Oregon Peer Employment Newtork - Project Open Newsletter

www.mhaoforegon.com

Gina is one of Project OPEN’s Employment Peer Mentors. She is employed full-time at Empowerment Initiatives, a peer-run agency, and is providing employment peer mentor supports to participants in the agency’s programs. Gina’s own story is one that has already inspired many and will definitely be a source of hope to those the peers she is mentoring.

Gina worked at various jobs before receiving social security benefits due to mental health issues. She began working when she was still in high school, providing bookkeeping and office help for her parents’ logging company. After graduating from high school, she attended beauty school, and then found work as a hairdresser. After the birth of her first daughter, Gina left her position at the beauty shop to focus on parenting and later found work sorting bottles at a grocery store. Over the following years, Gina had a second daughter and split time between parenting and working. She worked again as a hairdresser and helped her husband to run their farm and buy and restore cars from auction.

Things changed dramatically for Gina when she was forced to leave her marriage due to domestic violence. In this horrible situation, she found herself single and without primary custody of her daughters. Her mental health challenges as well as some physical health challenges were increasing. Gina stopped taking the medication she had been prescribed, left home, and began a multiple week journey of travelling around the country. Disconnected from her family and friends, things became increasingly difficult. A combination of factors led to a moment where Gina found herself in a truck stop bathroom in Wyoming looking in the mirror and realizing that she did not recognize herself. She reached out to friends from her church community and began the arduous journey of finding her way back to stability. She stayed with a friend in Pendleton, and got involved with a 12-step program. Her mind began to clear, and she began to get her feet on the ground. She applied to get on disability benefits, but was denied. She began the process of reconnecting to her family and started again to take medication for her medical and mental health needs.

Read more: Success Stories: One Woman’s Journey from Benefits to Meaningful Employment

Jenny Westberg, Portland Mental Health Examiner

http://www.examiner.com/mental-health-in-portland/ron-coleman-brings-message-of-empowerment-to-portland

At a noontime gathering October 21, hosted by Empowerment Initiatives, the only peer-run and operated mental health service provider in Oregon, U.K. mental health worker Ron Coleman was speaking on – what else? – empowerment.

"Empowerment is not a gift. No one is going to give us power. It is something we take.” – Ron Coleman

With less than a day’s notice, two dozen Portlanders filled the living and dining rooms of EI’s quarters on Hawthorne Boulevard -- the former Asylum Avenue -- to hear Coleman deliver an address that was part recovery story, part rallying cry.

“Who gave women the vote? Was it men? No, it was the suffragettes. They took power. Who gave black people their civil liberties -- white people?  No. It started with one person, Rosa Parks, who sat herself down on the bus and said, ‘I’m not moving. What are you going to do about it?’  If we want the right to be normal, we’re going to have to take that right.”– Ron Coleman

In his trademark Scottish burr, Coleman described his own journey from "chronic schizophrenic” to  internationally known mental health advocate, speaker and trainer.  His voice-hearing is no longer an impediment to successful living, and he is medication-free. Coleman says his recovery is due in large part to Hearing Voices groups.

The medications, however, left him with insulin-dependent diabetes.

“We’re told, ‘This medication has no side effects’ or ‘the side effects are tolerable.’ Tolerable? It’s not okay to put on 60-70 pounds in three months because of a drug. That’s not a side effect, it’s a time bomb!” – Ron Coleman

Coleman criticized the psychiatric system for claiming “evidence-based  practice” while ignoring evidence-based diagnosis. Except for the dementias, he said, there is no scientific proof for any of the diagnoses in the DSM-IV.  And when the system doesn’t work, Coleman said, “they blame us.‘Treatment resistance,’ they call it.”

Coleman’s scheduled co-speaker, fellow U.K. advocate Paul Baker, was delayed, arriving at the finish of Coleman’s address with a wide smile and a trunkload of literature, including Baker's own book The Voice Inside, A Practical Guide For and About People Who Hear Voices. That and many other works are available for purchase at Ron Coleman’s online store.

Throughout his speech, Coleman returned to the subject of empowerment and what he called “the first great civil rights movement of the century."

“It’s our right to recover! Take power – and let’s set ourselves free.” – Ron Coleman

Peers EDGE - Clackamas County
Posted on June 7, 2011 by Ally Linfoot

The RFP process is over!  Boy am I relieved!  I would like to extend a HUGE thank you to the review committee for all their hard work.  It was a couple of grueling days locked in a hot conference room for 8 hours with nary a break for lunch and several piles of great proposals!  Alas, there were three contractors chosen in this process.

Empowerment Initiatives (ei).  ei will be providing peers to work with adults receiving services through the Clackamas County Hilltop and Sandy mental health clinics.  They will also be working with the county’s Crisis Services team.

Oregon Family Support Network (OFSN), will be providing family support services to parents and caregivers with children receiving mental health services in the county.  They will be providing trainings,workshops, and support groups for family members and caregivers.  This includes one-on-one support and advocacy.

Youth M.O.V.E Oregon will be opening a drop-in center for youth/young adults in transition (YAT).  Young people will have a place to connect with peers, work with a Support Specialist or a Navigator, and participate in various activities, groups, and leadership development opportunities.

Our final contract awardee is Iron Tribe.  This organization is fairly new to our community, but has amassed a terrific track record of providing support for adults releasing from prison or jail and struggling with addiction and/or mental health.  Iron Tribe will be opening a transition house in the county and working closely with our corrections, addictions, and mental health systems.

Congratulations to you all!  We look forward to working with you and making peer delivered services a success in Clackamas County!