What Does It Mean to be a Peer Run Organization?
Choices is a peer-run organization. I know we have talked about that before, but I want to talk about what that means and what it looks like at our organization. Being peer-run means that our staff are mental health consumers themselves. Currently, 100% of our staff is an individual living with a mental health challenge or in recovery from a substance use disorder. We are based in the community to offer support services to people in need.
Being a mental health consumer and navigating the resources available to individuals experiencing a mental health challenge can be difficult, especially if you don’t know where to start. A benefit of Choices being peer-run is that employees are able to help members by offering advice or opinions based on their own knowledge and experience with mental health. We often have members of our community call or email us asking where to begin on their own mental health journeys and although we are not a clinical center, we have the tools and resources available to lead and guide individuals in the right direction to the necessary help and support they need.
Individuals come to Choices to be surrounded by a community of people who have struggled with similar challenges to their own. Members are able to come to Choices daily and have the opportunity to engage in activities and discussions that work to improve their overall mental health.
Going hand in hand with being a peer-run organization, Choices also offers Peer Recovery Support. Both our Executive Director, Cynthia Duckworth and Assistant Director, Patricia Grimm are National Certified Peer Recovery Support Specialist (NCPRSS), with Marketing Specialist, Sara Coberly currently training to become a NCPRSS as well. NCPRSS professionals are individuals who have been successful in the recovery process themselves and are trained and willing to talk to other individuals who are also looking to be successful in the mental health recovery process. Peer recovery supporters help individuals seeking recovery by offering support, empowerment and belonging through conversations, mutual respect, positive language and the idea that recovery is possible for everyone. This support goes beyond a clinical setting and is available on a day-to-day basis for individuals seeking a successful recovery process.
You can probably guess it, but yep, peer recovery is focused on the recovery process of the individual. Our mission is to offer them hope for recovery and recognize that there are multiple pathways to recovery. NCPRSS specialists are expected to be able to assist an individual connecting them to a pathway of recovery that fits that individual's needs.
“Peer Recovery Support professionals are educated and understanding towards pathways such as moderation, any positive change (harm reduction), 12-step, faith-based, evidence-based science recovery, familial and community support, or any other pathway the person identifies that may assist with the person’s recovery process.”
Peer recovery support is centered around strength-based recovery. This means that the NCPRSS and the individual will work together to discover that person's strengths and focus on these to lead to a successful recovery testament. The two will focus on empowering that individual through strengths they already have and to lead them to a mindset that, once again, recovery is always possible for everyone. They also work together to ensure that overall health is integrated into the recovery process. This includes, physical and mental health, community and family.
The process to become National Certified Peer Recovery Support Specialist is extensive to ensure that individuals becoming certified are passionate about the mission of recovery and the ability to instill that passion and empowerment in others to ensure a successful recovery process for individuals.
Finally, Choices mission has always been to provide an environment focused on support, empowerment and belonging. We are lucky to be part of a peer-run organization so that we can do just that. We will continue to be a place members can come to focus on their mental health journeys and be a warrior for individuals facing mental health challenges and crisis.
