I will be starting my IPS Core Training Tomorrow and this presentation has been extremely helpful in laying out the core principal landmarks, it has also inspired me to want to create my own presentation after certification. Thank You.
Before 9:20 Mostly the guests resume's. That's too damn long! 9:20 gets into peer support. Says it was invented by Sherry Mead. She did the world a huge favor but I would like to see some changes. I question the emphasis on the "relationship" between the consumer & the peer supporter. The supporter IS a peer but they are at work. The consumer is not there to help the peer supporter or give to them per se. Helping the consumer does not always mean advising or fault-finding. It could mean being there for them, listening, being supportive, etc. Some moments do not call for learning, exploring or planning. Helping someone get in touch with their feelings, reassuring them, care-taking (bring a blanket, water, kleenex) etc. may be what's called for.
The consumer movement in mental health has done wonders but precious language isn't helpful. "Intentional" Peer Suport is redundant. It's obviously intentional.
If the respite house or the peer supporter made the consumer think she was supposed to be there to give, that was messed up. Also, at some point the consumer expressed a wish to cared for. Why not fucking do that?
There's a lot of good things going on here, but that woman obviously needed shelter outside of a crisis. It was disheartening that the worker didn't try to help her find it.
Where is her "Social Worker"? They have largely been replaced by cheaper workers who don't have graduate degrees in their fields. Peer Support workers can do referrals and may have experience with housing resources@@peersupportcounselor1904
Never Really LIked that word. Going "BACK" to something. Evolution or Growing. Every Learning Ever Growing more Complex. Growing More Mature. Who didnt do the labeling. No more . Labeling No more. Codependant No More.
I just read the article for this video & I think I already watched the video a while ago, I start my IPS course soon so will watch it again :) I hope I can pass this course as I have had some mental health problems and take medication.
I think most of her points of view are coming from an almost exclusively behavioralist viewpoint, and I think it's to such a degree that it's almost dangerous. I just feel like her experiences seem to be exclusively based outside of truly acute mental illness. I see this a lot, where you will get people who spend most of their careers almost never interacting with truly severe cases, and I think it's the severe cases that really give you a grounded, objective and flat out more accurate viewpoint. People feel suicidal for a variety of reasons, for some, yes, it is a behavioral response to extreme stress, but I think it's dangerous to assume that this is the main cause or even the most common cause. I have seen this type of thing in people with personality disorders, BPD, obviously comes to mind, also type 2 bipolar to some degree also. But I've also noticed that these individuals mostly make only minor suicidal gestures, rather than close attempts. I don't want to downplay that either, but I just think her view represents a sort of survivor's bias. When we look at the cohorts that are most successful at committing suicide we see that it overwhelming includes the most severe and acute forms of mental illness. Speaking from first-hand experience, there is rarely anything behavioral about suicidal ideation in the most severe cohorts and they are much more successful at it. When you're faced to face with a person living with severe bipolar 1, or schizo-effective disorder who is in a state of psychotic depression, or worse yet a mixed state of mania, psychosis, depression, and violent suicidal ideation you will realise how misguided and ignorant her viewpoint is. Those who are in this cohort are driven by unseen cognitive forces that are spontaneous, subconscious, and powerful. These kinds of suicidal urges, and they are urges, have more in common with spontaneous symptoms like akathisia, or catatonia, there is simply no behavioral explanation and no one with any sense would even suggest it when confronted with the real thing. I've actually had people almost commit suicide due to akethesia and have spontaneous remittance of extreme suicidal urges from taking a single dose of benztropine. When I watch presentations like this I worry that such a strident behaviouralist, talk-based, and frankly "touchy-feely" approach to mental health could lead to care shifting away from evidence-based approaches towards subjective so-called "experience" based approaches at the exclusion in some cases of pharmaceutical intervention. To be honest she sounds like a bit of hippy guru who has very little experience with anything beyond the most basic mental health complaints. She relies almost solely on her personal experience and intuition and seems to actively avoid scientific evidence that might shine a more objective light on her personal opinions. You could actually say her opinions are based almost solely on heuristics, a bit like your grandmother's "homespun" wisdom. I had a close friend who died, during what was almost certainly either a manic, or psychotic episode. He received plenty of talk-based therapy and peer support, and I believe he would be alive today if he'd just been given quetiapine. And I say that as someone who loathes the side-effect of medication, but damn-it-all whatever the treatment it's just got to be evidence-based. If I ever did a self-directed recovery plan with Shery Mead I would be self-directing her to always do a damn risk assessment with me, or I would be self-directing a formal complaint against her. Someone I'm very close with actually discussed Shery Mead's ideas about risk with peer workers at an IPS group and the feedback and reflection were very interesting. The peer workers whose lived experiences were of anxiety and treatment-responsive depression responded positively to Shery's views, the peer workers with Schizophrenia and bipolar thought she was a complete and utter danger crank. I think this illustrates my point, people with relatively mild mental health issues like the sound of what Shery has to say because it minimises their experiences in a way they find oddly appealing, whereas those with severe mental illness want her to get the hell out their way so they can call a damn ambulance. This video is nothing but the subjective opinion of one person, and she is being listened to with far too little critique. I urge anyone who has clinical training, especially if you are a researcher, or academic to call her out for this pseudo-scientific bunk. Peer support is the single greatest leap forward in mental health care that has ever occurred, and we need more voices than just hers to help form it's foundations.
Personally, I think that this worker beat around the bush too much and gave mixed messages. They wont go to a movie, but will go for coffee outside of work and give their personal number. It shouldn't be a hard to have a conversation about the limitations around a PW client relationship. It can be gently and easily navigated in a way that assures the client that it is for their safety to have these boundaries.
Very sobering to hear this ladies experience. We feel that we’ve come on as a society, in understanding mental health, but yet we still treat people with mental illness as incapacitated and second class citizens. We’ve still a long way to come.
She's not an interviewer peer support is not a therapy room. There's no hierarchy they are both experts by lived experience. The beauty of peer support is sharing lived experience with empathy from a respective, reciprocal, and mutual supportive relationship
Another great insight of Shery's: suicidality -- like all addictions -- being a way to avoid "being in one's skin." In that case, a connection with a human being who is able to be responsible and authentic would be a real help...as a caretaker would not be because that does not -- really -- work, possibly because it ends up actually being judgemental! A person able to "own" being scared or uncomfortable and maintain, in a respectful way, that they matter, too, when something another person is doing is not working for them...well, it just sounds like a balm and a joy to run across!
I love her insight about "getting out of the dynamic of power and control." So key! And the way to do it, pretty simple: revealing the self, both parties mattering! (A whole new way of being, especially for, what call 'em (us...I should own it): care-takers, perfectionists, people-pleasers.)
Shery your an awesome pioneer for Intentional peer support. I am a newly certified peer specialist, but I love your approach so much better because i want to get away from providing a service to building relationships. I love you my sista
Thank you for uploading this. I've done the Core IPS training as well as the advanced IPS training and use these skills not only in my job, but also in my personal life. Co-reflection is so important as it gives us an opportunity to really understand how effective we're being in our interactions with others. Thanks again 😍
Oh my gosh honey! Thank-you for speaking up!!!!! Your words are so powerful. You are a blessing! Have you heard of Dr. Gabor Mate? I think you and him could be an amazing duo, and help many people.
57:52 This question! And esp. as Matthew framed it here: 1:01:15 This language is essential to understand and be able to speak. It's important to be able to translate between languages. Don't make your listener do all the translation work in their head because they may get it wrong and then you're fucked. These are words that have been used as weapons against us. If we learn how to use them, they can no longer hurt us.
This is so fucking important!!! You're right. As soon as they ask the questions, the important conversation is over! I refuse to continue conversations once they start down that assessment road. And I refuse to give anyone on the phone my name or location or any of that ever again. I was coerced into checking myself into the ER by a hotline worker and then violated in the hospital all because I was "at the end of my rope" and honest about it. FUCK THAT BITCH!! NEVER AGAIN!!! That whole system is abusive and only - ONLY - retraumatizes people! And it's all because "Insurance"! I have sat for hours with people online who are feeling suicidal and chatted with them about whatever until they are exhausted and are ready to sleep. I just keep them talking. Do they wanna eat something? I'll send them a recipe video. Do they wanna tell me about something that happened? They can tell me as much or as little as they want. Do they want to call someone? I wait with them until the call is made. I will sometimes do some mindfulness stuff with them if they are able to do it. Whatever! It's different every time! I've done this over a dozen or 2 times with folks over the last 2 decades. Not because I'm part of some crisis team or in a group for this purpose or whatever, but just because I happened to read their post at the right time and no one else responded. I've lost count of how many people have thanked me for this and felt much more in control when we were done. If it ends badly, might the family sue me? I guess some fucking psychopathic assholes might do that, yeah. I keep the entire conversation up just in case something goes wrong and then I would print it all out so I have evidence of what I did and didn't do. But the last time I did it, the man's wife came home and when she saw him, she told me she had never seen him so okay after one of these episodes and was amazed. It really isn't rocket science. And it REALLY doesn't have to be coercive and abusive!!
32:31 Listening again. This piece here is a really big deal for me. My Trauma has partly been to have to take care of other people's emotional needs and identify with their values instead of my own. So, I have internalized this and I have a stress response when someone around me has a negative reaction to my state/values/activities/thots/etc. Fight/flight/freeze happens automatically. When I'm in Therapy, there is an expectation that my Therapist is getting paid to not have emotional needs but instead to hold space for my own. This compensates for an impoverishment of it in my outside world quite nicely and I can learn new (or remember old) skills for sharing myself in a non-stressed way. But I still need skills in moderately-stressed sharing to take home to my primary relationships. If this expectation were to be changed, I'd need to know about that up front. Then I could deepen my self-awareness and presencing to myself to meet the challenge.
I have been blessed to work for Shery and was with her when she was developing Stepping Stone Peer Support Center in Claremont NH. I also met Chris along the journey. I feel honored to have had them my growth of Intentional Peer Support. Peer support has changed so much since 1996, when I first joined up. I love how Shery always brings it back to community and relationships. Chris has been a great addition and contribution to Peer Support. Her humor and energy brought so much to the mix. Some people think of this as part of mental health rather than as an alternative to the mental health system and what it means to be able to define our own wellness. This is not some we use because we aren't quite in need of the hospital, it is what we have in our life instead of the hospital. It is a way to grow and learn together and as individuals. This is a challenge that moves us towards what we want in our lives and community. This is the bread and butter of health and wellness. Many still look at this as a new model rather than a sophisticated philosophy that is particular to each person and group defined by our own needs, which change as we grow. Thank you Chris and Shery, for never giving up and never quitting.
