Meeting parents where they are includes spatially, emotionally, socially, financially, physically, culturally, and more. We will walk through our experiences as parents and as certified parent peer specialists to provide insight, strategies and perspectives when supporting parent and families by meeting them where they are at during all phases of recovery.
Michelle Uetz
Michelle Uetz is a Certified Parent Peer Specialist (CPPS). Michelle is the Owner/Director of Rocky Hill Parent Peer Specialists LLC and contracts with counties to support parents and families receiving mental health and substance use support. Michelle currently has eight team members who work with her to support parents and families in 20 counties. Prior to supporting families Michelle used her Master of Education degree to teach high school Special Education, Biology, and Health for 17 years. She was in the first group of CPPS Trainers and continues to be a CPPS trainer. Michelle served as Co-Chair of the WI Certified Peer Specialist Advisory Committee for two years and served on the committee for five years. Michelle lost her sister to suicide. She and her husband had guardianship of her cousin’s girls who had experienced significant trauma and mental health challenges for three years. Additionally, she manages her own depression and anxiety. Michelle and her husband live in River Falls, WI. They have three boys who are young adults.
Amy Polsin
Amy Polsin – has been a parent peer specialist with Wisconsin Family Ties (WFT) since 2008. In her role, she supports families involved with Coordinated Service Teams (CST) and the Comprehensive Community Services (CCS) and the Children Long Term Support waiver (CLTS). Amy has used her lived experience to provide support and hope to parents. Amy is a parent of two children, she shares her experience raising children with mental health needs with the parents she supports to promote and advocate for better outcomes for families.
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In this 2nd part series focusing on peer supervision, we will be peeling back the layers of depth as to what occurs on peer-led teams. Participants will hear about overcoming supervision challenges in peer-led groups with discussions around community grief, personal grief, fostering individual wellness journeys, burnout, self-care, staff retention, and additional impactful trainings pertinent to the peer-led teams’ specific work. We will discuss how we keep the fidelity of peer work through conversations in supervision when addressing issues or concerns.
Tanya Kraege
Tanya Kraege is the Drug Poisoning Prevention Team Manager at Safe Communities MDC. She works alongside people experiencing substance use challenges, birthing folx using substances during pregnancy, trauma, relationships, formerly incarcerated, and mental health experiences. Tanya has been a part of mental health and substance use work for 14 years. Currently, she oversees programs that use Recovery Coaches and Certified Peer Specialists who work in various environments in Dane County, Rock County and Jefferson County in Wisconsin to support people with substance use, and mental health experiences and their loved ones. Over the past few years in this role, Tanya has secured grant funding to design and implement a Salesforce-based recovery practice management solution that has increased productivity by 40% in peer provider management and has given the flexibility to serve over 1600 people in her community.
Tanya also works around the Country regarding anti-stigma work and peer provider programs. Tanya played a role in the Health Care Task Force on Safe Opioid Prescribing by participating in the academic detailing program for working with clinicians on co-prescribing Naloxone with opioid prescription medications, in addition to being a Clinical Social Worker, Clinical Substance Abuse Counselor, and community advocate. Tanya is also a Recovery Coach, Recovery Coach Trainer, and Certified Peer Specialist, using her story of addiction and recovery to help others gain hope and insight into new ways of living.
Tanya Kraege APSW, CSAC, MSW, CCAR Coach, CCAR Trainer, WICPS
Kristina Vaccaro
Kristina Vaccaro is the Drug Poisoning Prevention Peer Provider Team Supervisor at Safe Communities of Madison and Dane County, WI. Kristina has worked with the substance use and recovery community for nearly six years, using her experience in recovery to inspire and support those currently struggling with substances or mental health challenges. She started providing peer support to those struggling with substance use in 2017 and eventually moved into a leadership position with Safe Communities. She has worked alongside the program manager to implement programs and supervise a team of 18-20 Recovery Coaches/Certified Peer Specialists providing direct services.
Kristina works closely with the program manager, funders, and developers to bring to life a recovery practice management solution to ease the daily burden of program management and supervision. Kristina is a recovery coach, recovery coach trainer, and a WI Certified Peer Specialist. She also serves on the board and volunteers at a Dane County-based recreational BMX track and, most recently, on the board of directors for her family foundation working with Wisconsin-based nonprofits to enhance their work. Kristina would tell you she loves her job and the people she gets the honor to work alongside. Kristina’s children and husband mean the work to her outside of work and spends her time outside of work with them.
Kristina Vaccaro BS, CCAR Coach, CCAR Trainer, CPS
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Click Here to View Past Communities of Practice!
Privacy note: Community of Practice gatherings may be recorded for later on-demand viewing.
CEHs: Attendance at the CPS & CPPS Community of Practice and some Supervisors of CPS & CPPS Community of Practice gatherings and completion of post-gathering evaluations will earn you 1.5 hours of continuing education credit good for recertification purposes in Wisconsin. The evaluation will be sent to the email with which you register to attend a Community of Practice gathering.
Like the community of practice gatherings in Wisconsin? Want to expand your learning in a national context?
Please check out the communities of practice hosted by the Peer Recovery Center of Excellence (click here), which are structured very similarly to the ones in Wisconsin.
