Virtual Learning Community
|
|
| Join us on August 12 at 12:00pm EDT for a webinar on the Participatory Process.
This FREE webinar will feature special guests – Efrain Baez & Ginny Mercure.
Please join us for a discussion on this evolving and important subject. |
|
|
 I have over thirty years of experience as a senior manager at Gandara Center, the Latin American Health Institute, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH), among other state and private non-profit organizations. My commitment to providing guidance, support and assistance to new and operational peer recovery support centers spans over a decade, commencing in 2009, when we submitted a successful proposal to the Massachusetts DPH and opened the Stairway To Recovery Support Center. I participated in the CAPRSS accreditation pilot when STR was one of five centers from across the country asked to participate in this pilot by Faces and Voices of People in Recovery, helped to complete the Performance Improvement Plan and have been part of the reaccreditation process. This experience was vitally important in establishing solid structure, operations and governance required to successfully meet the initial challenges of opening new centers, the ability to continue to remain focused on recovery principles as the centers matured and to ensure that the agency, staff and members had authentic shared ownership of each center’s outcomes. By the middle of 2019 when I retired, I supervised 5 centers and assisted them with creating peer-centered policies and procedures as well as using peer decision making in a transparent manner to direct spending, planning and governance. |
|
| Hello, my name is Efrain Baez, a person living in long term recovery. I have three priorities in my life: my family, my recovery and my job. I have worked in the Substance Use Disorder field for over twenty years. I worked at Casa Esperanza, Latin American Health Institute and Gandara Center. In 2008 I started working at Stairway to Recovery as a Program Director and I remain the Director almost 13 years later. In 2012, I was invited by Tom Hill from faces and Voices of Recovery to participate in a pilot program to be part of the accreditation process for Recovery Centers done by CAPRSS. We were accredited in 2014 for five years’ accreditation, and in 2019 we went through the re-accreditation process. Besides the accreditation, I have been involved in many projects that involve Stairway to Recovery members using the participatory process. To mention a few, we brought Training to Work, where we trained peers to become Recovery Coaches, we brought a SAMHSA grant Offender Reentry Program, working with peers who are ready to be released from jail to the Brockton area, and also we brought the Family Nurturing Program, working with families who are struggling with S/U disorders and Ambassador Project for men of color in recovery from SUDs with compulsive gambling issues. I was awarded in 2012 by the Department of Public Health Bureau of Substance Addiction Services at annual No Wrong Door Conference the Excellence in Program Development award, and I also received the Compañerismo Award. My motivation is in giving back and showing that Recovery is possible, and there is nothing that motivates me more than seeing our peers live a better life in recovery. |
|
| Accreditation 101 – August 7, 2020 – 12pm EDT
Accreditation 101 is an introduction to accreditation course, where participants will learn the mission and purpose of CAPRSS, an overview of the standards and criteria, the steps in the accreditation process, establish resources for getting your organization accreditation ready, and for completing your application for accreditation candidacy.
Register Here |
|
|
| Accreditation 201 – September 18, 2020 – 12pm EDT
Accreditation 201 is designed to: Identify the elements of the CAPRSS standards taxonomy and how they relate. Describe the core domains and standards, and discuss how peer reviewers – and PRSS programs – will use standards, criteria, and elements of performance in the accreditation process.
Register Here |
|
|
|
