Sonoma County, California 94952, United States
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.
