Tuesday, May 30th, 2023
2:00 - 3:30 pm ET / 11:00 am - 12:30 pm PT
Increasing Occupational Resiliency for Peer-Run Respite Staff & Volunteers
Peer-run respites offer unique and invaluable types of support and resources to people experiencing mental health crises. Staff and volunteers in this setting must have a set of duties and skills that allow them to cultivate a recovery-oriented and holistic environment. These efforts require a great deal of intentionality and energy to sustain. In this webinar, the presenters seek to connect with others who may benefit from learning about occupational resiliency within these crisis alternative settings.
Objectives
1. Participants will learn about sustaining hope and co-creating healing communities. Hear from personal and professional experiences of the presenters through their diverse roles: former guest, volunteer, peer support staff, and management.
2. Participants will be able to acknowledge potential challenges that may arise in this setting and recognize signs of burnout for staff.
3. Participants will identify key elements that can be used to sustain one’s well-being while providing support at a peer-run respite: including spirituality, team synergy, setting boundaries, and accountability from leadership.
Presented By:
Stephen Valdez
Stephen Valdez is a peer supporter who holds an M.A. in Biblical Studies with a focus on Exchanged life Counseling - a strategic, short term, non-clinical counseling model of helping people from a spiritual and holistic perspective. Stephen has a tremendous passion for bringing out the best in others through mutually collaborative learning that promotes personal growth and development. He has a personal interest in learning 'resilient responses" to the challenges of daily living and finding strength through weakness.
Stephen has been a Chaplain working with the homeless and those recovering from mental health and substance abuse issues. He enjoys reading, mutually enriching conversations and the outdoors. One of Stephen's inspirational verses is from the book of Isaiah: Chapter 58, verse 10 - "And if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday."
Marilyn Michelle Thomas ("Chelle")
Chelle is the mother of an adult son and has two grandchildren. She is a retired educator, with 33 years in education and 27 years working in Special Education. Chelle''s life after retirement finds her very active in the mental health community. She is a Peer Support Specialist, Peer Advocate, Peer Leader, Support Group Facilitator and sat on the Board of Directors as Vice-President, Director of Peer Programs, Director of Peer Advocacy and Community Liaison.
Joana Arcangel
Joana is a parent, writer, peer supporter, trainer, consultant, and disability rights advocate. She moved from the Philippines to the United States at the age of eight and speaks Tagalog fluently. She values finding ways to explore, honor, and celebrate neurodiversity, creativity, meaningful connections, and resiliency. Joana's career journey includes having led peer support specialists, managing a peer-run mental health respite home in California where she worked from 2015 to 2020. She is currently employed by a mental health nonprofit organization working within a transition age youth (TAY) program. She is a Master Trainer of the Honest, Open, Proud program and Master Facilitator of Core Gift Discovery.
Moderator: Kim Ewing
Emotional CPR Coordinator, National Empowerment Center
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