National Council Magazine - Winter 2009 - 21

dressing their overall health. One quit smoking, another stopped drinking pop and lost 20 pounds, and a walking group started.” “The Peer Support Whole Health training is designed to increase the participant’s belief in [his or her] own ability to improve [his or her] overall health,” says Ike Powell, director of training for ACG, which has teamed up with the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance to train peer specialists in 20 states. “Peers connect with peers, creating a network that understands their health issues and supports their actions for self-directed whole health.” In New Jersey, the new TTI grant is funding the education of peer specialists as wellness coaches, according to Peggy Swarbrick at the Institute for Wellness and Recovery Initiatives. The wellness coaches help peers to link to primary healthcare and promote health and wellness needs from a selfmanagement perspective. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT A signiﬁcant part of the ACG training includes modules developed in partnership with the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. BHI was founded by Harvard cardiologist Herbert Benson, famous for the relaxation response shown to reduce stress and the release of cortisol, a stress hormone that can increase dangerous belly fat. A BHI study completed by the state of Georgia at two peer centers showed that practicing the relaxation response reduced stress and anxiety. Another reason Peer Support Whole Health is gaining traction in Georgia is a research project being developed by Benjamin Druss, the Rosalynn Carter Chair of Mental Health at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. Druss’ project — funded by the National Institute of Mental Health — is adapting to public mental health, an evidence-based program that uses peers to help peers change their whole-health behavior. The program chosen for adaptation is the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program, developed by Kate Lorig at Stanford University. According to Druss, CDSMP is “a peer-led, evidence-based disease selfmanagement program demonstrated to result in sustainable change in healthy behaviors and health in persons with a range of chronic conditions. The intervention is also consistent with current efforts to incorporate selfmanagement and peer-support strategies in efforts to foster recovery in persons with serious mental illness.” Peer Support Whole Health demonstrates that like self-directed recovery, the peer support movement, illness self-management, and disease management all have a common thread — a person taking control of his or her wellness. Larry Fricks is director of the Appalachian Consulting Group and vice president of peer services for the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. For 13 years, Fricks was Georgia’s director of the Ofﬁce of Consumer Relations and Recovery in the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Diseases. He is a founder of the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network. He served on the planning board for the Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health and serves on the Board of Directors of Mental Health America and on the Advisory Board for the Carter Center Mental Health Journalism Fellowships. The story of Fricks’ recovery and his life’s work to support the recovery of others was published in the New York Times best-selling book Strong at the Broken Places, by Richard M. Cohen. NATIONAL COUNCIL MAGAZINE • WINTER 2009/ 21

National Council Magazine - Winter 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of National Council Magazine - Winter 2009