Lived Experience

Peer specialists have lived experience: Empowerment Initiatives is a Peer-run organization. All EI staff has experienced mental health issues and most have received treatment, counseling or services. In addition to mental health issues, some peer specialists have lived experience with addictions recovery and/or criminal justice involvement and incarceration.

Insofar as possible, Empowerment Initiatives attempts to staff positions with individuals who, through similar personal experience and with appropriate skills, can understand the needs of customers with mental health issues and provide effective assistance. Because of this hiring policy, our trained peer mentor staff is able to model the possibilities of self-sufficiency and independence despite having mental health challenges and/or diagnoses. Some of our staff are graduates of our programs and all of us have been mental health consumers in one form or another.