Letter from PRA Chair, Lisa Razzano

I hope that all of you have enjoyed a wonderful summer! We have had an exciting one at PRA – marked by many activities, including our Capitol Hill Day event in partnership with National Council and Mental Health America. As many of you know, I have worked at a university for many years, so the end of the summer is always a time of renewal – with projects and activities starting up as the new academic year begins. In many ways, every new academic year marks the development of a new learning community. This season is also a time when many of our chapters, partners, and collaborators are active in convening member events, workforce training opportunities, and conferences.

But, as another Italian, Sophia Loren, once said, “It’s a mistake to think that once you’re done with school you need never learn anything new.” Over the coming months, local chapters, affiliates, and other valued partners and collaborators have wonderful events planned to provide education and training opportunities for members to support and enhance the quality of the psychiatric rehabilitation services delivered within the community. For example, early September will see the “Wellness Solutions 101” event in Philadelphia, sponsored by the Hope Concept Wellness Center. PRA is excited to support this conference and looks forward to hearing about the event’s success from our colleagues.

We also look forward to supporting fall educational events, including: Keeping the Integrity in Integration, NYAPRS’ 30th Annual September event; October conferences for MassPRA (The Paradox of Risk: Recovery and Rehabilitation through Shared Responsibility), CASRA’s Hearing Voices of Hope and Recovery event, and the NJPRA Annual Conference, among others. I look forward to seeing many of you at these events. (View additional industry events on page 6.)

While these efforts support chapters and members at the local level, we continue to focus PRA’s efforts on a national education and training agenda to support the PSR workforce. In addition to PRA’s ongoing support of the CPRP and an exceptionally trained adult workforce, we continue to grow and expand programs that support our Children’s PSR Certificate to ensure that quality mental health services are available to all who need them to support recovery at any age.

In addition, the conference committee has already started their work in collaboration with the Georgia Chapter on our 2013 Annual Conference in Atlanta, GA. The 2013 conference will be an exceptional opportunity for education, training, and networking with others in PSR. Therefore, I encourage all of you to think of the fall as a time to renew your focus on learning about psychiatric rehabilitation services; perhaps this could be reading about a new evidence-based practice, learning more about mental health policy, or developing and implementing a new in-service or educational event at your home agency.