Iden...tell us a little about yourself and your life growing up in NC?
Just to let you know a little about before we move on to ‘what I am doing.’ I am a native Brooklynight (NYC); my maternal side of the family has strong roots to NC having walked from Bennettsville, SC to Laurinburg and Gibson, NC to settle after slavery. I myself went to school sporadically in my childhood here in NC and ended up graduating from Enloe H.S. in Raleigh NC. My mother and two sisters are in Raleigh with the rest of my extended maternal family in Rockingham, Richmond, Scotland and Moore Counties.
( Note: Click link to download full interview with Iden Campbell McCollum).
Why is the issue of identity so important to your story?
I have many covers to my book and belong to many communities that I love and honor. My most important identity is that of being a human being that must cultivate and mentor future generations to keep this world we love moving and sustaining life. However I belong to other communities that most people identify with more than being a human being and we must change this in order to survive and thrive. Some of those communities include the transgender community, the black community and the psychiatric survivor community. As a man that identifies under the umbrella of transgender, I am working to bring those in the trans community who identify as having had emotional breaks and addictions issues into the recovery community. Bring much needed diversity to our survivor community.
What gave you the impetus to pursue peer work in the communities you serve?
At Alternatives 2013 I met over 5 trans men who came up to me to personally identify and introduce themselves to me, this after I was awarded the LGBT Leadership award. Austin was my 4th Alternatives and I never before met or heard of a trans man being in the crowd. It was an amazing and exhilarating feeling to see my brothers feeling comfortable enough to come up to me and say hey I’m here! Another community, the cover people see before they see anything else is the color of my skin. I prefer the term black over African American but to cover the spectrum of people with skin that closely resemble mine I will use the term people of color.
How important are issues of diversity and advocacy in what you do?
Bringing diversity and removing the bias we hold within can only empower our movement to further heights. Building a movement that encompasses all of the many cultures and ethnicities we create change and truly embodying Gandhi’s words “Be The Change You Want To See.” Our movement is being attacked form all sides we need all of our strength to battle and to keep out those who look different, talk different and are not as educated only means sure defeat for our movement
Share with me the peer work you have been doing in DC?
To do my part in this ever expanding world I currently split my time between NC and DC building up and out the non-profit I founded in 2007. The non-profit name is the Ida Mae Campbell Wellness & Resource Center DB/a The Campbell Center. The non-profit sat dormant from June 2008 until July 2013 when we were awarded the State Networking grant from SAMSHA in DC. We have now been up and running for almost an entire year and we are excited and grateful for such an opportunity to be leaders and innovators. Before taking on the SAMSHA grant I ran the Ida Mae Campbell Foundation in DC with a 5-year contract from the Department of Mental Health. The contract was to operate the only peer run wellness center in the city. We ended this contract in 2013 with the District after 5 years. In October, we hosted Emotional eCPR to train a regional coalition of trainers, in December we partnered with The National Coalition on Mental Health Recovery and Howard University to hold a conversation on mental health and addictions. We brought together community members to build a bridge by having face-to-face conversations about real life issues and events.ou been
Share some of the work you have been doing in NC.
We held simultaneous events in NC at the Chapel Hill Library and in DC at Saint Elizabeth Hospital on May 2nd and our Mental Health Summit on the 13th. In July we will be kicking off our first big event in NC for National Minority Mental Health Month in Chapel Hill and in September a month long celebration during National Recovery Month.
Explain the innovative practices you are bringing to peer providers and organizations.
We are also working on a national level to bring other thought leaders together to discover ways to create new business models for our peer providers/peer organizations. I recently joined BHbusiness Mastering Essential Business Operations as a convener. The plan was to recruit 15-20 peer organizations to participate in a peer provider learning community. The learning community will allow us to work with a business coach, who will walk us through designing successful business models, learn to analyze the healthcare market and improve our current business processes. We will primarily work through a virtual learning community utilizing webinars and conference calling. We will also work independently utilizing research, reading assignments and on-line discussions. Most importantly, we will learn how to sustain the communities we have fought hard to create over the last two decades.
Iden, how do you define success?
With all that I am involved in one must wonder how do you know your being successful? Does it involve financial gain, awards or other accolades? For me success is seeing others that I have mentored start to develop their own thoughts and leadership styles. It means I wake up another day feeling refreshed and rejuvenated to start a new project or continue to develop one already in the oven, one more day of seeing the sky blue and stars at midnight.
What parting advice do you have for the peer workforce?
One of the most important things to remember whether a freshman or a senior in the field of peer work is to always honor yourself first and foremost to honor yourself is to be able to give selflessly to those we support. Take care of self, find what you enjoy and master it, and then build your brand. People don’t follow leaders they follow promise and hope, be that to your community.
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