Peer Support and Innovative Practices in Recovery
Themes
When
Tuesday 3rd & Wednesday 4th October 2006
Where
Eden on the Park Hotel, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Keynote Speakers
Shery Mead (USA) – Shery had her first encounter with the mental health system as a teenager. It was a time when most people were over-medicated, shock treatments were routine, and when no one even asked about trauma and abuse. She was offered life in a halfway house and a limited future. Needless to say, it was not much to look forward to. Shery began, instead, to put her creative energy into music, allowing her to “say that which could not be said”. Shery is the author of Peer Support – an Alternative Approach and co-author with Mary Ellen Copeland of Wellness Recovery Action Plan and Peer Support. Shery will be presenting on Peer Support as social action and social change and Consumer Operated Services, specifically Peer run crisis alternatives.
Ron Coleman (UK) – Ron Coleman has been active in the field of mental health since 1991, when affecting his own recovery from mental illness, he used his experiences to develop his ideas for recovery centered treatment of others. Since then he went on to write numerous books and papers on the subject and was influential in the development of the Hearing Voices Network in the UK. Ron now works with his wife Karen under the banner of 'Working to Recovery', a company doing training and consultancy work in mental health. With the continued focus of which is the further development of recovery based services. Ron will speak on his experience of recovery based services.
Larry Fricks (USA) – Almost 20 years ago, Larry was near suicide, hospitalized three times with bi-polar illness and arrested on another occasion, all while abusing substances. Those ordeals inspired him to realize the power of believing in his own recovery, and today he not only is in full recovery, but also has translated that recovery into action. Larry is Director, Office of Consumer Relations Georgia Department of Mental Health. He is a founder of the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network, Inc. that now has some 3,000 members, a founder of the Georgia Consumer Council, a founder of Georgia’s Peer Specialist Training and Certification and a founder of the Georgia Peer Support Institute. Larry will speak on the need for training and support for peer workers.
Further Information:
If you have an idea for inclusion in the program or would like to be kept informed of this exciting initiative, contact the Conference Committee at [email protected] or on +61 7 3844 3009 or fax +617 3844 2609
[Go back to top]
|
