Region 3 Leadership Training a Success

Region 3 Behavioral Health recently hosted Larry Fricks, a nationally renowned speaker on mental health recovery, for a two-day peer leadership conference. The training was held at Goodwill Industries in Grand Island, Nebraska and focused on developing leadership skills among consumers and peer specialists. Over 50 consumers, peer specialist employees, and mental health service providers benefited from the training.

Larry Fricks currently serves as the Director of the Appalachian Consulting Group and Vice President of Peer Services for the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. He previously served as Georgia’s Director of the Office of Consumer Relations and Recovery in the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Addictive Diseases and is a founder of the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network that now has some 3,000 members.

Larry provided all attendees with a wealth of knowledge surrounding the recovery process and addressed three key topics; the development of persons as peer specialists, how peer specialists can work to develop leadership skills in other consumers, and how to further employ peer specialists and consumers.

Attendees shared issues, concerns, and addressed questions they had regarding hiring consumers as service providers in small group discussions and identified action steps that could be taken to more effectively incorporate consumers into the provider workforce and create recovery-oriented programs.

Larry shared components of the training on The Kim Foundation’s Not Alone radio broadcast. Click here to access a recording of the broadcast online.

For additional information about Region 3 Behavioral Health and upcoming training opportunities, please contact Tammy Fiala, Regional Consumer Specialist, at tfiala@region3.net.