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SPECIAL EDITION
VOCAL's Mental Health Recovery
News for January 16, 2013
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Dear Reader,
You are receiving the VOCAL Network Digest because you are on our email list. The Network Digest is a twice-weekly update of mental health announcements throughout Virginia and the nation. If you prefer not to receive these updates, please click the "unsubscribe" button at the bottom of this email. Thank you!
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VOCAL Is Pleased to Announce That The Program Director Positions Have Been Filled!
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The new Network Program Director is Bonnie Neighbour. Prior to her role as VOCAL's Network Program Director, Bonnie Neighbour worked as the Advocacy Coordinator for five years. She holds a Degree in Music Education from Iowa State University and has had significant graduate education in theology and Christian education from Union Theological Seminary & Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond. Bonnie holds a certificate as a Peer Specialist, and is an Advanced Level WRAP facilitator. She taught music in Nebraska in the early 80's and has over fifteen years experience as a youth minister in Georgia and Virginia. Bonnie is a charter member of River City Rotary in Richmond where she co-chairs the Service Projects Committee. Bonnie has been involved in many Richmond area homeless outreach projects, reaching out to our peers who find themselves without stable housing. She has been involved in the leadership of several peer-run groups with connections to DBSA (Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance); WRAP; The Icarus Project; McGuire Veterans Hospital; Friends 4 Recovery; as well as a regional peer connection/action group in central Virginia. Bonnie enjoys her work on the Board of Virginia's Department of Behavioral Health and VAULT (Virginia Advocates United Leading Together), Virginia's cross-disability self-advocacy organization.
Bonnie was diagnosed with a severe mental illness after a fifteen year period where she worked over thirty jobs - sometimes no job at all, as she couldn't leave her house, and sometimes working three jobs simultaneously. With her diagnosis she became eligible for and began receiving disability benefits. The benefits were instrumental in allowing her to begin the recovery journey. Through acceptance from her peers and the modeling of her peers who were working, and through their support, after nine years on disability Bonnie was able to go back to work and has been off disability since 2007. Her passion is to model for other peers and help empower them along their individual recovery journeys.
Bonnie will be working out of the Richmond office and can be reached at (804) 343-1777 or toll-free at (877) 862-5638 and bonnie@vocalvirginia.org.
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The new REACH (Recovery Education and Creative Healing) Program Director is Debbie Smith. Debbie has been involved with the consumer movement for over ten years. She began as a support and referral resource at On Our Own of Charlottesville and worked her way to Assistant Director and later as Director of Recovery and Support. She is an Advance Level Facilitator in WRAP, Advanced Trainer in Intentional Peer Support (IPS), a curriculum designed for trauma-informed peer support, and is a Certified Peer Specialist. She has experience in facilitating Pathways to Recovery, as well as other wellness and recovery tools and techniques, and supports people as they write their advanced directive. Debbie has served on several committees and boards including Mental Health America, Charlottesville; VOCAL; and Charlottesville Health Access, a program of the Haven in Charlottesville.
Debbie will be working out of the Charlottesville office and can be reached at (434) 243-7878 and debbie@vocalvirginia.org.
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The new CO-OP Program Director is Cynthia Evans. She lives in Dale City in Northern Virginia (or what she refers to as "The Other D.C."). She is the former Director of NAMI's In Our Own Voice, a public speaking program where people with mental illnesses share their stories with the community at-large. Previously, she was employed for 12 years with the Laurie Mitchell Employment Center (LMEC), a peer-run drop-in center in Fairfax County providing free computer training, peers support, and employment assistance. Raised in Detroit in a home where mental illness, abuse, and addictions ran rampant, Cynthia is truly a survivor. Between the ages of 13 and 24, she lived in 25 different residences including foster homes, mental hospitals, and homeless shelters. She has been diagnosed with depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Attention Deficit Disorder. She had Borderline Personality Disorder for 15 years, but no longer has it. "I really believe that whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger. My path has certainly made me more sensitive to others than I ever would have been otherwise." Cynthia credits spirituality,
peer support, and recovery principles as the tools that have brought her this far enjoys bringing a message of hope to others. Cynthia will be working out of her home office in Northern Virginia and can be reached at (434) 243-7878 and cynthia@vocalvirginia.org.
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DISCLAIMER: This page is offered strictly for informational and support purposes. We assume no liability whatsoever for any consequences arising out your use of information or connections provided through any of the above organizations. VOCAL does not necessarily agree with information provided by these organizations, their websites, members or other affiliations.
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