Jessie Dvorzak
"To a healthy individual, being mentally ill doesn't sound like a professional qualification or job pre-requisite. As an unhealthy one, I can say that the feeling of being truly understood is one of the most valuable things you can bring to the table."
Hi there! I am Certified Peer Specialist (CPS) working in my hometown community of Beaver County, a more rural part of the southwest region of Pennsylvania that sits north of Allegheny County and the city of Pittsburgh. I have the amazing opportunity to meet with individuals and assist them with setting goals to improve and maintain wellness. I try to openly speak about my profession often as most people I come across have never heard of this job. Even I didn't know about it until recently in my life, but I've always done this type of "work" with friends, colleagues, and family. I LOVE what I do. Peer professions are an essential component of recovery that have gone underutilized, but in recent years growing more rapidly. Research shows that peer support has transformative effects on individuals with mental health and substance use disorders as well as more broadly to our support systems and treatments. Some of these amazing outcomes include improvements to quality of life, engagement and satisfaction with services, service cost reduction, and decreased hospitalizations, with more information and studies available on the MHA website (link below). All of this is to say I think I would have greatly benefited from peer support services during earlier years of my own recovery. To a healthy individual, being mentally ill doesn't sound like a qualification or job pre-requisite. As an unhealthy one, I can say being understood is one of the most valuable things you can bring to the table. |
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STIGMA It is already hard enough to experience life through the distorted lens of depression, anxiety, or any other mental health diagnosis. Healthy individuals have the luxury of wellness, are ignorantly blissful, and in too many circumstances, not understanding our differences is what contributes to stigma and discrimination against people already experiencing mental anguish. We are viewed as weak, incompetent, violent, lazy, unworthy of help, and at fault, being blamed for our own sickness. Top that off with lost opportunities for things like our jobs or our housing and you have a whole universal system of discrimination against a highly misunderstood malfunctioning bodily organ. The power behind this social stigma can create a self-stigma inside, one that absolutely prevented me from understanding my own experience, delayed me from seeking help, and influenced me to incorrectly blame myself for having treatment-resistant depression. I've experienced discrimination in the workplace many times prior to finding my place as a peer support specialist. This stigma against those struggling with mental health disorders is universal; every culture on planet earth shames their people who are mentally ill. I think it'd be nice to see Americans claim another first -- to eradicate the shame and judgment, to stop this stigma, to end discrimination, to implement true mental health parity, to be kind, patient, and listen to those suffering. |
Peers work. You can help.
Be kind, be kind, be kind. Listen. Offer help if you are willing. Donate to this fundraiser. Support the organizations that support peer workers through continuing education, networking, and advocacy. |
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| BCRC's Aurora Services houses both Psych Rehab and Peer Support programs.
Read more evidence that Peer Support works! |
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Finished July 25, 2022