March 2026 CPS/CPPS Community of Practice
April Luderus is a Certified Peer Specialist, Certified Peer Specialist Trainer, and the founder and executive director of Alcami Project — pronounced like alchemy, because that’s exactly what it is. The organization supports women from marginalized communities in their recovery from substance use and mental health challenges, transforming what once felt like the heaviest parts of a life into something that holds others up. Among Alcami Project’s work is Grace House, a Level II peer-led recovery residence built on the social model of recovery, where stable housing, life skills, and peer connection form the foundation for long-term independence.
April brings her own lived experience in recovery into everything she does, alongside 13 years as a Special Education Teacher and Library Media Specialist with Milwaukee Public Schools and deep roots in peer services, program development, harm reduction, and recovery housing. She founded Alcami Project because she knows firsthand the gap between the systems people is handed and the support they actually need. April facilitates from that same honest place, believing that the people most impacted by a problem are often best positioned to help solve it.
Have you ever realized mid-conversation that you’d already decided who someone was before they finished telling you? This session is about that moment. Peer support is built on shared experience, but shared experience doesn’t mean the same experience. We’ll look at how intersecting identities, race, gender, parenting, housing, all of it, shape what people are offered and denied in recovery systems.
And then we’ll sit with the harder question: how do we honor all of that without letting it replace the actual person in front of us? Because knowing someone’s background and knowing someone are two very different things. Come ready to talk honestly about where we get this right and where we don’t.
Feedback Survey/CEH Information:
We invite you to please fill out the evaluation survey link (click here) if you attended this community of practice gathering or if you watch the recording. The survey will close at 4:30pm on Thursday, March 26th. Certificates of Participation will be sent to those completing the evaluation form by 4:30pm on April 2nd, 2026. No evaluation surveys will be accepted for CEH credit after the evaluation survey’s closing date/time.
This website is managed and maintained by staff at Access to Independence working on the Wisconsin Peer Specialist Employment Initiative. The words, views, and values presented herein are not necessarily representative of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
February 2026 CPS/CPPS Community of Practice
Paula Buege (CPS, CPPS) is a Community and Systems Innovation Strategist, Certified Peer Specialist, and Certified Parent Peer Specialist. She trains both the CPS and CPPS curricula for Wisconsin and has contributed to shaping the development of each program. In addition to her statewide and federal child welfare work, Paula provides direct CPS and CPPS support to families across Wisconsin, grounding her systems work in real world practice and lived experience. Her work strengthens the peer and parent peer support workforce, advances family driven and healing centered approaches, and supports practitioners and organizations in building accountable, relationship based systems of care.
A workshop that blends skill‑building, reflection, and practice designed to strengthen the core relational muscles peers rely on every day.
Feedback Survey/CEH Information:
We invite you to please fill out the evaluation survey link (click here) if you attended this community of practice gathering or if you watch the recording. The survey will close at 4:30pm on Thursday, March 5th. Certificates of Participation will be sent to those completing the evaluation form by 4:30pm on March 12th, 2026. No evaluation surveys will be accepted for CEH credit after the evaluation survey’s closing date/time.
This website is managed and maintained by staff at Access to Independence working on the Wisconsin Peer Specialist Employment Initiative. The words, views, and values presented herein are not necessarily representative of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
January 2026 CPS & CPPS Supervisor Community of Practice
Michael King is a leadership trainer and coach, the Director and Creator of The Communities Project, and the Managing Principal of Impact Leadership Training & Coaching, LLC. He spent over a decade in the political arena, working on Presidential, Gubernatorial, U.S. Senate, and local campaigns, from county to state legislative efforts. He is a past Campaign Director, Field Director, Communications Director for the Washington State Democratic Party, and the former Executive Director of the Washington State Senate Democratic Campaign Committee.
The former National Director of Outreach & Engagement for Facing Addiction with NCADD, Michael is also a co-founder of a Washington state-based not-for-profit organization that empowers young people to engage in the political process. He is an alumnus of JustLeadershipUSA’s Leading with Conviction program and a graduate of the Rockwood Leadership Institute’s online Art of Leadership program.
In leading communities deep in the depths of substance use and behavioral health, trauma is so often an ongoing component in the dynamic. It is critical for leaders in the these worlds to come to terms with trauma and lead from a place of responsibility:
Feedback Survey/CEH Information:
We invite you to please fill out the evaluation survey link (click here) if you attended this community of practice gathering or if you watch the recording. The survey will close at 4:30pm on Thursday, February 12th, 2026. Certificates of Participation will be sent to those completing the evaluation form by 4:30pm on February 19th, 2026. No evaluation surveys will be accepted for CEH credit after the evaluation survey’s closing date/time.
This website is managed and maintained by staff at Access to Independence working on the Wisconsin Peer Specialist Employment Initiative. The words, views, and values presented herein are not necessarily representative of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
January 2026 CPS/CPPS Community of Practice
Pete Bullimore, chair of the National Paranoia Network, is testament to how powerful acceptance of and learning to work with voices and paranoia can be. Pete heard his first voice aged seven, “I heard a child’s voice telling me to keep going, that everything would be OK. It was reassuring, a bit like an imaginary friend,” he says. But as bad things happened in my life the voices increased in number, eventually turning sinister and aggressive. “They told me to set myself on fire, to slash myself and destroy myself, often 20 or 30 voices all shouting at me at once,” he says.
By his mid-twenties Pete had lost his business, his family, his home, everything. “The voices just encompassed my life; I curled up in a chair and didn’t wash or eat. “I was locked in a world of voices, paranoia and depression, and it was probably the most frightening time of my life,” he says.
Pete spent more than a decade after that on heavy medication, the voices never went away. He had to get out of the psychiatric system to recover. Once he was off the medication and he met people who shared his experiences at the Hearing Voices Network, he was able to stop being so afraid of the voices and he started to listen to them. His relationship with the voices changed and he learned the meaning of his voices and paranoia.
He now runs his own training and consultancies agencies the National Paranoia Network, Asylum Associates & the Sheffield Hearing Voices Network delivering training on hearing voices, childhood trauma, paranoia and how to use the Maastricht interview for hearing voices & problematic thoughts, beliefs and paranoia internationally. He is a guest lecturer at 21 Universities in the UK and Ireland. He has set up Maastricht Centre’s at the Radbone unit in Derby and the Hartington unit in Chesterfield in collaboration with Derby NHS trust; he has now launched a Maastricht Approach center in Bradford and a National Maastricht Center in Telford
“I wouldn’t want to get rid of my voices now, they’re part of me,” he says.
Join international speaker and trainer Peter Bullimore as he shares unique insights from lived experience into understanding and supporting individuals experiencing paranoia and unusual beliefs.
This presentation will explore:
With compassion and clarity, Peter will challenge common misconceptions and offer practical strategies to foster understanding, reduce fear, and build meaningful connections with those navigating paranoia and unusual beliefs.
Feedback Survey/CEH Information:
We invite you to please fill out the evaluation survey link (click here) if you attended this community of practice gathering or if you watch the recording. The survey will close at 4:30pm on Thursday, January 29th. Certificates of Participation will be sent to those completing the evaluation form by 4:30pm on February 5th, 2026. No evaluation surveys will be accepted for CEH credit after the evaluation survey’s closing date/time.
This website is managed and maintained by staff at Access to Independence working on the Wisconsin Peer Specialist Employment Initiative. The words, views, and values presented herein are not necessarily representative of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
August 2025 CPS & CPPS Community of Practice
Christy Sprotte, Ed.S., CPPS, is currently a parent peer advocate supporting families whose children have significant mental health needs. As a former school psychologist, she has over 20 years of experience in assessing and supporting neurodivergent youth with Autism, ADHD, and related needs. Christy is also a certified mindfulness teacher who supports families in promoting more peace + presence in their homes by teaching skills to promote nervous system regulation. Christy is a Midwest mom to two amazing neurodivergent children. She loves crafting, cats, and coffee (not necessarily in that order).
You play a powerful role in walking alongside parents of neurodivergent youth—offering connection, hope, and lived wisdom. This presentation will deepen your understanding of neurodivergence, and the complex challenges families often face, from emotional regulation struggles to navigating medical and educational systems that can feel overwhelming and isolating.
We will explore how nervous system dysregulation impacts both neurodivergent children and their caregivers, and discover trauma-informed, practical tools you can use—and share—to support co-regulation, build resilience, and foster a sense of calm and connection. We’ll also cover key school-based supports, including IEPs and 504 plans, and ways to empower parents as effective advocates within the educational system.
Ideal for parent peer specialists, peer specialists, community advocates, and clinicians working with neurodivergent families, this interactive session offers hands-on tools, real-life scenarios, and space for reflection.
Feedback Survey/CEH Information:
We invite you to please fill out the evaluation survey link (click here) if you attended this community of practice gathering or if you watch the recording. The survey will close at 4:30pm on Thursday, September 4th. Certificates of Participation will be sent to those completing the evaluation form by 4:30pm on September 11th, 2025. No evaluation surveys will be accepted for CEH credit after the evaluation survey’s closing date/time.
This website is managed and maintained by staff at Access to Independence working on the Wisconsin Peer Specialist Employment Initiative. The words, views, and values presented herein are not necessarily representative of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
