Using Your Recovery Story
In Stage 1, peers often simply need to know that they're not alone, that others have gone through what they're going through right now. As a peer specialist, you might talk about the pain and challenges you encountered when the illness and/or diagnosis first impacted your life.
In Stage 1, peers often simply need to know that they're not alone, that others have gone through what they're going through right now. As a peer specialist, you might talk about the pain and challenges you encountered when the illness and/or diagnosis first impacted your life.
But you also want to be sure to talk about the fact that a psychiatric diagnosis does not define who you are as a person. While you've experienced despair and loss, in time, and with good choices, the impact of the illness passed.