People who become Certified Peer Support Specialists come from a huge variety of backgrounds. Some Peers have worked their way up from being homeless. Some have struggled off and on, and are now using their new professions as a way to get back on their feet.
Many have lived with a mental illness all or most of their lives, and have been fortunate enough to be successful in other areas of work and life. When people with these kinds of life experiences become Peers, they are able show other people who are living with mental illnesses what's possible for their lives.
They also strike a huge blow against the stigma that affects everyone living with mental illnesses.
Two such Peers, with more than 25 years of successful business management experience between them, have gone an extra mile on the road to helping others recover from their mental illnesses and combat stigma; in June of 2011, Michelle Bidigare and Deborah Monroe opened Recovery Concepts of Michigan, LLC.
Both partners say that their ultimate goal is to take Peer Support services beyond traditional mental health settings. Ultimately, in addition to working on a contract basis with local community mental health systems, they'd like to offer recovery programs in non-traditional settings where people who are living with mental illnesses are also served.
Between them, both women have the kind of professional and life experience that inspires confidence in their ability to make a success of Recovery Concepts of Michigan.
In addition to being a Certified Peer Support Specialist, Michelle is the former Director of Cheboygan County United Way and the former Administrator of the Northern Care Center, a free medical clinic in Cheboygan. Deb was the sole-owner of her own company for five years and has also worked as a medical administration assistant.
“[Michelle] has more business experience, and I have the more hands-on, and I guess life experience,” Deborah said. “Not everyone can gain the experience we have.”
Currently the two partners are working hard to get the word out about their new business and, “...doing everything from grant writing and developing policies to hitting the streets to obtain new business,” Michelle said. Those efforts include two contracts the agency is currently negotiating with different community mental health organizations to provide peer support services.
They are also taking additional trainings that will allow them to provide a more diverse array of services. Deb had just completed a training on Trauma-Informed care and Michelle has become a Copeland Center certified WRAP facilitator at the press time for this article.
In addition to having ambitious goals for their new agency, the partners behind Recovery Concepts of Michigan also have plans for the Peer Support profession. While they are currently working with independent contractors, Michelle and Deb's eventual goal is to provide full-time employment to other Certified Peer Support Specialists.
“We also educate [agencies] on how to use Peers to their fullest potential,” Michelle said. “We want Certified Peer Support Specialists to be viewed as the “para-professionals of the [mental health] industry.”
Another plan is to eventually move into another office space that will allow the partners to work with the consumers on-site rather than through agencies. Currently they meet consumers either within the agency setting or out in the community when it's appropriate.
Meanwhile, both women are actively maintaining their own mental health recovery and self-managing their illnesses. Deborah and Michelle consider themselves positive role-models of what mental health recovery “looks like,” and are able to guide others, who are still suffering from their own mental illnesses, on their own recovery journeys.
“I've had this illness since I was eight, so I don't know any different,” Michelle said. “I've always worked, went to college, raised a family. Having a mental health diagnosis is not a death sentence. It's just something you need to manage on a daily basis.”
Contact Recovery Concepts of Michigan
For more information or to ask about a contract with Recovery Concepts of Michigan, call (586) 930-2897 or email: info@recoveryconceptsofmi.com.
Click here to view the logo for Recovery Concepts of Michigan.
Recovery Concepts of Michigan, LLC, provides services throughout the entire state of Michigan.
By Dawn R. Wolfe