The phrase “lived experience” is widely used today.  But what does it really mean and how did it come into mental health?  In this interactive webinar, Pat Deegan explores what “lived experience” means, where it came from and how it helps to inform the unique, unduplicated role of peer supporters.

The introduction of peer supporters in clinical and rehabilitation programs sets into motion a culture shift.  In this webinar, Pat Deegan describes specific challenges posed by this culture shift and offers practical suggestions for successfully navigating these growing pains.  

Peer supporters are not clinicians, yet work as members of clinical teams.  What are the role responsibilities that clinical colleagues can expect peer supporters to fulfill?  What are the signs of drift from the role of peer supporters, and what does assimilation into the clinical world-view look like? In this webinar, Pat Deegan discusses the unique and unduplicated contribution of peer supporters working as members of clinical teams.  The webinar is relevant for, not just peer specialists, but all members of the clinical team. 

Many peer supporters are supervised by clinicians who do not identify as having the lived experience of recovery.  In this webinar, Pat Deegan describes best practices for supervisors of peer supporters and introduces tools to help keep peer work on track. The webinar will be of particular interest to supervisors and peer supporters, but all are welcome.

An important part of the peer supporters role is to help safeguard human dignity in behavioral health services.  In this webinar, Pat Deegan explores what human dignity is and how it informs the work of peer supporters.

It’s true that personal disclosure is an essential part of the peer supporter role.  But does this mean peer supporters need to be willing to disclose anything if asked by a program participant or by a colleague? In this interactive webinar, Pat Deegan presents a new tool to support peer supporters in reflecting on their self-disclosure boundaries.  We will actually work with the tool during the webinar.

Sometimes colleagues communicate disrespect for the work peer supporters do or even disrespect for people diagnosed with mental illness.  In this webinar, Pat Deegan gives examples of common microaggressions directed at peer supporters.  She outlines a method for responding when we are the target of microaggression, and then describes a pathway for personal healing after such experiences.

In this webinar Pat Deegan explores the role of peer supporters working with people who are under involuntary court order to use meds.  She will suggest guidelines for disclosing personal experience of using meds (or not) when working with peers.  This is an interactive webinar with discussion.

In this two-part webinar Pat Deegan introduces an exciting new approach to supporting people in using meds to help get to the life we want. Part 1 explores the historical roots of peer support and psychiatric medications, as well as the foundations of Medication Empowerment.  Part 2 explores specific strategies peer specialists can use to support people in navigating the challenges on their journey to use meds optimally to support recovery. Each webinar is 90 minutes and it is suggested that folks attend both sessions as they build upon each other. 

Using the visual analogy of an owl, Pat Deegan discusses key themes in her recovery after being diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager. During this webinar, she shares the importance of developing personal agency in the face of challenges that may seem insurmountable. She also introduces the importance of Personal Medicine and shares practical tools to support people in their recovery. 

In this webinar, Pat Deegan  shares five important lessons she learned on her journey of recovery after being diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager.  Pat illustrates how to use these lessons in everyday work with people,  and she shares a number of practical tools participants can use in their daily practice.

Psychiatric care can be recovery oriented and person centered.  In this webinar, Pat Deegan explores pragmatic and proven strategies for prescribing hope for recovery. Drawing on her lived experience of recovery after a diagnosis of schizophrenia, as well as over 30 years developing recovery oriented tools and practices, Pat describes specific strategies for avoiding the prognosis of doom and prescriptions for non-compliance.  She demonstrates how Personal Medicine and Power Statements help the whole team shift the focus from “what's-the-matter?”, to “what-matters-to-you?”.

Young folks and their parents often begin care with the goal of “getting back to who I used to be”.  But sometimes restoration to the former self does not occur. Instead, recovery becomes a transformative journey into a new and unanticipated life course.  In this webinar, Pat Deegan describes the difference between recovery and restoration, and offers practical tools and strategies for engaging with people on their transformative journeys.

Using the visual analogy of an owl, Pat Deegan will discuss key themes in her recovery after being diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager. During this webinar, she will share the importance of developing personal agency in the face of challenges that once seemed insurmountable. She will also introduce the importance of Personal Medicine and share practical tools to support people in their recovery. 

Choice and self-determination are foundational principles of recovery oriented practice.  But if a person is making a choice that steers their life away from recovery, how should staff respond? In this webinar, Pat Deegan will introduce a pragmatic, recovery oriented framework for working with people who are making choices that may be self-defeating. There will be time for discussion.

Compassion fatigue.  Burnout. Growing callous, automated or hard of heart.  It can be challenging to remain fully human when working with people who often have significant and complex needs.  In this webinar, Pat Deegan offers a different way of viewing the people who come for mental health services in the public sector. She describes how to avoid toxic help and utilize recovery oriented resources to remain effective and truly helpful mental health professionals.  The presentation ends with a demonstration of recovery resources.

We hear the term “lived experience” a lot these days, but what does it really mean and how did it find its way into behavioral health?  In this  webinar, Pat Deegan explores the roots of lived experience and the important, non-clinical role peer specialists play as members of the clinical team.  

The introduction of peer specialists in clinical and rehabilitation programs, sets into motion a culture shift.  In this webinar, Pat Deegan describes specific challenges posed by this culture shift and offers practical suggestions for successfully navigating these growing pains.  

Using psychiatric medication optimally to support us in getting the life we want, is more than learning to take pills on schedule.  It’s a journey, and on that journey there are many challenges. Medication Empowerment is a new, practical approach to supporting people through these challenges. In this two part webinar, Pat Deegan draws on her experience of recovery after being diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager, as well as over 30 years of experience working in the field. In Part 1, she teaches the foundations of Medication Empowerment.  In Part 2, she explores specific strategies to support people in navigating the challenges on the journey to use psychiatric medicine.  Each webinar is 90 minutes and it is suggested that folks attend both sessions as they build on each other. Pat will share practical tips and handouts that can be used by participants in their work.