Hello Summiteers,
Summit Website Blog, News, and Events Launching
The International Soteria/Peer Respite Summit (Summit) is looking for guest authors to write for our blog. We are looking for articles of any length that can share our stories and/or educate the public on non-medical alternatives to coercive interventions such as peer respites and Soteria houses. We’re especially looking for news from people trying to start peer respites and Soteria houses and to hear from people with lived experience related to crisis/institutionalization, peer respites, and Soteria houses! If you are interested, please reach out through our website for more information.
“Navigating a Misguided System” Video
There is a new 35-minute video, “Navigating a Misguided System,” filmed at the December 14, 2022, Mentoring Circle meeting. (The Mentoring Circle has been holding monthly meetings, which are helpful for people who are working on establishing peer respites and Soteria houses, or are considering creating these alternatives to traditional services.)
In “Navigating a Misguided System,” people talk about avoiding and even refusing funding from sources that would require the organization to abandon its values. For example, in some places, state funding had to be rejected because it would have co-opted the organization, while in other places state funding might be acceptable. A key topic of discussion was whether and how to accept Medicaid funding. In contrast to the four-video, 11-minute advocacy playlist, The Basics, the 35-minute “Navigating a Misguided System” is for people wanting to launch or sustain peer respites and Soteria houses.
Intentional Peer Support (IPS) Overview, February 5, 2023
Closed captioning will be available.
This training is sponsored by the Summit and is free, although donations are appreciated to continue the work of the Summit.
Cindy Hadge is an Intentional Peer Support trainer who has provided numerous such trainings over the past six years. Cindy is also a Lead Trainer for the Wildflower Alliance and is an international trainer and keynote speaker. Cindy has her own experience of navigating deep despair and altered states, and has benefited from staying at a peer-run respite. She is passionate about developing and facilitating healing spaces and workshops for anyone interested in more possibilities than are typically offered through the mainstream mental health system.
Tessa Domingus (she/her/hers) has worked for the Mental Health Association of Nebraska (MHA-Ne), providing peer support, since 2016. She has worked as a Project Specialist, playing a key role in the development and implementation of Intentional Peer Support (IPS) within the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services (NDCS), coordinating the Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) provided in all NDCS facilities, and as the Coordinator of a peer-run transitional living house in Nebraska. She has been a facilitator of Intentional Peer Support since 2018 facilitating for MHA-Ne within the Nebraska Department of Corrections, and supporting IPS Central.
As a justice-impacted trauma survivor, she has found that peer support had been the missing link in her personal journey of growth and recovery; she believes that, since it has become an integrated part of the way she lives and how she handles relationships, her journey has been profoundly enhanced. She is a mother of six with four grandchildren. She enjoys spending her free time in nature, traveling, and, most of all, being with her family.
Ashley Wilksen (she/her/hers) has been practicing Intentional Peer Support for over 10 years at a local nonprofit peer-run organization in Nebraska. She has successfully participated in the development, implementation, and management of Nebraska’s only peer-run respite. Ashley has experience facilitating WRAP in hospitals, schools, and prisons.
Ashley has been an Intentional Peer Support facilitator since 2018. She has a wide range of experience practicing IPS with a diverse population and in multiple settings, such as in a mental health emergency department, in a peer-run respite, within the Department of Correctional Services, and with individuals reentering the community after incarceration. Her work has included coordinating and operating a peer-run transitional living house.
In 2020, Ashley began working with IPS Central delivering online IPS core trainings. She has lived experience with mental health issues, is a trauma survivor, and considers peer support the avenue through which she is able to find wellness and balance, actively work towards healthy relationships, and find healing. Ashley and her wife have two children. She has a passion for people and social change!
