The Family Peer Support: An Emerging Workforce Webinar Series, drawing from themes outlined in our August webinar by the same name, kicked off with a session on outcomes on Oct. 22.
Our Center's serious mental illness program director, Bill Baerentzen, PhD, and Jai Sookram, PhD, family and peer services manager at Community Alliance, opened the webinar. They shared research that shows how peer support can improve the lives of family members of people living with behavioral health disorders.
Then, family peer support advocates Joe and Nancy Pawloski and Jon Tomsen testified to the efficacy of the practice during tumultuous times in their personal lives. The Pawloskis described the comfort they derived from Dr. Sookram's peer support class after their son began to struggle with alcohol use. Jon Thomsen described his own path to recovery and, eventually, his role as a certified peer support and wellness specialist.
This monthly series outlines SAMHSA-published competencies in peer support and explores how persons with lived experience as a family member, friend or other caregiver of a person with a mental illness can support others in a similar situation. Special guests with experience in the field will help tell this important story.
Join us this month for a session on self-care:
Family Peer Support: Self-care
Thursday, Nov. 19, 12-1 p.m.
Click here to watch the October webinar. Bookmark this page for more information about the series as well as an archive of past webinars.
