NYAPRS Note: Congratulations to our friends and members at Compeer for this well deserved recognition!
Compeer Program Wins National Reintegration Award
2012 Lilly Reintegration Award for Social Support given to Compeer Greater Buffalo senior services program on April 16 in Chicago
Rochester, N.Y., April 17, 2012-Compeer for Seniors, an older adult service of Compeer Inc. affiliate Compeer Greater Buffalo (Buffalo, N.Y.), is the winner of the 2012 Lilly Reintegration Award for Social Support, given this year in partnership with the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare. Compeer Greater Buffalo Executive Director Michele Brown and Director of Senior Services Sarah Stimm received the award during the Celebration of Excellence Awards Dinner on Monday, April 16 at the Hilton Chicago, Chicago, Ill.
Compeer for Seniors has been providing services to elders in Erie County since its founding in 1985. As a contract agency of the Erie County Department of Mental Health, Compeer is currently the largest provider of best practice and evidence-based friendship services to elders with a mental health diagnosis in Erie County. The agency provides a unique service to the community and is presently serving close to 100 seniors annually.
“We are thrilled to be recognized for our remarkable service which helps keep our aging seniors independent, healthy, and happy for as long as possible,” said Brown. “This achievement signifies the value of our work in the community, and acknowledges the wonderful commitment of our program volunteers and the healing power of friendship.”
Compeer Greater Buffalo is one of twenty affiliate programs of Compeer Inc. in New York State.
Compeer programs match professionally screened, trained, and monitored volunteers in one-to-one supportive friendship and mentoring relationships with children, adults, and seniors striving for good mental health. A new peer mentoring initiative, CompeerCORPS Vet-to-Vet matches military veterans in one-to-one relationships to support their reintegration into family and community; this veteran-focused program is underway in Buffalo, as well as in Rochester, and Utica, N.Y.
In 2012, Eli Lilly and Company partnered with The National Council to present the Reintegration Awards, which has been a program supported since 1997 by Lilly. This annual award program celebrates the achievements of those in the community who dedicate themselves to improving the lives of individuals with serious mental illnesses. Winners receive a $10,000 grant, an inscribed trophy, airfare and hotel expenses for the awardee and a guest, and two complimentary tickets to the celebration. For more information, visit thenationalcouncil.org.
About Compeer in New York State
Compeer Inc. (www.compeer.org) provides supportive leadership to its community-based Compeer programs throughout the United States, Australia, and Canada; it develops, delivers, and supports model programs in local communities with goals of social inclusion, reintegration and stigma reduction, and outcomes such as decreased crisis service use, positive change or stability in housing and employment, decreased use of drugs/alcohol.
Nearly 3,000 individuals were served in N.Y.S. by volunteers contributing over 85,000 hours. (Compeer Inc. 2010 Annual Survey Report) Because Compeer uses a volunteer base, its services are cost-effective; in 2010 volunteers contributed nearly $2.5 million in time value in N.Y.S. serving individuals with mental illness.
Compeer is an adjunct to mental health therapy, and the American Psychological Association (APA) has recognized Compeer as a best-practices model for recovery. (2007, 2005)
Compeer Greater Buffalo, A Compeer New York State Center of Excellence
Founded in 1985, Compeer of Greater Buffalo (www.compeerbuffalo.org) began with the inspired belief that “friendship is powerful medicine.” With this belief, Michele Brown started the Compeer program in Buffalo, and is still its Executive Director. Compeer Greater Buffalo serves Buffalo and all of Erie County through four different volunteer one-to-one supportive relationship programs: for adults, youth, seniors, and veterans.