Tag: Peer respite

My intent with this blog is to compare some lessons learned from my recent medical crisis response to a similar peer-run respite response.

From Good Times: "The news that Second Story Peer Run Respite House—Santa Cruz’s only alternative to inpatient psychiatric hospitalization—is closing its doors at the...

Experiences such as pain, turmoil, trauma and grief aren’t separate from the person—they shape how that person sees the world, how they cope with the world. To separate those experiences from the person, to call them sick, feels barbaric. It feels as if humans are being taught to fear being human.

The mission statement for the Western Mass Recovery Learning Community’s peer respite (Afiya) is “To provide a safe space in which each person can find the balance and support needed to turn what is so often referred to as ‘crisis’ into a learning and growth opportunity.” Although I sometimes question our choice to use the word ‘safe’ (given how impossible an absolute version of ‘safe’ is to achieve and how saddled with distasteful meaning such a term can be within the mental health system), I’m not sure that statement could otherwise be any more straight forward and meaningful. Yet, so often, It’s unclear what meaning people are truly making of it.