Saturday, September 23, 2017

The Power of Peers for Brain Health Recovery and Advocacy

An article describing Recovery International written by Brandon Staglin appears in the Huffington post this week. He writes:

As today in the United States, the healthcare system faces serious challenges meeting the treatment needs of the population with psychiatric illness, such recovery-oriented organizations can play essential, supportive roles in empowering individuals and their communities toward better wellness.

Through a longtime supporter of my Brain Waves webcast, advocate Anthony Ferrigno, I have learned of a peer-to-peer brain health support group called Recovery International(RI), a nationwide organization that, using cognitive-behavioral-therapy-like techniques, empowers consumers to train one another toward better resilience, stability, and recovery prospects. Anthony has enthusiastically endorsed RI’s positive influence in his own life and those of his peers, and has sent me documentation from a 2011 nationwide survey of RI participants orchestrated by the University of Illinois at Chicago, which shows many significant reductions in symptoms and in dependence on the healthcare system among participants. It stands to reason that, since cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) delivered by trained laypeople or even computer programs can be effective to treat depression and anxiety, supported peer-driven CBT-style instruction such as RI offers might help consumers live healthier lives. Anthony is quick to point out that RI seeks not to replace but to augment psychiatric care as a support tool to ultimately help participants live more independently. Anthony says that RI, founded in 1937 by Dr. Abraham Low, is unfortunately the recovery movement’s “best-kept secret”, but he evangelizes passionately to spread the word.