Tanya gives a wonderful overview of the Krasman Centre’s work with consumer survivors of the mental health system. Her organization marked their 10th anniversary this year so this is a special interview to celebrate that milestone.

Her talk gave me greater insight into the values and approach a consumer survivor organization assumes in the day to day work of fostering and supporting the voices of those with lived experience. For those not familiar with the consumer survivor philosophy and practice framework, this interview with Tanya will be a good introduction.

When Tanya Shute, Executive Director of the Krasman Centre told me just how important and integral the Intentional Peer Support (IPS) framework was to Krasman programming for mental health consumer survivors, I was intrigued. Tanya explained that the Krasman Centre was hosting a special week long training on IPS and people were coming from across Ontario to participate.

As a volunteer with the Krasman Centre, I saw an opportunity to add a record of this event for the Krasman video library as well as my own video channel on my web site. It was also a chance to demonstrate how using social media is an effective way to disseminate knowledge and practice to a wide audience of people interested in social issues and change.

Without hesitation, I offered to do a video interview with Shery Mead, the consultant hired to conduct the training.

What follows are 3 video’s. The first one is with Shery Mead and the last 2 are with Ann Thompson, a Recovery Educator and participant in the training program. I think you will find them very enlightening in respect to the emerging field of mental health prevention and wellness programming.

I’ll start by providing a short introduction of Intentional Peer Support (from Shery’s web site).

Intentional Peer Support is a way of thinking about purposeful relationships. It is a process where people (or a group of people) use the relationship to look at things from new angles, develop greater awareness of personal and relational patterns, and to support and challenge each other as we try new things. IPS has been used in crisis respite (alternatives to psychiatric hospitalization), by peers, mental health professionals, families, friends and community-based organizations.

Shery offers a broad range of training based on individual needs. These may include training in intentional trauma-informed peer support, warmline skills, peer run crisis alternatives, co-supervision, Facilitator training and training for professionals in recovery-based practice.

Ann Thompson – Recovery Educator – next page

The next 2 video’s are with Ann Thompson. She shares her lived experience story and talks about her vision for prevention and wellness programming within the mental health sector.

Ann Part 2