November 2024 CPS & CPPS Supervisor Community of Practice

 “All in the Family: A Liberatory Supervision Praxis Rooted in Community & Connection”

with Rylee Jenich

Thursday, November 21st, 2024 from 1:30 – 3:00 pm CT

Facilitator:
  • Rylee Jenich (They/Them)

Rylee Jenich (They/Them) is the peer program manager at Solstice House Peer Run Respite & Warmline. As a radical queer harm reductionist, they seek to subvert systems of oppression by building alternative pathways towards healing, connection and love.

Description:

This training offers an alternative approach to peer supervision, one centered in connection, agency & accountability. A unique practice focused on relationship building as a pathway towards a liberated peer workspace. Together we will envision ways of honoring the fidelity of peer support best practices as we build connections that challenge and protect against systemic barriers.

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 recordingThe survey will close at 4:30pm on Thursday, December 5th. Certificates of Participation will be sent to those completing the evaluation form by 4:30pm on December 12th, 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 2024 CPS & CPPS Supervisor Community of Practice

 “Escape the Swirl of Crisis by Changing How We Think About Time”

with Joe Abhold, PhD

Thursday, October 24th, 2024 from 1:30 – 3:00 pm CT

Facilitator:
  • Shae Rising (He/Him They/Them)

Shae Rising (He/Him They/Them) works in the Public Health and the mental health field with an emphasis of focused work on minoritized populations including minorities, Muslims, and the LGBTQ+ community. Writer, artist, healer, life coach, and motivational speaker. Shae is the Program Director at the nation’s first Veteran Respite, RR House and a Supervisor of the Uplift Wisconsin Statewide Warmline. Shae has professional publications in Community Health Assessment work with the North Shore Health Department, College Sexual Violence Research publication and symposium presentations as well as artistic works.

Description:

Peer mentors regularly work with individuals and families in crisis and our organizations are often in a state of change, which makes it difficult to create routine and plan ahead – so everything feels like a crisis.

At CC We Adapt we have been using Stephen Covey’s four quadrants to help us manage our way out of a crisis orientation to help peer mentors become more impactful with participants and help our organization become more effective. Our goal is to replace the common practices of time management with more highly effective practices.

 

Common Practices Highly Effective Practices
  • Spend most of your time managing crises and other people’s agendas
  • Focus on your highest priorities
  • Try to do it all
  • Eliminate the unimportant
  • Plan sporadically or not at all
  • Plan every week
  • Give in to the pressures of the moment
  • Stay true in the moment of choice

 

Objectives:

  • Understand the Four Quadrants of time use
  • Learn how to identify what activities go into each Quadrants
  • Understand how to move issues and situations out of the crisis quadrant by using proactive planning to be more in control of your time
  • Apply this knowledge to become more effective as an individual and organization
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 recordingThe survey will close at 4:30pm on Thursday, November 7th. Certificates of Participation will be sent to those completing the evaluation form by 4:30pm on November 14th, 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.

August 2024 CPS & CPPS Supervisor Community of Practice

“Challenging Organizational Norms and Paving the Way for Equity”

with Abigail Spanjers

Thursday, August 22nd, 2024 from 1:30 – 3:00 pm CT

Facilitator:
  • Abigail Spanjers

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.

Description:

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.

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 recordingThe 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.

July 2024 CPS & CPPS Supervisor Community of Practice

“Harm Reduction and the Struggles for Liberation: How BIPOC & LGBTQ+ Communities Created Harm Redux for Community Centered Survival”

with Tarah Strangler

Thursday, July 25th, 2024 from 1:30 – 3:00 pm CT

Facilitator:
  • Tarah Strangler
    Tarah (she/they) is a transplant from the Twin Cities area who came to Madison 5 years ago for undergrad where she studied English and Community & Nonprofit Leadership. In 2020, they left undergrad to focus on organizing and supporting her community during the uprising. Her background in organizing and lived experience with substances informs the work she does and focuses their approach to harm reduction in community centered, abolitionist solutions. When they’re not organizing or working at OutReach as the Harm Reduction Services Director, you’ll find her cooking enough food to feed the city of Madison, working with plants, and spending time with her loved ones.
Description:

In this presentation, we will build a shared understanding of harm reduction– what it is, how we can embrace it with our peers, and in our own lives. With this shared language, we will explore how different liberation movements have shaped current harm reduction practices, and how community-centered approaches to harm reduction can be a lifeline for marginalized folks. Together, we will find ways that we can continue to honor the legacies of those before us by continuing their work today!

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 recordingThe survey will close at 4:30pm on Thursday, August 8th. Certificates of Participation will be sent to those completing the evaluation form by 4:30pm on August 15th, 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.

May 2024 Supervisor’s Community of Practice

Peer Supervision Series: “How Person-Centered Supervision Creates a Culture of Community” (2/2)
with Tanya Kraege & Kristina Vaccaro
Thursday, May 23rd, 2024 from 1:30 – 3:00 pm CT

Facilitator:
  • 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.
  • 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.
Description:

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.

 

 

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 recordingThe survey will close at 4:30pm on Thursday, June 6th. Certificates of Participation will be sent to those completing the evaluation form by 4:30pm on June 13th, 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.