Training

A major portion of the work we do involves training. We conduct several "core" trainings for consumers and providers, and we develop new ones as the needs, resources, interests and concerns of our community evolve. Please click on the links below for descriptions of our current trainings.

Peer Advocacy Class

this project is in the process of being revised. updates will be posted as information becomes available. check this site or call 617-442-4111 (toll free 877-769-7693) for the latest news on this training.

At M-POWER, we envision a world where discrimination is a thing of the past, where all human beings are treated with the respect they are entitled to, where all people live lives that have meaning and dignity.

We believe that advocacy (done with, not for), is the key which opens the door to that world.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said,

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

The Peer Advocacy Training uses the collective experience of mental health consumers to move the mental health system and the larger community toward justice and inclusion.

Peer Advocacy trainees learn about the history of the consumer/survivor/ex-patient movement, the service & benefits systems we encounter,  and how to effectively influence and access those systems for all members of our community.

M-POWER’s Peer Advocacy Training involves:

• Sixteen weeks of day-long classes

• Six months of community service internship

• Opportunities to give and get support and make changes

The training experience is dynamic, challenging, and fun. Classes include training on many topics and skill areas, including public speaking, rights, laws, benefits, negotiation, and working with the media. Students are assigned homework each week. The experience is both demanding and rewarding.

If you share our mission to unite and strengthen the voices of consumers across the state and in our communities, please call for information about applying for the Peer Advocacy Training.

updated 12/07

Provider Trainings

Merging Clinical & Recovery-Oriented Cultures: A Plan for Action

            Beginning in the spring of 2001 the Massachusetts Behavioral Health Partnership and M-POWER, Inc collaborated to offer network service provider sites the opportunity to host trainings.  The series focuses on helping sites develop practical Action Steps for increasing recovery orientation.  We use Core Readings to focus attention on organizational “culture merging” and on a growing body of evidence that persons with psychiatric disabilities, even those most severely ill, do recover.  Cultures that are person-centered, recovery oriented and hopeful are important.

Core Readings include:

• The Executive Summary of the report to the President from the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health
• Empirical Correction of Seven Myths about Schizophrenia with Implications for Treatment by Courtenay M. Harding and James H. Zahniser
• Two Personal Recovery stories by Sarah and Andrew

This is An Opportunity to:

• Receive the following CEUs: LICSW, LCSW, LSW, LSWA, LMFT, LMHC, RN and LPN (all sessions must be attended)
• Increase a recovery focus in the work that you do.  MBHP and DMH will be contracting with vendors in a new way that reflects the Presidents New Freedom Commission’s Focus on System Transformation and Recovery.
• Develop practical, do-able Action Steps for your program.
• Receive a report which summarizes your responses to the training and details the Action Steps you developed.

Contact the MPOWER office at 617-442-4111, or at info@m-power.org for the status of this project.

updated 12/07

Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP)

Information on WRAP is being updated. Please check back soon.

For current information, please call the MPOWER office at 617-442-4111, or email: info@m-power.org.