Peer Support Specialist / Admin. Assistant / Community Outreach for Marketing Team

I have worked in Mental Health for 25 years. After being diagnosed at 16 with Major Depression and Anxiety and later at 28 with PTSD; I decided I wanted to work with others to help them not feel like I was feeling. Over the years I learned some positive ways to cope with the symptoms of my illness. It wasn’t until I was in my 30’s that I was able to apply those skills and I began to recover from my illnesses. I have worked with children, adolescents and now adults. Thanks to RHS, I have found my path to really making a difference in other’s lives.

Being a Certified Peer Support Specialist has made it so I can truly stand beside someone as they take their own journey through recovery; because recovery isn’t just returning back to “normal”. It isn’t even being someone without a mental illness or trauma either. It’s being able to get up every day and do things you never thought you would be able to. It’s healing to the point where the past no longer holds you. It’s having enough control over your life that you can feel really, genuinely peaceful, even after everything you’ve been through! And recovery is an ongoing process. You have to work on every day; sometimes a lot and sometimes a little. But you have to make a conscious decision to work on you for you and not for someone else.

Over the last year, I have been able to apply other skills I have learned.. Recently I was given this opportunity as an Administrative Assistant and become a part of the Marketing Team.