Peer Recovery Solutions

Peer Recovery Solutions peer recovery, support and solutions, alternative health options, and genealogy research SAMHSA’s 10 Guiding Principles of Recovery
1. Hope 6. Culture
3.

January 19, 2013
Certified Peer Support Specialists across the nation instill hope in others by serving as a role model using their particular expertise, which include his/her life experiences in recovery. In 2007, Peer Support Services became an evidence-based practice by the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services. In 2012, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) developed the working definition of RECOVERY from mental disorders and/or substance use disorders, where individuals strive to reach their full potential in health, home, purpose, and community. Relational
2. Person-Driven 7. Many Pathways 8. Addresses Trauma
4. Holistic 9. Strengths/Responsibility
5. Peer Support 10. Respect

Presently there are 154 Hawaii Certified Peer Specialists (HCPS), certified by the State’s Adult Mental Health Division (AMHD) on Kauai, Oahu, Maui, Molokai, the Big Island and the Mainland. Former AMHD Chief Thomas Hester, M.D. and the Appalachian Consultants brought Georgia's Certified Peer Specialist Project to Hawaii in 2003. The former Mental Health Services Research Evaluation and Training (MHSRET) with the University of Hawaii under A. Michael Wylie, PhD. assisted the program and developed the HCPS website and organized an Advisory Committee. In 2006, the Veterans Administration of the Pacific had their first class of HCPS, but continued trainings with DBSA. With the newest Trauma Informed Care Grant, the latest HCPS class members were trained in Trauma Informed Care and Mary Ellen Copeland’s Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) trainings. They were also placed in internship positions with various providers. With the upcoming changes in the President Obama’s insurance reform, Hawaii’s Department of Human Services is making HCPS positions to be Medicaid-reimbursable. A bill to support the Certified Peer Specialists program will be in this year’s legislative mental health package. With Hawaii’s Health Connector, there will be great opportunities for HCPS, as Advocators and Peer Navigators by January 2014. Besides www.amhd.org/Consumer/HCPS.asp
For more information, check out: www.samhsa.gov/recovery/ www.pillarsofpeersupport.org

Any questions contact: Ellen K. Awai, MSCJA, BBA, CPRP, HCPS, former State Coordinator Awai76@aol.com

11/08/2025

🫡🫤

Mahalo
11/01/2025

Mahalo

The state will provide $250 in November for each of Hawaii’s 161,400 island residents whose SNAP benefits will no longer be federally funded Saturday because of the ongoing government shutdown.

10/31/2025

Join us at the Out of the Darkness Community Walk! The UICAZ Su***de Prevention Committee is humbled to be part of this journey of remembrance, hope, and support! 🚶‍♀️👩‍🦽 Friends, family members, neighbors, and coworkers walk side-by-side, supporting each other and in memory of those we’ve lost.

Event Details:
🗓Saturday, November 15, 2025
📍Salt River Fields at Talking Stick in Scottsdale, AZ
⏰ Check-in at 8 am | Walk starts at 9:00 am.

🌟 FREE online & on-site registration will be available! When registering, choose to join our Urban Indian Coalition of Arizona team. Note, there’s no fundraising minimum.
🌟 Scan QR code or click the link to register. https://bit.ly/48UmoF8

Let’s raise awareness about su***de in our Arizona community! 💜
For more info, email: rharrion@phxindcenter.org

10/29/2025

Imagine a country where children are taught empathy like it’s math or science.
In Denmark, kids aged six to sixteen take a weekly class dedicated entirely to understanding others. It’s called Klassens tid — “the class’s hour.”

There are no exams, no grades, no rush. Just an hour to talk. To listen. To learn how to care. Students bring up real problems — friendship issues, loneliness, bullying.
Together, they discuss. They find solutions. They bake cakes, they share thoughts, they build trust.

It’s part of their national curriculum, not an extra. Because Danes believe empathy isn’t just a feeling — it’s a skill. One that keeps a society together. And maybe that’s why Denmark consistently ranks among the world’s happiest countries.

Not because life there is perfect, but because people are taught how to understand one another.

Maybe the world doesn’t need more competition.

Maybe it just needs more Klassens tid.

10/28/2025

Amen 💚💚




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Peer Recovery Solutions

Aloha, This page began in 2013. As you know, many things have changed since then. I’m Cynthia Wicks, was certified as a peer specialist in Hawaii in 2007 and 2013.

Update: 2020. life is pretty chaotic and we have to adapt to stress in different ways. Life on life’s terms. I’m 14 years sober now (yay) ! I hope that you are all surviving as we do, regardless. Remember to be creative and innovative and show the ordinary folk how it’s done.

Aloha, Cynthia

I live in Arizona now, and continue my recovery, with 12 years sober and as a family caretaker with a lot of service work still to do. I’m changing the name of this page, so that the Office of Consumer Affairs, in Honolulu, HI may begin a new one. Peace be with us all in our journey towards health and happiness. Work, work, work....