August 2024 CPS & CPPS Supervisor Community of Practice
Thursday, August 22nd, 2024 from 1:30 – 3:00 pm CT
Abigail is the Executive Director at The La Crosse Lighthouse Inc, a small (501c3) non-profit organization in La Crosse, WI that operates The La Crosse Lighthouse Peer Run Respite and Warmline. The La Crosse Lighthouse offers 24/7 phone support and 1–7 night respite stays for individuals who have experienced mental health and/or substance use challenges and other life interrupting events. Being a strong advocate for equity and social change, Abigail took the opportunity as Executive Director to reorganize the structure of The La Crosse Lighthouse to reflect grassroots peer support approaches, greater pay equity and shared responsibility.
Abigail received her Wisconsin Peer Specialist Certification in 2021 and Intentional Peer Support Certificate in 2023. She was named the 2024 Shining Star recipient from the Mental Health Coalition of the Greater La Crosse Area and presented at the 2024 Wisconsin Peer Recovery Conference on Challenging Organizational Norms and Paving the Way for Equity. Her experience includes navigating long term substance use and mental health challenges, incarceration, surviving domestic violence and PTSD. She holds a strong knowing that personal experiences offer a value that formal education cannot duplicate. Abigail believes in offering alternatives to clinical and medical model interventions for those navigating a self-determined wellness path.
Peer work gives voice to those that have lived through difficult life interrupting events and proves there are many pathways to self-defined wellness. In her personal time, Abigail gardens, plays video games and most importantly, loves her animal cohabitants.
This presentation will challenge what we have come to accept as normal hierarchal organizational structure and explore using the skillsets that already exist within our teams to trim the budget, provide opportunities for growth and lessen the wage gap between administrative and direct staff. Seeing all members as skilled contributors cultivates innovation and community. We will learn how respecting all positions as essential will inevitably build and grow a strong organization, impacting staff turnover and job satisfaction. Peers are a wealth of knowledge and recognizing those skills while providing an opportunity to use them builds the peer, builds the organization and builds confidence that we are capable. Together we can find a better way.
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 5th. Certificates of Participation will be sent to those completing the evaluation form by 4:30pm on September 12th. 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.
June 2024 CPS & CPPS Supervisor Community of Practice
Thursday, June 20th, 2024 from 1:30 – 3:00 pm CT
Before beginning work as a Certified Peer Specialist and Recovery Navigator with Wisconsin Community Services in April of 2022, April was a teacher of high/middle school students with special needs and Library Media Specialist for grades K-8 in Milwaukee Public Schools. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Communications specializing in Multi-Cultural Communication from UW-Milwaukee. She is a mother of 5, grandmother of 10 and a member of a cultivated support system in the community.
I started out in the recovery world in a leadership role where I directed the Wisconsin Walk for Recovery (now Milwaukee Walks for Recovery) for three years, increasing participation in the walk significantly over the course of my tenure. From there, I delved into advocacy work, using my personal journey as a gender diverse person to provide guidance and education on various topics affecting LGBTQ+ people. During the ensuing years, I earned my bachelor’s degree, certification as a peer specialist, peer specialist training facilitator, and opiate impacted family support specialist.
Over the last several years I have worked as a peer specialist in many capacities, at a shelter for women and children, for Milwaukee County Crisis Services, and with Outreach Community Health Center’s targeted case management team. I practice peer support from the understanding that empathy, inner-calmness, cultural reverence, and compassionate boundaries are powerful forces that support healing and connection.
As of late, I have been studying the finer points of grant writing and contract administration as I prepare myself to once again step into leadership roles. I am considering various avenues to use my knowledge and experience to continue to serve my communities. As my journey carries on, all I know for sure is that I must never stop putting people first. As long as we sincerely value ourselves and each other, potential knows no bounds.
Our “Mission Drift” workshop explores how to balance idealism with the challenging realities of working in systemic environments. As peer specialists, we act as catalysts for change, bringing essential and fresh perspectives to places that may not fully recognize or value our unique approach, which emphasizes individual-focused care and uplifting marginalized voices. We’ll discuss how initial enthusiasm can sometimes fade when faced with the complexities of the workplace. This workshop will delve into self-care, maintaining our integrity, and developing strategies for peer specialists to effectively navigate these dynamics. Our goal is for each participant to leave equipped with the tools to succeed without compromising their core values.
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, July 11th. Certificates of Participation will be sent to those completing the evaluation form by 4:30pm on July 18th, 2024. 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.
April 2024 Supervisor’s Community of Practice
In this first 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.
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, May 9th. Certificates of Participation will be sent to those completing the evaluation form by 4:30pm on May 16th, 2024. 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.
October 2023 CPS & CPPS Supervisor’s Community of Practice
October 18th, 2023 from 1:30 – 3:00 pm CT
Join us in this Community of Practice gathering to learn how to support peers in their own recovery to prevent burnout, how to balance with work and home, and promote ethics and boundaries.
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 Wednesday, November 1st. Certificates of Participation will be sent to those completing the evaluation form by 4:30pm on November 8th, 2023. 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.
April 2023 CPS & CPPS Supervisor’s Community of Practice
April 27th, 2023 from 1:30 – 3:00 pm CT
Tim Saubers
Tim got his start as a Wisconsin Certified Peer Specialist in 2016, completed recovery coach training in 2019, and has worked in direct support, supervisory, and program management roles. He currently serves as the Program Coordinator for Workforce Development at the Peer Recovery Center of Excellence while also providing consultation centered on curriculum and exam development, research, and programmatic design. Additionally, Tim sits on a variety of state and national committees and workgroups including serving as Vice President of the board of the National Association of Peer Supporters, among others. In 2022, Tim created the Wisconsin Peer Support Advocacy Network with the goal of organizing and coalescing the voice of the grassroots peer workforce in order to affect change in support of the needs of the workforce. Tim centers the principles of equity and justice in his work while moving not just to disrupt and reform systems, but to create new systems in their entirety.
We’ll explore the importance of role clarity when supervising staff who are certified as Certified Peer Specialists and have completed recovery coach training as well. We’ll discuss the differences and overlap of Certified Peer Specialists who provide peer support, and recovery coaches who provide guidance and coaching. We’ll also spend time discussing how to navigate supervisory requirements that may vary depending on the services staff are providing, ethical concerns that may arise, and ensuring that the services that staff are providing are clearly delineated between peer support and coaching.
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, May 11th. Certificates of Participation will be sent to those completing the evaluation form by 4:30pm on May 18th, 2023. 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.
