unsung heroes: a celebration in honor of emerging peer voice
DESCRIPTION
The importance of community, respect and consideration and the criticality of excellence in our work and life together understood that we must be generous in virtue and extending ourselves to others in community life; the importance of style as a guard against oppression and daily put-downs; the cultivation of respect as daily practice and not just personal reflection, policy adherence--but rather the practice honestly of belief in motion and not just in the pew; our professions of peer values are not ornaments on display; bur rather the felt experience of human connections which flow if adopted by all sectors of the community we interact with--media, schools, work and government, will result in social improvement which we all support as citizens and citizens aspiring to make impact even globally. Such is recovery -- generating to the fullest human potential in community life, realizing that both the mind and the World are full of limitless possibilities.TRANSCRIPT
Russell D. Pierce
Unsung Heroes Speech
We believe that recovery is the ever unfolding process
of generating to the fullest human potential in
community life
Director, Office of Recovery and Empowerment
November 19, 2014
Department of Mental Health
As we prepare to celebrate, let whatever burdens we
carry be lifted up in awe of each other, recognizing that
good has been added unto us by our peers, friends and
colleague and that together we advance in a multitude of
way and in many voices, the aspirations of a movement
that is as dynamic as ever and that can be something
more than a loose agglomeration of disparate and
competing interests—or another set of grievances,
though legitimate, among the aggrieved classes.
But this a time to gather, a time to rid ourselves of
ridicule and protest, even at this critical moment in the
World and certainly here in the Commonwealth, the
cradle of liberty, but I would be remiss if I did not at
least, as the ancients of old did, recognize that though
we celebrate, we ought not avert our eyes to troubles in
the ‘here and now’ to which the congregant, you thus
can say, Aman.
I am just so honored, so very thrilled to be here with you
all—y’all today, as they say in the vernacular of my
hometown and neighborhood. So much happened to me
and to all of us, I can imagine back in the day. Back then
we did not call ourselves anything other than our names
and took great offense if anyone in our posse referred to
us, our mothers and friends in any disparaging ways
through voce, gesture or image display.
But before I go with the uses and misuses of language in
our own times, in our own movement, let me first thank
you for this opportunity to speak and thank my
colleagues and friends in the Recovery Office, Sian,
Robert and Steve, who collectively have given me
strength in their knowledge of this complicated mental
health system in our Commonwealth and the broader
peer movement.
As a historian and philosopher I firmly believe that the
past reflected in the present moment allows us to
surmount whatever challenge come our way as well as
ennobling our spirits and rekindling our own sense of
autonomy and agency. This is done, yes through self-
determination—will and talents recognized afresh in a
system that once consigned us primarily to patient-status
to one that is evolving to recognizing that we are full,
unique and integrated human beings who can can with
our experiential knowledge contribute not only to the
peer role in the system now as it is is constituted, but
across the entirety of the community.
This is my hope for the office, to instill and infuse a
hopeful theory that posits that no matter how we
identify or choose not to identify we can add value to
innumerable roles in community life, demonstrating
prowess in arts, that enlightens all humanity;
contributing to technology and business innovation that
spurs growth and humane competition and leadership
that is built on the very core values that we hold most
endearingly mutuality, purpose, community and a
healthy respect, respect in relationship to one another,
that is at the core of this meaning of peer as it is
especially used currently in our movement.
A cornerstone of my work id to influence as best I can
DMH policy, planning and design of services—indeed it
was a primary reason that brought me here, not to be a
place-holder, but as I have written and spoken
elsewhere, but perhaps not directly to you. A concern of
all here is—and let’s get serious about this money, cash
so essential to recovery which means a quality of life in
community that takes us significantly beyond the poverty
line and the working poor. Another concern is the
excitable embrace of behavioral health integration
without the fullest appreciation that there is a dearth of
a boy of evidence to support it, given the nature of
clinical training and the biases against those who exhibit
behaviors that are oftentimes grounds for bias and
mistreatment in clinical settings. Add to that many peers
just do not prefer to share information with all, all health
providers even those who demonstrate warmness and
easy hand-offs in co-located offices. Perhaps the
potential is great, but we ought to be aware of the
roadblocks a and it is my responsibility to give credence
to these realties, while recognizing the changes in
regulatory language as significant, it is only but a small
beginning. Policy holders must understand why they
support even peer specialists in the workplace;
demonstrate current knowledge on effective supervision,
promotion; awarding effort and performance in a non-
discriminatory way; appropriate feedback and
opportunities for exposure.
This is hard work and I have been fortunate enough to
work with national stakeholders in the workforce; and I
am convinced through such meetings that employment
in the next 10-20 years will be more than mere
recruitment and identification of a significant labor pool.
As the ‘differently abled’ become assimilated or more
appropriately brought into the employment market,
sophisticated managers and organizations will have to
refocus and re-shape their very cultures—ridding
themselves of toxic influences, because as reported in
some media, workers in a new era, and the ‘differently
abled’ today and in the future will bring so much more
added perspective, orientation, skills and perspective
that adds to the bottm line, but will insist that the
organization that once excluded them re-invent itself to
fit around them, no longer are the ‘differently abled’ like
us satisfied o draw a paycheck where we merely
tolerated, accepted without comparable compensation,
and not celebrated, because I must tell you, and I think
convincingly in this technological and skill-based, and
information-globally-networked world, talent and ideas
are moveable.
Those of you who have creatively used your ‘lived
experience’ will realized a new realization that if you are
not valued in terms understood in this economy, you will
be elsewhere. I just know it. Skills like writing and
discourse and relationship are essential to progress and
positioning organization to the next level of relevance
and excellence.
Whether as a volunteer, where once can learn valuable
leaderships skills, training and facilitation—and
negotiating cultural differences, these opportunities to
learn in an organization that suits your interests will
speak volumes when you hit the pavement—indeed the
job, position, role, or power and influence will gravitate
to you—and you will know when it comes, you will be in
your zone, at your zenith but still growing, and the
accolades will flow in abundance.
I am telling you the truth here—volunteer and commit
to something that even may not be your passion, it might
become your passion, your ticket to a foreign land, as it
was for me when I represented the United States as
Delegate to a World Congress on Mental Health. By
strategically volunteering you increase your access to
people, cultures and ideas so necessary for advancement
and over time, with time and talent and wisdom and
work committed to a deserving cause you become
strengthened in your own recovery stories and
strengthen those of your peers.
By the strength of your own example and work, you will
realize voice, power and influence or if you prefer simple
satisfaction knowing that you are as the pastor said,
somebody.
But we have not come to this juncture and reward
without sacrifice and legitimate discontent and protest—
and as my dear mother said, who has since departed, we
need wait for Heaven and Eternal Witness to enjoy our
lives down here. We did not come this far to fail;
instead we soldier on as we must, as heroes and heroines
alike, knowing full well that advances in our cause can
dissipate if we are not faithful witness to the past,
honoring the memory, if not those who have gone
before us. Names likt Chamberlin, Gardner Cares, Fricks,
McKinney, Delman, Romeo, del Vecchcio, Von Tosh,
come immediately to mind for me—others for you. The
point here is not to recall these trailblazers, including the
Commonwealth’s own Dorothea Dix and Clifford Beers,
but to be aware that history bestows a reward as well as
an obligation on each of us – and that to me means that
we must all remember to ‘carry as we climb’.
Stand, yes. Please stand, head-upward. Be, oh, so proud,
without hubris.
But we stand in relation, in relationship with one another
and it here that we have our significance and value, not
alone, for that is not how we arrived—and hopefully not
how will depart this place, this event, this Earth.
This is crucial, but subject to forgetfulness as we become
integrated into systems that once consigned us to the
role of care recipient. I know it feels good, almost
wonderful when top-heavy administrators look upon you
as ‘unique’ and so very special, and you almost begin to
believe that you were never a part of something that
gave you this new-found opportunity and organizational
esteem, such as sitting on the executive team leadership
team, advisory council member, advocate, certified peer,
bridger, navigator. But I tell you necessarily we are
doomed to fail in our valiant effort to reform and
transform a system if we choose, yes it is a volitional act
to be cheap with one another, unappreciative of others
and just plain old unwelcoming.
I am going to proclaim something here, presuming there
is meaning in our convening. I want to say as respectfully
as I can, but sharply:
I cannot stand cheap people, those individuals who have
what to an ethical commitment to parsimony—cheap in
extending praise when it surely due, cheap in extending
the hand in friendship and sharing ‘the good news’ cheap
in manner of style, comportment and manner.
And I know you understand what I mean: some are
made cheap by success, privilege and education. I am
talking about the type of cheapness that I have witness
among wannabes and those who think they have
‘arrived’ and even those who are deemed managers,
supervisors and directors. I tell you I have seen it all—
and it is so very displeasing, unhopeful, unbecoming and
unwholesome.
To be thus, impairs your functioning over time, does not
build capacity and will mark you for sure by those that
matter as a turn-coat, gutless and in the end ineffective
as a leader—certainly not the heroine or hero we
celebrate today, those whose examples builds upon
relationship, trust and authentic caring, one who
preaches the word ‘justice’ embodies it in deed, rhetoric
and association, while perhaps professing no creed,
belief, other than that what can be witnessed.
I would not be too incorrect if I said all of us were
brought into this house, this movement because we
were befriended or invited by someone else, who saw in
us a possibility, a gift to contribute to something beyond
ourselves. In my own case, I volunteered, worked in
hospitals, set on boards without pay—but there was an
advantage to this, and I believe we have all learned that
we must, as the saying goes ‘take advantage of our
disadvantages’ even if we are plentiful in knowledge or
have access to riches, assets and personal strengths. I
have learned that struggle, either in care settings,
emergency rooms, homeless shelters, and detention
centers and jails—and yes I have been there—maybe for
short duration, but long enough to say as my grandma
Ethel would said ‘enough is enough and too much is too
much’
I have learned enough, experienced enough and
observed so much through analytics, to simply express
with exhaustion, how much more do I need to know to
understand. I think my grandfather, Slim, I can see him
now, ‘If I had to entertain the all the objections of a given
proposal, nothing good would happen.’
The mind and shall I say those who play mind games for
the art of it, I suspect, often lose sight that the purpose
of knowledge and wisdom is to apply it to a given
situation to effectuation human betterment and justice,
not as a mere exercise in scholasticism or command
through the aegis of beguilement. Not only is it
confusing; it in the end is not artful, useful or purposeful,
other than a preachment, a sounding off, irrelevant.
And yet the purpose of history and critical inquiry is to be
relevant in the lives of people, especially when we
celebrate heroes and support causes that give us
definition and strength. Our cause is a part of a much
larger civil rights agenda, a human rights agenda, part of
The Universal Declaration of Rights—and certainly
extending far back into the writings on Natural Law, and
meaning for me personally that people have rights
beyond what legal processes deem necessary, cede or
even recognize. While we celebrate the chamions and
victors among us today, let us recognize thall victories
are but small wonders as many battles are marathons,
not sprints, that all progress is perhaps time-bound as
are we, unless we are prophets, and that measurable
gains are subject to reversal—meaning for me, that
progress is nevr assured o matter how close to the goal
line or the end-zone, one cannot celebrate victory for
certain until someone else has finished second, and even
then it is important to wear victory with grace, as
another competition will ensue, another issue brought
before an adoring—and it is fitting that everyone have an
opportunity to shine, as you have.
As every day is a reason to celebrate the dawn and salute
the creation anew and our role in it, today is also a time
to reflect on how far we have come, but to recognize in
our number that there is still a ‘fierce urgency’ to carry
the torch of progress forward in tandem with others who
are still unfree, unemployed, unhopeful, warded-off from
public view—and most, alarmingly, public consideration.
I have learned a few things, and while not believing that
my experience represents any typf universal truth,
subject to randomized trial, let me just saying something
that the internal or intelligible essence of which cannot
be denied—a certain practical knowledge, or common
sense: 1) to withhold counsel, useful critique—2) to
withhold moreover respect, recognition, favor, regard—
or a simple compliment—and: 3) to withhold the
adoption of grace and style even among those for whom
dishonor is consistent with notions of fair play, to
withhold these things says something about you—about
your behavior and ultimately your chances for success
where these values, that we too profess, ring untrue.
I am convinced that when we hold the beauty that is
indwelled in us by either traditions, the spirit of Nature’s
God, we are engaged in a side show—a shadow of
movement, whose rainbow of colors though among
today is but temporary and will fade, but I know I have
been there, our colorful smile and photo-ops are just in
favor of satisfying a type of ethnic, gender or racial
particularism, thought to be fitting on such occasions.
Such behaviors as thus described are not only more
insulting that disfavor—discrimination and prejudice as
we say today, but such attitudes like cheap in all things
encompassing character and our values of trust,
relatedness and community, can be mock either because
those with whom we work are not, not transparent, not
honest, but as I said, with no apology, cheap, ungenerous
in those things that have been given abundantly through
nature, cultivation.
Moreover, to be very practical about and to paint a word
picture: Those who cannot attend to their gardens,
careful to water the plants; those who cannot attend to
the soil or the crops, and who want a bountiful harvest
without effort to plowing up the ground; and those who
do not attend to the careful arrangement of flowers and
such things, are not suited either for leadership in the
home—office or affairs of state. It is my understanding
again from reading people, history and observing that
the future favors those who have actually done the work
in the field before they have reached the mountain top.
Some of you in this room are poised for such leaderships
as this, to be able as creative protesters who challenged
conventions in music, religion and justice, had some
singular qualities—they knew how to attend not only to
their congregations, but espoused hopefulness and belief
through their own example. Quite correctly, they
understood the value of articulation, reading and writing
and even policy—but more importantly than that, they
new the importance of style—style in address, dress,
speech, associations—and style as a symbol, but oh, so
graceful, yes, as a form of agitation. As Dr. king said, our
protest, must not be a violent one, but one with dignity,
a creative claim that is not just a catalogue of complaint,
but a claim on our very government and institutions that
goes to our most cherished values, codified in our
Founding Charter.
But this my friends suggest style as a tool—a tool by
which we msut shame again, those for whom respect for
others and the visitation of hostility either in the work
place, at home or the wider community, is but a by-
product of misunderstand, unintentional bias—perhaps,
but to me plain old meanness—cheap, the lack of
generosity in a civil society, where relationship allow us
all to cohere as equals.
Never underestimate the truth of style as a safeguard
against the worst kind of oppression. In my own journey
that continues today, I have found style as a means for
greater respect, reward and opportunity.
We are bound, I think by the blessings of nature and
creation to extend our reach, our advocacy and our
philanthropy, which can be our dimes and cents, our
work and our spirit, much like the missionary and the
builder of time, repairing the wounds of those who have
valiantly fought, comforting those who are sick, because
as Scripture informs us, ‘there go I, also’
So we carry own, enlisting newer voices, employing
newer images and words, all for the optimization of a
movement that has matured and evolved but still
relevant—and as long as our cause and ideas remain
relevant, we will all have something to contribute,
careful in acknowledging differences, yet comfortable
with what unites us—a cultivation of a robust peer work
force, an appreciation for an inclusive and dynamic policy
agenda, a willingness to share with the wider community
our hopefulness with a psychiatry that is hoping-
inspiring, not hope-sapping; and human enough to share
with one another our authentic selves, in moments of
distress and moments of great joy.
When we model these attribute to each other, we
project value across the life span, across lines of
difference and hopefully understanding among those
whose hearts can be uplifted by our soul renderings in
art, dance, leadership, enterprise and love. At age 54,
there is one thing that I have learned—and it has taken
awhile, and that is the primacy of human contact,
connection, for survival—the real need for friendship,
indispensable in personal well-being as well as career.
I think as peers and leaders we understand that---and for
many, this value, is a result of experience, and while not
directly related to age, there is something about getting
older, if you allow, and that is the search for meaning,
comity, all results of discernment, sometimes lost on the
very young, as it was for me. But as the great Maya
Angelou said, ‘now that I know more, I can do a bit
better’
Let us all toil, if we must, endeavor to do better in all
things essential to mutual progress
And discrimination and prejudice and just plain old
disfavor amounts to an insult on the human personality,
like race, it too is an assault on difference, an affront, a
form of harassment or put-down because it too robs all
of us meaning, dignity and opportunity. But it is that
very opportunity that we celebrate with much more
expectancy today, celebrating the hero that is indwelled
like the spirit in all of us.
I do want to take a brief moment or two just to highlight
a few things I am most proud about our work. We have
increased exponentially our targeted outreach to the
entirety of the community, with academic institutions,
hospitals, community groups and arts and advocacy
groups; involving ourselves in the DMH hiring processes,
promoting a relational work culture; channeling our
recovery stories across the Commonwealth and within
the RLC system; contributing to research, data collection
and analysis and measurement of program satisfaction
and effectiveness; increasing national exposure to
leaders in our field, including our federal partners at
SAMHSA; collaborating with allied groups to in
Schizophrenia Anonymous; creative recovery champions
who dynamically explore the complex intersection of
justice, mental health and addictions, all pertinent to
effectuating a system of holistic care and well being. As I
reflect back on this year, the successes have been
phenomenal, to include work on DMH ethics, drug
courts, police officer training and weaving young people
into our office dynamic and addressing issues throughout
and across the life span in regard to older adults. Not
only that we have conferred and consulted on veterans
issues, peer issues at an invitational summit and our eyes
are fixed upon an upcoming policy academy on recovery
through the lens of smoking cessation
I am also most happy to report that I will begin a new
endeavor to write more targeted pieces in journals and
magazines, the first of which will appear this winter in
the Grinnell College Alumni Magazine which has a global
reach and will address succinctly our movement, its
impacts on societal attitudes, and the increasing role of
technology in our age as a point for creative engagement
of the young and the old, the house-bound and the
isolated. I am so excited about our progress as the office
is for the first time ordered or centered around three
area of focus and concentration: targeted outreach,
education and policy.
It is my hope that through successful performance in
these target areas and given the scope of the DMH
mission and vision we will have impacts across the
system and throughout the community. It is my fervent
hope, that those who are now known to us and each
other as peers, many of whom have availed themselves
of our training curricula will graduate, if they choose,
from this very system that silenced their voice, and enter
other venues where their minted skills and talents will
also contribute to organizational vibrancy and shed even
more proof that we are more than an illness, more than
a drain on the public treasury, but in fact contributors
not just to the bottom line in business settings, but
agents of positive uplift and modeling that will go a long
way toward building more inclusive communities.
This is why I elect to be part of this movement, not an
illness as no one in my view, chooses to be ill or regard
himself thusly and nor should we; we must not Quite
frankly I do not know what a ‘chemical imbalance’ is and
I am not untutored, and I am too unlearned I supposed
to understand the complexities of genetics and
neuroscience—so I take some ancient wisdom and that is
to describe yourself by what you understand to be true,
and for me that is a person, perhaps a peer, but more
importantly, one who has voice and the opportunity to
alter a system where those like me, were in the words of
Rousseau, locked in chains, whether chemical or physical,
those whose “care” was not volitional or self-willed, but
reflected societal trending that disregarded the equal
human dignity that is indwelled in us as a matter of
right, of justice not biology. As shapers, heroic shapers
of our own life course, we must use language that is
forward-looking, while not dismissive of the architecture
of meaning historically pertinent, but explanatory only in
the sense that it marks a necessary point of departure,
especially as we will all hopefully embrace a humanity
that recognizes us all for our unique contribution to
community ,citizenship and opportunity. And let me
say, as a type of prognosticator, I see a ‘new
consciousness’ indeed where those once consigned to
devalued social roles, are or will fast become the new
entrepreneurs, leaders and as such funders, as our
experience with both systems and life will feed an
organization’s need for new insight to challenging
problems.
Such has been my experience in the Commonwealth—
and yours too. This is a reason to celebrate the wealth
therefore that is our experience, its realization in
community life, and to honor the qualities that make us
all heroes and heroines.