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DMH Connections
A publication of the
Massachusetts Department of Mental Health
September 2015
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It's National Recovery Month, Let's Celebrate!
September is Recovery Month, this year marking the 26th anniversary of promoting the benefits of prevention, treatment and recovery for mental health conditions and substance use disorders. This year's theme of "Join the Voices for Recovery: Visible, Vocal, Valuable!" encourages people to openly be seen and be vocal about mental health and substance use disorders. Every individual is valuable and has a unique story to share.
Recovery Month helps us spread the word that behavioral health is essential to overall health, that prevention works, treatment is effective and people can and do recover. This year DMH has captured many of these stories and perspectives of individuals and families across the Commonwealth and we invite you to read, watch and celebrate them in this special edition of DMH Connections.
During September we'll also highlight these stories and more " Voices for Recovery" on our DMH social media platforms. Our Twitter account @MassDMH now has over 1,000 followers and we have just launched our massdmh account on Instagram. If you aren't already following DMH, look in the left column below, click the link buttons and stay connected!
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DMH Connections
Celebrates
Thank You for your readership as DMH Connections proudly celebrates 7 years of continuous publication!
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DMH Office of Communications and Community Engagement | |
Questions or suggestions?
Call 617-626-8124
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Go Social with DMH!
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Click here for the 2015 Editorial Calendar
October Submission Deadline:
September 15
Please send all materials to
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Multicultural
Why is peer to peer support important for multicultural communities?
By Tina Sang
Service Advocate
DMH Office of Multicultural Affairs
This question was posed to Chantell Albert and Valeria Chambers, co-chairs of DMH's Multicultural Advisory Committee. Chantell is a former Family Partner with 20 years of experience in the role of helping families navigate the mental health system. Valeria has 11 years of experience as a Certified Peer Specialist and does outreach and training at The Transformation Center. Both women use their lived experience of mental health challenges and as African Americans to provide peer support to multicultural communities.
Stigma prevents people in all walks of life from discussing mental health issues and seeking help. But people from communities of color often suffer in silence because of other kinds of discrimination. "You need to appear totally together or you will be totally discounted," said Valeria. "When people are under siege, they don't want to seem vulnerable. The stronger you look, the more likely you are to survive."
Seeking help is hindered by the expectation that "you don't talk about what happens in the home with people outside the home," explained Chantell.
Valeria sees the peer worker role as instrumental for her own and others' recovery journey: "Peer workers demonstrate that is it possible to flip pain and struggle into knowledge and empathy that helps others." People with lived experience of emotional distress and family members in need of support connect because of their shared understanding. "I've been where you've been. Let me help you go through it," is Chantell's approach with the people she serves.
Recruiting and training peer workers from diverse backgrounds is essential for serving the multicultural communities in Massachusetts. Retaining them in the mental health workforce will require a "career ladder for people to grow so someone is not stuck in one position," said Chantell. The goal, as articulated by Valeria, is to have "More of us in every place where there are people like us."
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Focus on
Employment 
Recovery Happens When We Are Working!
By Michael Stepansky
DMH Director of Employment
John Gardner has worked his entire life. Even as a child, John remembers: "I felt my best when I was working." He mowed lawns, sold lemonade, and sold his photographs to his local newspaper. When a little older, he worked as a chauffeur for the Registry of Motor Vehicles. In his twenties he found that he loved human services, helping people, and through the Boston University Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation became a mentor, notetaker and traveling companion to a young man with cerebral palsy who himself eventually found work at the Institute for Community Inclusion. In that job for 25 years, John developed a passion for travel as they attended conventions and conferences in 39 states across the country. Now returning to his loves of driving and human services, he drives for Lyft and Uber, is pursuing an Ombudsman Advocate Training Course and is considering work at an assisted care facility near his home. John's story has become a central piece of an upcoming, online training for DMH staff on the benefits of competitive employment and the services DMH offers to help people find real work in the community. As John says: ""I think work is noble, is honorable and is necessary for folks with mental health challenges. It doesn't matter what kind of work it is, as long as a consumer feels as if he or she is being taken care of in that job. I believe real recovery happens when we are working because that is when we are in touch with our dignity, integrity and healthy inner self!" |
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ReachHire offers young adults and anyone seeking a wealth of tools, advice, and resources designed to help you reach your dreams - for building a career, getting an education, and supporting yourself financially.
With a positive attitude and the right support, you can make it a fun and fulfilling experience.
Get Started Today at:
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Connections Correction
We apologize that In the December 2011-January 2012 issue, in the "Recovery, Peers are Key to DMH Inpatient Mission" article we noted
"Kevin Huckshorn, who now serves as director of the National Technical Assistance Center for the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors" Kevin is the Commissioner of
of the DE mental health and substance abuse service system. | |
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Conferences and Events
September 6, 2015
"Foundations Workshop in Facilitating Peer Support Groups" 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Registration: 9:15 to 9:45 a.m.
Continental breakfast 9:30 to 10 a.m.
Location: Workshop starts promptly at 10 a.m.
Francis de Marneffe Building, ground floor, McLean Hospital, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA
Hosted by: Depression Bipolar Support Alliance of Boston (DBSA Boston)
Click here for more information and to register.
October 23, 2015
Riverside Trauma Center's 5th Annual Conference
Understanding the Role of Trauma in the Roots of Violent Behavior
8:30 a.m. to 4:15 a.m. The Verve, Crowne Plaza, Natick, MA Co-sponsored by the DPH Suicide Prevention Program Pre-registration is required. Click here for Online registration will be at. You can also register or request accommodations such as ASL interpreters or visual aids by contacting [email protected] and/or call (781) 433-0672, ext. 5738 by 10/2. Click here for a printable flyer __________________
Upcoming Events at The Bridge Training Institute
Continuing Education for Mental Health Professionals - See our training calendar at www.thebridgetraininginstitute.org
Our day-long trainings are held at the Courtyard Marriott in Marlborough, MA. If accommodations are needed, please contact Stephen Murphy at [email protected] or 508-755-0333
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The Massachusetts Department of Public Health Suicide Prevention Training Calendar Please click on the link below to register. When registering for a workshop, please note that each event has tabs titled with information regarding the workshop, available CEs and cost. Space is very limited for each workshop and fills up quickly, please register early. __________________ Upcoming Workshops at the Center for Professional Innovation (formerly Community Program Innovations) CPI offers continuing education for mental health and healthcare professionals and educators, holding day-long workshops throughout Massachusetts on clinical and management topics. Trainings are held in Billerica, Foxborough and Springfield. To view the complete schedule and to register visit All facilities are wheelchair accessible. If accommodations such as ASL interpreters or visual aids are needed, email: [email protected] or call 339-883-2118. _________________ Click here for the Transformation Center website and all the latest information and events happening throughout the mental health community. Please send your event information to by the 15th of each month for publication in DMH Connections |
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Human Connections = Recovery
Overcoming Mental Health and Substance Abuse Challenges
By Paul Styczko, CPS
Director of the Metro Boston RLC (MBRLC)
 Connection to others is what helped me to flourish in my recovery and enjoy a satisfying life. It wasn't always this way for me--I experienced trauma and inner turmoil during my young life, leading to self-medication and isolation. Eventually my life and my mental health deteriorated to the point where I lost my will to live. I was desperate and attempted to end my life, but fortunately this event had a different ending and became a turning point in my life.
Blindness was the result and it was at a blindness rehabilitation program in Newton where I connected with persons who had similar life experiences. It was there I began to develop my first recovery network. We were a group of people all blind and from many walks of life. We shared our challenges and pain while learning from and supporting each other in recovery.
Over the years I have become a part of a number of recovery networks: the Peer Movement with the Boston Resource Center and NAMI, Independent Living Centers, along with Alcoholics Anonymous. Many of us with lived experience in recovery also have more than one recovery network or connection to the wider community.
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Paul recently joined MBRLC Co-Executive Directors Anne Whitman and Howard Trachtman to celebrate a milestone birthday for Howard.
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The Metro Boston Recovery Learning Community (MBRLC) is one of the six Recovery Learning Communities in the state. The MBRLC has 4 Recovery Connection Centers in Metro Boston: Boston Resource Center (BRC), Hope Center, Cambridge-Somerville Recovery Learning Community (CSRLC) and the Peer Education Resource Center (PERC). Everyone is welcome at the RLCs and can immediately become a member of the community. There are no barriers. All one needs to do is self-identify as having lived experience with mental health and/or substance use challenges.
Persons in recovery, or "peers," come together at the various centers to form healing communities. For many of us, it is the very first time that we are accepted for who we are. While all of our life's journeys are unique, many of the experiences and feelings are similar. These commonalities allow us to support each other and nurture dreams for a better life.
The Peer Bridger program is one of our prime methods for outreach to folks with mental health challenges in Metro Boston. The Bridgers visit inpatient units at numerous locations, Community Crisis Stabilization programs and homeless shelters. We run peer support groups to connect folks with our services. It is extremely powerful when during the course of a support group, it is revealed that the group facilitators are in recovery and very often have been in a similar situation. We offer hope as living examples that, with the right supports and opportunities, a person with mental health issues can thrive.
I am very grateful to find support and encouragement during my recovery journey. I learned along the way that in order to remain in recovery one must be willing to give it away. For me, that means that I must reach out to assist others who are struggling with mental health and substance use challenges. There is no better reward than being a part of a peer's celebration of their newly found recovery. |
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Promoting Peer Support and Recovery Among Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community
The infusion of peer support and the concept of recovery has had a tremendous impact on the Department of Mental Health in recent years. Recovery is a vital part of DMH's philosophy and is reflected throughout the agency.
Peer support and the philosophy behind recovery has changed the way services are delivered and has changed expectations for people with mental health conditions. Instead of "stability" and "managing one's illness," individuals can be part of a vital supportive community and use tools and resources to shape one's life. A person can use their own experience and journey to support others--it's a powerful way to bring meaning and purpose to a person's life.
Certified Peer Specialists are an integral part of many mental health programs and are now often considered a standard part of staffing. Peer support groups are offered in many locations and are well attended. People who use services value these opportunities.
For DMH's Deaf and hard of hearing community, the benefits of peer specialists are beginning to blossom. While the language barrier is an obvious one, there are other aspects of the Deaf and hard of hearing community that are more nuanced, especially where recovery can mean something very different.
The Department received a one-time grant from the National Association of Mental Health Program Directors to explore the ideas of Peer Support and Recovery in the Deaf and hard of hearing communities. DMH partnered with The Transformation Center (who had already begun this work) and a few courageous and committed Deaf individuals who self-identified as having been diagnosed with a mental illness and/or experienced serious emotional crises. The Deaf team with lived experience spent time in the community discussing recovery, peer support, trauma and wellness and offering peer support and wellness tools for recovery. They learned a lot about how to discuss these concepts and how the Deaf community makes them their own.
As a product of this work, the Deaf team recorded their own recovery stories and developed a short video they hope will spark community dialogues. Below is the first of the video series entitled "Who Are We?" The videos are also published on the Who Are We? playlist of our DMH Connections YouTube Channel. For more information about this project please contact Marnie Fougere, Catherine Quinerly or Deborah Delman at the Transformation Center. [email protected]
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Intentional Peer Support Training
Graduates Honored at Celebration
Fifteen graduates gathered at the Disabled American Veterans Hall in Tewksbury recently to celebrate their completion of the Intentional Peer Support (IPS) training. Peer Specialists from the Northeast Suburban Area serving individuals in Tewksbury Hospital, DMH community locations, as well as Peer Specialists working in Community Bridging programs of the Northeast Recovery Learning Community were among the graduates. Trainers Carol Gapski and Karen Kieffer worked to deepen peer support practice using the relational framework developed by Shery Mead and characterized by the formation of mutual learning relationships.
Susan Wing, DMH Northeast Suburban Area Director, welcomed the graduates, their supervisors and Area leadership. She commended the graduates for advancing peer support practice in the field and committed to continuing this pioneering work within the DMH clinical system.
Five graduates shared their final projects through presentations of poetry, visual art displays and spoken word. As a result, audience members experienced first hand the power of relationships in changing lives for the better Congratulations to the entire Intentional Peer Support graduating class as go forth with IPS principles and put them into a daily peer support practice! |
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DMH Southeast Area WRAP/WHAM Alliance Going Strong, Spreading the Word
The DMH Southeast Area Wellness Recovery Action Plan/Whole Health Action Management (WRAP/WHAM) Alliance is going strong since it formed several years ago. It was then that a group of providers, peers and DMH staff made the commitment to tackle the stark early mortality trends for people living with mental illnesses in the Southeast region of the state. And two years later, the Alliance continues to spread the word about these holistic wellness tools, while supporting resource sharing and good health.
Both WRAP and WHAM classes are led by a pair of trained and certified peer supporters and encourage self-direction, holistic health and a focus on the strengths of the individual. WRAP, which is a U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration evidenced-based practice created by Mary Ellen Copeland, is designed to guide a person through self-reflective exercises in a group setting. The resulting written work serves as a personal roadmap for navigating future emotional distress. WHAM, which focuses on holistic health education and positive health practices, is specifically intended to raise the quality of life and overall health and wellness of a person struggling with mental health challenges. The backbone of the Southeast Area WRAP/WHAM Alliance is the 20 trained peer supporters who facilitate and lead the classes. From the fall of 2013 through the spring or 2014, this core group held seven WRAP classes and five WHAM classes across the region from Brockton to Taunton to Fall River and to Cape Cod. These critical learning and growth opportunities introduced the powerful tools of personal wellness to both persons served, and for the first time in the Southeast, to non-Peer Specialist staff. In FY2015, five more WRAP classes and two more WHAM classes were held, and planning for the FY2016 calendar of classes is now underway. Without a doubt, the heart and soul behind the Southeast Area WRAP/WHAM Alliance has always been Alliance Chairperson Bob Rousseau, Director of Peer Recovery Services for Fellowship Health Resources, Inc. Bob, who speaks five languages and has an impressive resume of academic as well as recovery credentials, is a tireless advocate for both his peers and for the community of providers. It was Bob who spearheaded the Alliance and he continues to coordinat
e the calendar, supports facilitators and trainers with planning classes, and advocates the work of the Alliance far and wide.
When recently asked why he is so passionate about WRAP and WHAM, Bob said, "I don't want my peers, that is, individuals like myself living with mental health and addiction challenges, dying 25 years sooner than our counterparts in the general population. The suffering and pain we encounter both mentally and physically do not have to lead to our early deaths. WRAP and WHAM have taught me that life is worth living and that longevity is attainable."
Click here to download the WRAP/WHAM 2015 course calendar.
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Creative Trauma Prevention Approaches Help Students Thrive in School
 As administrators, faculty, students and their families begin a new school year, a two-day conference sponsored by SEEM Collaborative was recently held at Essex Technical School in Danvers on Student Mental Health: Roles, Responsibilities and Resources.
The conference featured DMH's, Janice LeBel, Ph.D., Program Manager, Child and Adolescent Division as a keynote speaker. Her talk was "Preventing Traumatic Experiences with Creative Approaches to Help Students Thrive at School." Dr. LeBel highlighted trauma prevention, the interagency restraint/seclusion prevention initiative and current research and innovative approaches to support students with mental health needs in the classroom. The presentation culminated with a discussion by Express Yourself Co-Director Paula Conrad on the creative arts model, process and methods to meaningfully engage youth. Other DMH contributions at the conference included a panel presentation on Community Partners with Laurie Gobeil, Northeast-Suburban Child/Adolescent Director. Event leaders emphasized the importance of collaboration and partnership and praised DMH for the agency's presence, contributions in the community and work in the schools to help students succeed.
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CBH Knowledge Center News
Register Now!
FREE Webiner
September 15, 1 to 2 p.m.
Integrating Mindfulness Into Care of Children and Adolescents
Description: Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) has been widely studied and scientifically demonstrated to enhance well-being in a variety of health conditions in adults. Recently, there is growing interest in and use of meditative based interventions in youth. This webinar provides an introduction to mindfulness and MBSR as adapted for youth. It will review typical physical sensations, emotions and thoughts reported by children to the physiology of stress responses and strategies for working with youth. It will explore mindfulness practices and supporting activities to guide youth in emotional regulation, promoting resilience, responding thoughtfully and making healthy decisions.
Presenters:
Marguerite Roberts MS, NP, Director of the Family Resource Center in Behavioral Health at MassGeneral for Children at North Shore Medical Center in Salem.
Jefferson Prince, M.D. Director of Child Psychiatry at the MassGeneral for Children at North Shore Medical Center.
Hosted by: The Children's Behavioral Health Knowledge Center at the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health
Click here to learn more and register!
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Calling All Knowledge Builders!
Do you have an innovative program, initiative or practice that you would like to get the word out about? Have you undertaken an initiative that has resulted in positive outcomes for children with behavioral health challenges and their families?
Don't keep all of the good work to yourself!
The DMH Children's Behavioral Health Knowledge Center wants to hear from you. By serving as an "information hub," the Knowledge Center has the opportunity to broadly disseminate the exciting work occurring in the field that often is only learned about through "word of mouth" or other informal channels. The goal is to facilitate connections among local providers, researchers and youth/family members while raising awareness among policy makers and program funders about those projects, policies or practices.
The Knowledge Center is especially interested in highlighting activities in the following areas:
- Creative solutions to the training or coaching of new or existing staff members
- Evidence-based practice implementation
- Innovations in care delivery for youth with mental health or substance use challenges
- Programs or practices focused on meeting the unique needs of special populations or underserved groups (e.g. transition age youth, parents with serious mental illness, refugees, linguistic minorities, etc.)
- Quality improvement activities that have positively impacted program operations or access to care
- Workforce initiatives that have reduced staff turn-over, improved staff satisfaction, or facilitated recruitment of qualified staff
If you are interested in being featured in one of our upcoming webinars, at our Annual Symposium, at one of our workshops, or in a best practice brief, contact: Kelly English, Director of the Children's Behavioral Health Knowledge Center at: [email protected] or 617-626-8654.
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 WE NEED YOUR TEDDY BEARS!
The Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital Occupational Therapy Department staff has been making weighted stuffed animals as part of the sensory toolkit for young patients there. The weighted stuffed animals have been used both in group settings for sensory tool exploration and some have been given to young people who have requested one for their personal use in their rooms. So popular and successfull, the OT staff has run out of its stores of stuffed animals and they're looking for more.
The WRCH OT staff will gratefully accept donations of large (18-24 inches or larger) stuffed animals that need a new home.
The OT Department
Amanda Wiafe, OTR/L
Occupational Therapy Fieldwork Coordinator Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital
309 Belmont St., Worcester, MA
508.368.3748
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Photo of the Month
ADA Celebrates 25 Years!
Engie Mota, Diane Chang, Joy Connell, Sonia Bryan and Quoc Tran celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the ADA on Boston Common.
DMH Diversity Officer Joy Connell joined many colleagues at the July 22 celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Boston was one of the many cities nationwide that observed the milestone. Across the country, advocates raised awareness about social justice and the voices of marginalized groups. While there has been significant gains in the fight for equality, we always remember that not so long ago people with disabilities were openly barred from all areas of public life.
If you have photos of a DMH event that you would like featured here or on DMH's Flickr site, please send them to
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We will be posting DMH Connections on DMH's archives page of the DMH Internet.
View issues from 2008 to the Present.
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