and experience in this field. When I was first asked to chair the Steering Committee for this project my initial thought was “why me?” There are certainly others with far more experience than I. As can happen for so many of us with lived experience; I immediately focused on why I wasn’t right for this role before I was able to think about what I would bring to it. Throughout the four years I have seen this role as a facilitative one and my biggest goal has been to promote meaningful involvement and engagement of the both the Steering Committee as a whole and it’s individual members with the planning and implementation of programming and activities across each of the PR-CoE’s focus areas and with each of the primary partners in this project. It’s not always been a smooth road and true partnership is always fraught with starts and stops, re-adjustments and change. But as I look back over the 4 years, I can honestly say each partner organization partnered in truly meaningful ways with their Steering Committee liaison.
Along the way I’ve learned a lot about how Technical Assistance networks can promote important elements for the field through the development of tools, synthesized information and compilations of practices that reflect our country as a whole. Take for example the Comparative Analysis of State Requirements for Peer Specialist Training & Certification in the US – this report allowed all of those who worked together to inform SAMHSA’s Model Standards for Peer Support Certification to be able to easily examine standards from across the country – in one easy to access report. And now, we have national model standards that multiple states are adopting and others adapting. This is just one example of work from the CoE that has impacted the field. And there are many others – far too numerous to cite here in this reflection. But, please, go to our web page and look through the “Our Products” tab – check out the product library because what I have no doubt about is that there is something there that will support you and your organization.
My last point of reflection is really around the value and strength that comes when lived experience and professional expertise are brought together. I have a lot of experience as a person who has lived this continuum we call treatment and recovery support. I spent 5 months in a residential SUD treatment facility, 6 months living in recovery housing and 6 months in an “aftercare” group through my treatment provider. I had great family support and a lot of Recovery Capital that was able to grow throughout the process. I am alive today and thriving 20 years later as a result of all of that. What I don’t have is years of experience working in and leading a national or regional Technical Assistance Center. Through this project I got to work with an amazing team of people who had that professional experience and simultaneously respected my lived experience and that of my colleagues on the Steering Committee as being of value to the project. It is that combination of experience and mutual respect that has resulted in a successful 4-year project. And all the events, activities, stakeholder meetings and products that many of you reading this have benefitted from. From the bottom of my heart, thank-you to all who have been involved in this project and to all of the Peers that show up every day bringing their full commitment to supporting others in this amazing journey.
