A friend asked me to post my story for Global Peer Supporter Celebration Day and when I think about peer support I think that its all about inclusion. Before I was introduced to peer support, I lived a life of hiding and feeling half-human. I nursed my wounds of my trauma secretly and did my best to fit in with the world around me. After I found peer support, I realized that all my secrets that doctors called psychosis had another name, peers called them truth. I found myself suddenly believable and more of a person. As I was accepted on a profound level like never before, I realized that I could have close alliances again. Suddenly, my sense of community got bigger, because I could see where I belonged.
Today I filmed some people talking about their recovery. Sharing the word of recovery with others is what peer support is about. The more we invest in peer support, the more we will invest in true inclusion. The point of the film is to create a new peer support service that will result in great community inclusion.
Another part of inclusion is really believing in people's ability to recover. That means everyone can, something that my early teachers taught me to never question. This takes strength, because lots of people want to divide the "good" people from the "bad" people. The reality is that we are all human and we all deserve an opportunity to experience rebirth in the recovery and peer support movement.
It was a great day for recovery and peer support, and ultimately inclusion. I'm so lucky I have work that is so close to my heart. (Pictured is me and Mike Wight, a videographer)
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