ANTI-STIGMA ACTIVITIES COMPLETED TO DATE

OFFICE OF CONSUMER AFFAIR’S ACTIVITIES OF PROMOTING REDUCTION OF STIGMA

Participation with the Florida Elimination of Barriers Initiative

The Office of Consumer Affairs presented on the subject of recovery at the first statewide EBI meeting in Tallahassee. As a result, the main consensus of all the people that attended, felt that through educating the public on recovery, most stigma can be reduced. This produced a statewide positive effect for Florida.

National PBS Network: Collaboration with the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill – “Breaking stigma through Education”

Office of Consumer Affairs collaborated with NAMI by participated in a taping of the film for the “American Medical Review Series”, which was aired on the National Public Broadcasting Network in 120 different countries. The film has content in it that emphasizes that recovery is possible, that it is a common event, and that treatment for mental illness is possible for all those that suffer form the illness. The program was moderated by Walter Cronkite.

The Office of Consumer Affairs Website

This website was specially established for the elimination of stigma for the community.

Distribution of the SAMHSA “Recovery Booklet” Series to the Public

The Office of Consumer Affairs, working in partnership with the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, acquired a large surplus of the “Recovery Booklet Series” (6 booklets on the subject of recovery) from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The recovery team of the Office of Consumer Affairs successfully distributed over 1000 copies to date directly to people in a variety of settings that had behavioral health issues. This action has reduced through education, the stigma that recovery is not possible in the Broward area.

Broward Regional Health Planning Council Training Institute: Peer Specialist Certification

Through the collaboration with the Florida Certification Board and behavioral health leaders in the state, three new professional were developed for people to specialize in the strong emphasis of promoting recovery as a professional-peer helping another peer in their recovery; 1) Adult Mental Heath Recovery Peer Specialist for treating adults with mental health challenges, 2) Family Recovery Peer Specialist for family members to treat children with mental health challenges, 3) the Recovery Support Specialist for treating persons with substance abuse challenges. As a result, we will be providing training for the certification of peer specialists for the Southeast Florida area for supporting the initiative.