In 1988 and 1989, every week I walked on this granite spiral staircase while in forced treatment. Around 2010, I was hand selected by the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health Commissioner's Office to create a special empowerment program; and I did and it was successful. I was then vetted to provide Continuing Education Unit (CEU) licensing training for DMH Staff including Peer Workers. I was also working throughout the state training at different agencies and having great success in general. In retrospect, I may have been setting the bar a bit too high for my fellow peers or maybe I pushed too hard in my efforts to demand that peer specialists were treated well and that those we supported were benefited as much as possible. No matter what, I really believed that helping people live better lives is the essence of what peer work is. What I did not realize is how competitive my colleagues were. In this context; colleagues and peers are the same. I really trusted my fellow peers. They were not just colleagues in a traditional sense; we all shared things in common that made us eligible for our paid roles. This a very special gift we were all given. To take the very things they said were wrong with us and transform ourselves and our life challenges, into something beautiful that helped us create better lives for ourselves plus we received the blessing of being able to help other people do the same the same. The best possible job in the world for me.
These were the only people I truly trusted and I trusted them for good reason. We were all mental health workers with lived experience. Nearly all of us were trained and certified by the same organization and every one of us had to agree to adhere to a Code of Ethics. I believed we all became peer workers for at least some of the same reasons.
I didn’t see it coming...
Becoming a peer specialist was the most life changing experience of my life and I am so proud of my gorgeous recovery journey.
Thank God I survived. Now I live in Mexico and I am learning how to speak Spanish. It is a requirement to be able to live here and have a quality life. I am doing pretty alright living in this wild reality.
A few years back, I began training mental health workers and peers all over Europe. I think I have hit lucky #15 in countries in which Better Days has hit the ground running. Currently the workbook is in 10 languages, including Thai, Swahili, Italian and French. It is being used in numerous peer supporter programs in several different countries in three continents.
Even better, during this time period of not working in the United States, I have given, in person, presentations on recovery, peer support, spirituality and surviving the impossible, in 35 countries around the world and in 15 different languages with the help of a translator.
I believe all people are worthy of living empowered and self-valued lives.
This is how I spent the past 4 years; creating something out of thin air because I had to.
Thank the Heavens I enjoy doing the “impossible” for fun; it is a lifelong hobby of mine.
See you soon.
Happy 2020.
Sincerely,
Craig
Enjoy this recent 12 minute podcast interview:
Read a Better Days Workshop Description here:
Learn about all the books here:
Email: punx.in.recovery@gmail.com
Whatsapp: 528332944654
You can watch all sorts of wild travel videos and other good stuff on this youtube channel.
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