NYAPRS Note: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is seeking nominations for the Voice Awards, which recognize consumer/peer leaders (as well as TV and film professionals) for their efforts to educate the public about the lived experience of individuals with behavioral health issues. Consumer/peer leader nominations are due April 13, 2012.
We are urging people to consider nominating Shery Mead for this prestigious award for reasons contained in our nominating form:
Shery Mead’s contribution to helping to transform helping attitudes, relationships and services for people with psychiatric diagnoses across the nation and world are historic. For almost 20 years, she has shared her inspired vision in several forms, including helping to
- advance one of the nation’s first peer run crisis respite services (Stepping Stones in Claremont, New Hampshire) and going on to
- create a landmark series of trainings on “Intentional Peer Support,” aimed at creating a series of principles and practices to define “true” peer support that has been grounded in helping people to “re-story” how they saw themselves on their own non-pathogenic terms and, along the way, equalizing and making helping relationships more genuine, open, empathetic and effective.
When NYAPRS helped develop the Peer Bridger model in the mid-1990’s, we turned to Shery Mead to help us ground our approach in the principles of Intentional Peer Support.
Among Shery’s biggest contributions has been sharing her very sweet, strong and smart soul with all of us for all these years. Being with her, listening to the great honesty, dignity and respect she embodies has been transformative in and of itself.
After a long rich life of giving so much to us all, Shery is poised to retire for health reasons, making this the perfect time to acknowledge her world changing contributions.
Please act today to help give Shery this richly deserved honor! See more about her at http://www.mentalhealthpeers.com/.
A number of us are supporting her nomination as a surprise so please don’t mention or copy this to her. Thanks!
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Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, SAMHSA and the Center for Mental Health Services, the Voice Awards honor consumer/peer leaders who have played a vital role in raising awareness and understanding of mental health and substance use disorders and promoted the social inclusion of people with behavioral health problems. Through their exemplary leadership and advocacy, these individuals demonstrate that recovery is real and that people with behavioral health problems are valuable, contributing members of their schools, workplaces, and communities…
NOMINATE CONSUMER/PEER LEADERS
If you know of a consumer/peer leader who has been instrumental in educating the public about mental health and/or substance use disorders and made outstanding contributions in all of the following areas, please nominate him/her for a 2012 Voice Award.
- Led efforts to promote the social inclusion of people with behavioral health problems
- Personally demonstrated that recovery is real and possible
- Made a positive impact on their community, workplace, or school
DOWNLOAD THE CONSUMER/PEER LEADER NOMINATION FORM:
To make a nomination, please download and complete the consumer/peer leader nomination form, and send it back to the Voice Awards team using the contact information below.
Nominations are open to anyone and are free. There is no limit to the number of nominations you can submit and self-nominations are welcome.
CONSUMER/PEER LEADER NOMINATIONS ARE DUE FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012.
Voice Awards
2121 K Street, NW, Suite 650
Washington, DC 20037
Phone: 202–248–5457
Fax: 202-331-9420
Email: voiceawards@vancomm.com