The Voices Of Recovery Of Maine
- Home
- United States
- Sebago Lake, ME
- The Voices Of Recovery Of Maine
Voices of Recovery is a group of speakers who have lived experiences with mental illness. We share o She made sure their perspective was included.
Address
193 D**e Mountain Road Sebago
Sebago Lake, ME
04029
Telephone
Website
Alerts
Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Voices Of Recovery Of Maine posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Contact The Practice
Send a message to The Voices Of Recovery Of Maine:
Category
Our Story
NAMI Maine and Amistad teamed up in 2009 to develop a public speaking program that was funded through a SAMHSA grant. Carrie Home, a program administrator with NAMI Maine, was the driving force in securing the grant and training speakers. From her work with NAMI, she knew that the voice of family members was missing from a meaningful dialogue about how to improve mental health care. She made sure their perspective was included. Karen Evans, a well known and highly regarded mental heath advocate, along with a dedicated group of consumers worked with Carrie to get the program up and running. Karen knew from her advocacy how important it was for consumers to share their perspective on treatment and privacy rights. Together they formed the Voices of Recovery Speakers Bureau. Members presented talks from the consumer and family perspectives at area colleges and social service agencies. They shared their personal stories about how mental illness had affected their lives. It was a powerful model that was positively received. Unfortunately, the grant ran out at the end of the year and the presentations stopped, but Karen Evans recognized the value of this model and took action to keep it alive. In 2010, she partnered with Alyce Woodall who was acting president of the NAMI Portland affiliate at the time. Together with a newly formed steering committee they recreated the Voices of Recovery Speakers Bureau as a non-profit organization of its own. For the past year they’ve developed their support materials, cultivated a trained pool of speakers, and expanded their reach. Word has spread ad they are now speaking regularly throughout Maine, as well as in other New England states. The response has been excellent. We are very pleased to be a part of the community and thank all our supporters for the opportunity to talk about the power of recovery and our personal journeys with mental illness and the health care system. For your information: NAMI = National Alliance on Mental Illness SAMHSA = Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration AMISTAD = A non-profit organization based in Portland, Maine that supports consumers in their recovery.