MassPRA Conference Celebrates Lifelong Learning

On October 15 and 16, 2014, the Massachusetts Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (MassPRA) held its 13th Annual Conference with the theme of "Supporting the Recovery Workforce: Toward Lifelong Learning." MassPRA is a collective of people in many roles dedicated to promoting recovery of people with psychiatric conditions through high quality psychiatric rehabilitation services. The conference, serving 418 registrants, benefitted from "state of the Association" comments by Amy Lestition from PRA, and an inspiring keynote delivered with skill and passion from Veronica Carey, Chair of the PRA’s Academy of Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Recovery.

MassPRA celebrates partnership, and one of the unique things about this conference is the welcome that is clear for both psychiatric rehabilitation practitioners and service users, and the intentional blurring of that line in the significant growth of peers in the workforce.

MassPRA's first day focused on competency enhancement through in-depth, full-day institutes:

·         A group of Peer Leaders co-led an ethics and competencies institute targeted to the rapidly growing Peer Specialist Field in MA. The panelists shared, debated, and facilitated lively discussion, sometimes with unanimous agreement and at other times with respectful differences. One thing peer practitioners learned was that the competencies and peer specialist skills and tasks remain the same across the different environments they work in, but the challenges can vary depending on the specifics of where they work.  

·         Kim Mueser and Maria Restrepo-Toro focused learners' attention on cognitive restructuring practices for people with serious mental health conditions who've also experienced Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

·         Pat Nemec and Amy Spagnolo introduced participants to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) "8 Dimensions of Wellness" in order to prepare them to plan and deliver health and wellness interventions.

·         Anne Sullivan-Soydan prepped participants for the upcoming Certified Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioner Exam.

·         Kelley Gamble and Mike Seibold described strategies for effective employee development, supervision and support within the context of Massachusetts' psychiatric rehabilitation services network.

The second day of the conference offered thirty-one 90-minute workshops; spanning the breadth of practice issues in psychiatric rehabilitation -- from best practices in practitioner training and tips for effective clinical documentation to healing the provider/survivor divide. Workshops also included "how to" sessions focused on building a cognitive remediation toolbox and helping people to gain community membership as well as experiential introductions to mindfulness practice and reiki. On this day of workshops, 97% of participants described the conference as a valuable or strongly valuable experience. The participants shared the following comments:

·         "Sessions were very helpful, and the opportunity to meet with practitioners from other areas was enlightening"

·         "Informative, provided strategies to implement for improving my skills"

·         "New info and a very positive vibe, and the interaction between community members and providers was great"

·         "This Conference is inspiring!"

MassPRA's conference served as an experience of perspective taking on the positive developments that continue to emerge in our workforce and from the commonwealth's public mental health system. In doing so, it also brought people together from all over Massachusetts to share best practices and celebrate a strong heritage in a state rich in rehabilitation and recovery history.

Steve serves as Vinfen’s Director of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services, supporting programming that helps 2600 persons live, learn, work, and belong in their communities. Steve’s primary activities involve development of Person-Centered Planning and rehabilitation service intervention, promotion of adherence to state Medicaid Rehabilitation Option financing, and ensuring fidelity to IPS-modeled Employment Services. Steve is currently President of the Massachusetts Chapter of PRA (MassPRA), and a member of PRA’s CPRP Certification Commission.