This webinar will provide participants with a comprehensive, in-depth understanding of the Soteria approach to treating psychosis, including a description of a typical house, how the treatment works, staffing, operations and financing.  The history of Soteria houses will be covered along with information on Soteria houses that are operating in the world today.  There will be plenty of stories and anecdotes designed to give participants a rich picture of what goes on in Soteria houses, how crises are addressed, the kinds of issues that need to be negotiated, and the reality beneath the words.  We'll also be talking about how to create a Soteria house in your community in hopes that this is part of a movement to greatly increase the number of Soteria houses in the United States.
 
Panelists include the Directors of Soteria Alaska and Soteria Vermont, a man who worked in the original Soteria house in San Jose, California, current staff at Soteria Vermont, a former resident at Soteria Vermont, and a man who is part of a group that is creating the second Soteria house in the United States. 

Al Galves  

Al Galves is a psychologist in Las Cruces, New Mexico.  He is the leader of a group that is creating a Soteria house in Las Cruces.  Al is a Past President of MindFreedom International and Past Executive Director of the International Society for Ethical Psychology and Psychiatry (ISEPP).  He is the author of Harness Your Dark Side (New Horizons Press, 2010).

 

Susan Musante 

Susan Musante, MS, LPCC helped develop and was the founding director of Soteria-Alaska, a model that is highly effective. As the first full time director of CHOICES, a peer led alternative to conventional outpatient treatment, she helped develop the peer work force in Alaska. She is an educator and advocate for voluntary, informed, compassionate supports that work.  Her consulting activities focus on training and program development for recovery-directed, peer-provided alternatives. Susan has worked in universities, community-based centers and consumer-run services.  She has educated peer practitioners and masters level practitioners.  Her commitment is to respect the “lived experience” and support recovery.

Gene Larkin 

In 1971 and 1972 Gene Larkin was directly involved in Soteria House, first as a volunteer and then, as staff. He left Soteria House to go to San Francisco to help establish Diabasis, a similar, Jungian based treatment program, with renowned Jungian Psychiatrist, John Weir Perry. In 1974 he was brought back by Alma Menn, the Director of the Soteria Project and Loren Mosher, Director of the Center for the Research of Schizophrenia at NIMH, to establish and become the Program Director of Emanon, the NIMH-funded replication study of Soteria. In 1976, he was brought into The Phoenix Programs in Contra Costa County, to help them convert their existing residential programs into this more humane and effective treatment model and act as advisor to several new, culturally specific, programs.

Numerous national and international organizations have been established to support and promote the Soteria Model. Among these are ISEPP, ISPS, and The Soteria House, Peer Support Summit. Mr. Larkin is an active member of these non-profit organizations. He recently spoke to the Combined State Legislative Committee for Mental Health Funding in Las Cruces, New Mexico regarding establishing a Soteria House in Las Cruces. Seeking Soteria is the telling of his personal experience at the original Soteria House, what events led him to Soteria House and its profound and lasting impact on him.