PromotingRecoveryandOpportunity
through Mentoring,
Insight,
Support and Education
Voices of Recovery
Voices
of Recovery is a
quarterly Recovery Newsletter that highlights the latest research on
recovery related topics, innovative programs throughout Mecklenburg
Country, spotlights local agencies providing creative services, and
includes personalized experiences, stories, and thoughts on Recovery. If
you would like to share your thoughts, poems, pictures, stories,
insight, tips, highlights, or other local, state, (inter)national or
related news, please send your submissions to Briana Fishbein at
Mecklenburg's PROMISE by e-mail:
Bfishbein@mecklenburgopendoor.org, mail: 1515 Mockingbird Lane Ste.
203 Charlotte, NC 28209, or fax: (704) 405-8980.
Upcoming
Deadlines for
Voices of
Recovery Newsletter Submissions:
Deadline for January 2008 edition: December
7th, 2007
Deadline for April 2008 edition: February 8th,
2008
Deadline for July 2008 edition: June 6th, 2008
Deadline for October 2008 edition: September
5th, 2008
Volume 1, Issue 1: September 2007
Voices of Recovery
September, 2007
Vol 1, Issue 1
An Inspirer is a leader who
stimulates and excites people to action.
Putting Words into Actions
Stepping
Up to Recovery
By Briana Fishbein
“Breaking the mold” or changing
the culture of a system is not an easy endeavor. In North Carolina, tangible
efforts to transform the Traditional/Medical Model of service provision to the
Recovery Model of empowerment are occurring rapidly. Now, Recovery is no longer
just a thought or philosophy...it has become a "movement". The model of
Recovery draws upon a community's ability and willingness to share resources and
support. While skepticism and anxiety often accompany change, in
Mecklenburg County, a network of service providers, consumers, family members
and other community members, have banned together and risen to this challenge.
Recovery Model Reforming National Mental Health System
By Cherene Allen Caraco
Beginning in 1993, the Recovery Model was used to guide
statewide mental health reform. The first state, Ohio,
used this model to transform their system from a
traditional, medical model to the Recovery Model. Other
states did the same, continuing with Wisconsin in 1996 and
Illinois in 1998. With the success generated from these
states, combined with research and consumer voice, the
Recovery Model has become a tool for guiding system reform
at the state and now national level in both policy and
practice.
SAMHSA Toolkits:
Brining Evidence Based Practices to Our Community
By Cherene Allen-Caraco
The United State's Department of Health and Human Services
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
(SAMHSA) is a proven leader in collecting and translating
research into innovative, effective service approaches
that are recovery oriented and accessible to the community
at large. To further their mission, SAMHSA began a
National Evidence-Based Practices Project that developed a
series of comprehensive Evidence Based Practices Toolkits
that allow service providers to use evidence based
practices in community settings.
How often have you had to sit through a training where
you were forced to maintain eye contact with the
presenter, sit up straight, stay focused, not doodle,
keep quiet and wait till the question & answer section
to give feedback, or wonder how the material presented
actually effected your work? It may not be surprising
that these elements are quite typical, standard and a
common part of what is expected of you while your are
attending the training.
I had
a friend who was very athletic; he loved martial arts. He
saw my interest in martial arts and willingness to learn,
and he began to train me. Every morning we would get up
at 5:00am and carry equipment and a punching bag to the
park, about a half mile away. We would get to the park
just as the sun began to rise with a very bright light,
making shadows of the trees.
I'm a survivor of a life long past
of abuse in all it's various forms. The abuse was severe
and extreme; it continued
through most of my life, and as a result, I formed a
complicated defense mechanism called Dissociative Identity
Disorder. Along with it came Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder, and severe Depression, with anxieties, phobias,
insomnia, an eating disorder, suicidal ideation, and
self-mutilation. I was hospitalized 42 times, mostly 3-7
days at a time; the longest hospital stay was 3 weeks.
Mecklenburg's PROMISE
is excited to announce publication of the 2007 Community
Support Recovery Toolkit. We are currently in the final
stages of publication and are looking forward to
releasing this long-awaited manual in October, 2007! To
continue our collaborative efforts, web-based seminars
will be available to help assist providers incorporate
the Recovery Philosophy into the technical and
documented aspects of service provision.
In addition, the Recovery Training Collaborative is
excited to be offering a series of Crisis Trainings for
adult consumers/ providers and family members in the
Mental Health, Developmental Disability and Substance
Abuse fields, which will begin this December. These
trainings will incorporate skill and knowledge building
exercises to help increase the participant's level of personal
empowerment and management of his/her own crises. Want more?!
The Consumer Conference will also serve as the kick off
event for Crisis Planning Training in Mecklenburg
County. All registered conference attendee's their own
Mecklenburg's PROMISE Wellness Toolkit folder.
Want to stay updated on all of the upcoming events,
opportunities and Recovery news within Mecklenburg
County and around the nation? Then be sure to look out
for Voices of Recovery's December, 2007 newsletter for
details!
I hear the cries from a distant part of my mind, from a
past of terror and emotional pain. How do I stop the
memories from evading my waking hours and my interrupted
sleep?
I cry concrete tears, and cuddle in the warmth of my
covers, trying desperately to escape the images marching
in my mind.
By a
show of hands, who is now, or has ever, experienced stress?
Okay, no need to raise your hands, lest your office mates
think you are a bit strange. The point is that everyone,
no matter who you are, has had to deal with the pressures
of everyday life. Unfortunately there is no way around
this simple fact. It affects all of us throughout all
areas of our lives.
On April 3rd, 2007, I was watching the NCAA Women's
Basketball Championship in Cleveland, Ohio between the
University of Tennessee and Rutgers University.
Tennessee eventually won the game.
Just as despair can come to one only from other
human beings, hope, too can be given to one only by
other human beings.
-Elie Weisel
Mecklenburg's PROMISE is
committed to enhancing Mental Health Services in North
Carolina, particularly, in Mecklenburg County. This is
being done through
increasing awareness and educating individuals on the effectiveness
of the Recovery Model on consumers' wellness and developing
a "network" of support that encourages
collaboration. In addition, Mecklenburg's PROMISE
provides assistance to service providers,
consumers and their support teams, in an effort to
further their understanding of Recovery and reduce
stigma. In doing so, opportunities to impact mental health policy
have been created.
Sincerely,
The Recovery Training
Collaborative
in partnership
with
Peer Services
*
To further promote the education, collaboration and awareness of
information on Mental Health, programs, events, advocacy and local
efforts to further system transformation, we would like to include links
to newsletters from Mecklenburg County, North Carolina state and
National community groups, consumer-driven organizations and agencies.
If you are interested in adding your newsletter to this page,
please contact Briana Fishbein at (704) 525-4398 ext. 218 for details.
Stepping
Up to Recovery
©
Mecklenburg's PROMISE
