[NYAPRS Enews] CA: Healing Through Helping Others

[Harvey Rosenthal]

NYAPRS Note: Here's some lovely testimony about the effectiveness of the
Howie the Harp Peer Advocacy and Training Center in NYC and the
inspiring work of NYAPRS' own Ruth Gonzalez. 

 

Healing Through Helping Others

Community Access Magazine  Fall/Winter 2011

 

For Ruth Pasillas-Gonzales, born and raised in rural California,
encountering Community Access for the first time in 2005 truly was a
life-changing moment. And it needed to be. "Moving 3,000 miles to New
York City," Ruth reflects, "had left me very raw and vulnerable and
day-in, day-our, I was suffering from serious depression." Things even
got so bad for Ruth that homelessness scarred to seem all too real of a
possibility. 

 

Until, that is, she discovered our Howie the Harp Peer Advocacy and
Training Center, a cutting-edge program that readies mental health
consumers for careers in health and human services. "My life drastically
changed," says Ruth, "as soon as I started my Howie the Harp classes. At
last, I was at a place where I could move beyond my symptoms and
hopelessness."

 

"At Howie the Harp," Ruth continues, "I felt unconditional acceptance of
who I was-and yet at the same time we were encouraged to strive for a
high degree of professionalism. The program was both nurturing and
extremely comprehensive, with instructors who were all very
knowledgeable and patient."

 

Extraordinary results quickly followed, with Ruth developing
workforce-ready skills while continuing to feel an ever-greater sense of
personal well-being. "My heart healed, my capabilities grew. and I
learned how to use my own unique life experiences to be a peer
specialist."

 

Ruth graduated in 2006 and has continued to flourish ever since. Today,
she is Assistant Director of the NYAPRS (New York Association of
Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services) Collective, a role in which she
trains hundreds of mental health providers statewide every month. "It's
hands-on and busy work:' Ruth explains, "from arranging outreach, to
creating curricula, to collaborating with coworkers and outside
agencies."

 

Now certified as an Advanced Level WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action
Planning) Facilitator, Ruth provides trainings and technical assistance
on recovery-orientated skills for multidisciplinary teams, often
including other peer specialists. "It's incredibly rewarding," says
Ruth, "I get to reach folks the good news that people can and do recover
- can, like me, go on to do more in life than just be a good patient."

 

"A lot of people have never seen another person with mental illness do
anything besides take a pill and be in a program, so it feels pretty
good when I can help be that beacon of light that proves otherwise." 

 

Even better, Ruth adds, "I get to see a lot of other Howie the Harp
graduates out in the workforce, too. It's a special kinship that we
share, and I'm always excited by how much we've all accomplished. We
left Howie the Harp well-equipped to work, and now we get to enjoy the
many benefits of that."

 

http://www.cairn.org/storage/documents/presskit/community_access_c_magaz
ine_fall_2011.pdf

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