The 5th Annual NC "One Community in Recovery" Conference was held in Durham, NC this past weekend and it was an amazing and transformational time for me and for so many across the state.
I wanted to highlight one of the presentations made on Nov 15, 2013 during the morning breakout session on peer supports. This is a vitally important presentation to know about the future of peer supports in NC both for specialists, trainers and supervisors.
Emery Cowan, is the Adult Mental Health and Employment Services Lead at the NC Division of MH/DD/SA, Best Practices Team in Raleigh and she presented important topics such as:
- Is lived experience enough?
- Why is standardization important?
- What is expected of trainers?
- What will the training process be?
- Considerations of specialization
- The DOJ Initiative
- The Function of In-Reach
- The Peer Support Service Definition
The next presenter, Ronald Mangum, Clinical Assitant Professor at UNC-Chapel Hill with Behavioral Healthcare Resource Program and is responsibie managing the implementation of the Peer Support Credentialing Process for the North Carolina highlighted some of the following topics:
- How will trainers be supervised?
- Who is involved in these changes?
- The training application process
- Upcoming Training Evaluation Process
The next presenter was Wes Rider, a member of the Consumer Empowerment Team of the NC Division of Mental Health. He assists in the design, implementation and evaluation of the public mental health system in North Carolina and he discussed some of the following topics:
- Consumer-operated services
- Evidence-based practices
- The status of consumer-operated services in the state
- What is a peer run program?
- How are these services funded?
Debbie Webster, the last presenter, is the specialist on PATH, homelessness, and older adults in the Best Practices Team for NC Division of MH/DD/SAS and she highlighted an emerging field of peer supports to reach out to our aged population. This is a vivid example of the future of specialization for Peer Support Specialists.
This was an amazing conference and this presentation should cause all Peer Support Specialists to "stretch their minds" as to what the future of peer supports in North Carolina will be.
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