement
- Who Needs a Boss – NY Times
United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives
Additional Information
United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives.
Worker Ownership
Worker cooperatives are values-driven businesses that put worker and community benefit at the core of their purpose. In contrast to traditional companies, worker members at worker cooperatives participate in the profits, oversight, and often management of the enterprise using democratic practices. The model has proven to be an effective tool for creating and maintaining sustainable, dignified jobs; generating wealth; improving the quality of life of workers; and promoting community and local economic development, particularly for people who lack access to business ownership or sustainable work options.
Worker Ownership ( 4 pages)
Starting a worker cooperative is an exciting and challenging endeavor!
Here's a few to-do's to get you started:
- Learn the definition of a worker co-op.
- Join the USFWC as a member organization. You'll be connected to a national and international network of cooperators, developers, and allies that will help to support you through the process.
- Attend our FREE monthly Worker Co-op Startup webinar (dates listed to the right)
- Choose a book from our Co-op Bookshelf to read with your team
- Watch a video together during lunch
- Work through the Co-op Movement study guide from TESA Collective
Additional start-up resources are available here.
