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Community Care Behavioral Health Organization invites you to attend a Web seminar using WebEx. Although there is no charge, this event requires registration. Please follow the steps below to complete the registration process.

Hiring Peer Specialists to Work in Mental Health Settings:

Opportunties and Challenges

with Leslie Young, James Kindler, and Jennifer Mullins

June 4, 2008 12:00 - 1:30pm

As part of its ongoing effort to promote recovery and consumer choice in the communities it serves, Community Care is hosting a Teleconference/Webinar series for consumers, providers, family members, and other behavioral health stakeholders. Working in collaboration with Pat Deegan, PhD & Associates and Advocates for Human Potential, the series is designed to introduce evidence-based and promising practices, as well as to explore new ideas and research that support the concepts of recovery and self-determination for people with serious mental illnesses.

About the Presentation

Many states now have initiatives designed to promote the quality and expansion of recovery practices within their county mental health programs, by training and certifying peer specialist to work within provider agencies. These are exciting opportunities for providers, their consumers, and for the peer specialists. It is also challenging for both the providers as employers and the specialists as their employees. This webinar will look at peer specialist employment from a variety of perspectives to address the challenges, barriers, successes and areas for improvement. Presenters include providers and consumers who are employed in the social service system.

About the Speakers

Leslie Young is a licensed master’s level social worker who has worked in the community mental health field for 30 years. In the past, she has also worked as an instructor and provided training and consultation for the University of Kansas, School of Social Welfare. During the past 18 years, as the Director of a large urban Community Support program for Wyandot Center in Kansas City, Kansas, Leslie collaborated with the University on several research and pilot projects. The program is recognized for it’s fidelity with several Evidence Based practices, collaboration with the local consumer run organization and for providing leadership within the state of Kansas in hiring Peer Specialists and offering and developing peer support services. Last year Leslie left her job as the Director of the Community Support Services to work as a consultant to Wyandot Center to further develop their Peer Support services and to oversee the establishment of the country’s first Shared Decision-Making Project developed by Pat Deegan.

James Kindler works full time as the Assistant Coordinator for New Horizons Drop In Center. His personal experience has given him a good understanding of recovery principles and the behavioral health service delivery system. Consequently, James plays important roles as both an advocate for individuals as well as a systems advocate. He truly enjoys helping to make the recovery transition easier for others. James success in returning back to work and getting off of social security gives him self-esteem which he works diligently to develop in others.

Jennifer Mullins is currently the Community Support Program (CSP) Supervisor at Transitional Services, Inc (TSI) based in Homestead PA. She has been able to use her 16 years of both personal and professional experience in recovery toward creation of the CSP at TSI. In addition to supervising a team of four Peer Specialists, including two Certified Peer Specialists, Jennifer coordinates enrichment activities; a literacy program; the Ready to Work program; and serves on multiple committees inside and outside of the agency.

About Community Care

Community Care Behavioral Health Organization (Community Care) is a non-proﬁt, federally tax-exempt, behavioral health managed care organization (BH-MCO) that manages behavioral health services for nearly one million members whose health coverage is sponsored through Medicaid, Medicare and commercial plans. Community Care’s mission is to improve the health and well-being of the community through the delivery of effective and accessible behavioral health services.

Registration

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To register for the online event or obtain more information about the event
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1. Go to: https://ccbh.webex.com/ccbh/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=717834407

2. Click "Register".
3. On the registration form, enter your information and then click "Submit".

Once the host processes your registration, you will receive a confirmation email message with instructions on how to join the event.

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For assistance, you can contact Community Care at: wittmanpj@ccbh.com

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