peer support specialist

Two hands clasped together to signify peer support

NC’s growing peer support ecosystem creates opportunities, challenges

November 8, 2019 by Liora Engel-Smith

NC’s growing peer support ecosystem creates opportunities, challenges - North Carolina Health News

In response to a reader question, we looked into the state of peer support in North Carolina. There has been tremendous growth in the number of peer support specialists in the state, but that growth is not without challenges.

By Liora Engel-Smith In a state marked by a mental health care workforce shortage so severe that more than a quarter of all counties have no psychologists at all, another type of provider group is quietly growing. These professionals didn’t get their training in college or graduate school and they can’t prescribe drugs. What they […]

2019 Health & Human Services Budget – House & Senate

June 24, 2019 by Rose Hoban

2019 Health & Human Services Budget – House & Senate - North Carolina Health News

Just in time for the conference committee budget, here are how the Senate and the House of Representatives each proposed to spend on health and human services.

By Rose Hoban After 2018’s unusual budget process this year’s budget has unfolded in a more “traditional” way. The House unveiled it’s proposal to spend $5.569 billion on health and human services priorities in early May. The Senate finished it’s work on the budget in early June, asking for a total appropriation of $5.552 billion […]

Pitt County jail aims to reduce recidivism and substance use relapse

June 20, 2019 by Taylor Knopf

Pitt County jail aims to reduce recidivism and substance use relapse - North Carolina Health News

There's a new sheriff in town. And she says that to reduce the number of people cycling into her jail, she needs to give them the right help when they eventually get out.

By Taylor Knopf People with mental health and substance use disorders frequently cycle in and out of jail. It can be difficult for someone to get better when floating between jails, homeless shelters, group homes and emergency departments. Officials at the Pitt County Sheriff’s Department noticed this pattern and they’re making changes to reduce recidivism […]

we see the back of the head of a white man, a younger African American woman is facing the camera, speaking to him. She looks like she's explaining something.

New Push to Help Mental Health Patients Determine Their Treatment in Emergencies

November 14, 2018 by Rose Hoban

New Push to Help Mental Health Patients Determine Their Treatment in Emergencies - North Carolina Health News

With passage of a bill last summer, more mental health treatment providers are helping their clients fill out psychiatric advance directives.

By Rose Hoban Bill W was looking to change careers. After decades as an executive in the tire industry, he was most of the way through a program to become a chiropractor in South Carolina. But in early 2017, he rolled his truck, leaving him with broken ribs and several fractured vertebrae. Recovering slowly, in […]

Greentree: Creating a Place For Behavioral Health Patients To Help

August 15, 2016 by Thomas Goldsmith

Greentree: Creating a Place For Behavioral Health Patients To Help - North Carolina Health News

Providing a place where behavioral health patients feel at home is the strength of Winston-Salem’s Greentree Peer Center. By Thomas Goldsmith Kerry Johnson always had trouble understanding how the kids in his elementary and middle years seemed so together, so ready “to take on the whole school.” Talking this week at Winston-Salem’s Greentree Peer Center, […]

The rally included a Recovery Walk around Lake Junaluska. Photo courtesy Smoky Mountain LME/MCO

Cultivating Recovery Community

September 28, 2015 by Editor

Cultivating Recovery Community - North Carolina Health News

A Lake Junaluska rally draws more than 600 people from throughout Western North Carolina and beyond to celebrate recovery from mental health and substance use disorders. By Taylor Sisk “Today we raise the profile of recovery way up here,” said Richie Tannerhill, greeting guests to the inaugural Western Regional Recovery Rally, as he reached high […]

Keeping the Mentally Ill Out of Hospitals

May 25, 2015 by Editor

Keeping the Mentally Ill Out of Hospitals - North Carolina Health News

By Christine Vestal Stateline It is a busy Friday afternoon. Staff members check in guests at the front desk. Other employees lead visitors on tours of the upstairs bedrooms or field calls from people considering future stays. Aromas of garlic and roasted chicken seep out of the kitchen. Community Access is not a bed […]

Laurie Coker has spent years creating places to nurture and support people with mental health issues.

Help for Those in Need … from Those Who Know

April 8, 2015 by Editor

Help for Those in Need … from Those Who Know - North Carolina Health News

A Winston-Salem advocate presses forward with plans for a peer-run respite center intended to keep people with mental health and substance abuse issues out of the emergency room. By Taylor Sisk As a former psychiatric nurse, Laurie Coker had seen what an emergency room visit can do to a person in mental health crisis. In […]

Changing the Paradigm for Mental Health Care in North Carolina

December 1, 2014 by Editor

Changing the Paradigm for Mental Health Care in North Carolina - North Carolina Health News

Attendance is growing each year at a conference designed to advance the principles and practice of recovery-based mental health care. By Taylor Sisk Cherene Allen-Caraco uses an architectural analogy to describe recovery-based mental health care. She has a vision of her dream home. She’s found a lot for that home and determined the style. She’s […]

Paintings Demonstrate Local Artist’s Unique Vision

September 5, 2013 by Editor

Paintings Demonstrate Local Artist’s Unique Vision - North Carolina Health News

North Carolina-based artist Bowen Grayson’s paintings drip with color and emotional content. And they’ve been an important part of Bowen’s ability to achieve recovery from a serious mental illness. This “classic” story originally appeared in North Carolina Health News on May 22, 2012. By Rose Hoban Canvases drip with bright colors, images of buildings peek […]

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