Western Mass RLC

Berkshire RCC: The Berkshire RCC is the Western Mass RLC's homebase in the Berkshires. It is located at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 67 East Street, 3rd floor in Pittsfield. It is still in the early stages of development, but will eventually offer 1:1 peer support, a satellite lending library and space for meetings and events.

Certified Peer Specialist (CPS): This is the primary certification offered to individuals in Massachusetts who are interested in becoming Peer Workers or Peer Specialists. The training is a 10-day program followed by a written and oral test. The training is conducted by the Transformation Center. Visit their website for more information!

Client: 'Client' is a label generally used within the mental health system for individuals who are using mental health services. It was a very popular label several years back, but has now mostly been replaced by 'consumer.'

Co-opted: Co-opting something refers to the act of taking over an idea, word or project in such a way that it loses its core meaning or purpose. For example, there is a great deal of concern within the recovery community that peer supports could be co-opted if peer workers based in traditional mental health settings are required to manage duties that are more in line with the mission of mental health workers.

Consumer: 'Consumer' is the most frequently used label within the mental health system for individuals who are using mental health services.

Department of Mental Health (DMH): a.k.a. 'the Department.' DMH is the government agency responsible for overseeing state mental health services. It is also the primary funding source for the RLCs.

Extreme States: A term that individuals use to refer to extreme emotional experiences (such as a period when someone is hearing voices or having hallucinations, or experiencing a time of deep sadness and hopelessness)without giving them a psychiatric label.

Full-time Equivalency (FTE): One FTE is equal to one full-time worker or (usually) 40 hours. More than one worker can be used to make up 1 full FTE. For example, two part-time workers, each working 20 hours per week would also equal 1 FTE and so on. Hence, 4.5 FTEs is the equivalent of 180 worker hours per week, regardless of how many workers are employed to make up those hours. The Western Mass RLC currently operates with 162 hours of regular workers (4.05 FTEs) split between 8 regular workers.

Guiding Council of Western Mass (GCOW): A group of individuals from the recovery community in Western Mass and who act as the advisory board to the Western Mass RLC. Want to know more or learn how to join GCOW? Visit the Guiding Council's page for details and history!

Holyoke RCC: The Holyoke RCC is the Western Mass RLC's homebase and the largest of their Resource Connection Centers. Located at 187 High Street, Suite 303, it offers 1:1 peer supports, a computer lab, lending library and a variety of workshops and groups.

Lived Experience: A term used to describe individuals who have lived through the experience of being given a mental health diagnosis, extreme states, trauma, being a 'client' or 'consumer' within the mental health system, and so on. It is meant to be an open term that includes a variety of significant emotional and/or psychiatric experiences and allows individuals to self-identify the labels and language they do or don't want to use for themselves.

Media Education Foundation (MEF): A separate organization that has a community room located behind the Woodstar Cafe at 60 Masonic Street in Northampton. The RLC frequently holds meetings and workshops in this community space.

Mutuality: In this context, mutuality generally refers to the give and take between peers and within the recovery community. For example, at the Western Mass RLC, most individuals do not simply come to the RLC see to what they can get, but also to see what they can give and how they can get involved. This speaks to the natural give and take that goes into creating a community.

Peer: In this context, peer is intended to refer to individuals who identify as having lived experience.

Peer Services or Peer Supports: These are service and support offerings (1:1 and in groups) provided by individuals with lived experience.

Typically, a separation is made between services that are considered 'clinical' and those that are considered to be 'peer-run.' While there are some overlaps, there are also primary differences in training, focus and approach.

Both individuals working in the 'clinical' and 'peer' worlds may have various levels of training, licensure and/or certification. However, there is greater emphasis on schooling in the clinical world, and greater emphasis on life experience in the other. Along those same lines, in clinical services, although therapists or staff may sometimes disclose their own experiences, the approach is generally objective, detached and based on learned theory. Whereas, in peer services, the core approach is generally based on mutuality and the wisdom gained from having lived through particular experiences. Similarly, though listening and other skills may be used in both the peer and clinical worlds, clinical supports are primarily focused on the service provided while peer supports are primarily focused on the relationship and the human connection provided.

Peer-run: In this context, 'peer-run' is intended to refer to a project or organization that is overseen and directed by individuals with lived experience. In the case of the Western Mass RLC, all employees (including the Co-Directors) amd all members of the advisory board identify as having lived experience. Thus, although their umbrella organization is not peer-run, the RLC program is considered to be peer-run.

Recovery: There are many definitions for the term 'recovery,' and some feel that it has become a 'buzz word' that has lost much of its meaning and power. Ultimately, most use it to refer to each individual's path and process to personal wellness.

Recovery Community: In this context, 'recovery community' refers to a community made up of individuals who identify as having been or being a 'consumer' of mental health services, having been diagnosed with and/or treated for a serious mental illness, having experienced extreme states or trauma, and/or having sought to manage their experiences with traditional or non-traditional methods.

Recovery Learning Community (RLC): In 2007, three RLCs were funded to begin start up in Massachusetts including the Western Mass RLC, the Central Mass RLC, and the Metro Suburban RLC. The main purpose of the RLCs is to provide peer supports to individuals who have been given a mental health diagnoses, as well as to help provide a network of supports throughout each area by tying existing services together. How these peer supports are organized and offered may vary from region to region. It should be noted that 'RLC' refers to a whole project that is intended to be interwoven into a whole community and does not refer to a particular physical site. See Resource Connection Centers or RCCs for more information on the physical sites of the RLCs.

Request for Response (RFR): A document used by DMH and other departments and organizations to provide notification of a particular project that they wish to fund, and request that qualified parties submit a bid stating how they would meet the requirements of the proposed project and why they are the best candidates to do so. It is essentially a request for a grant proposal on a particular initiative. RFR is often used interchangeably with RFP (Request for Proposal).

Resource Connection Center (RCC): Each RLC has at least one center that acts as a physical site for that RLC community. For example, in Western Mass, the largest RCC is located in Holyoke and offers call-in and walk-in access to peer support, resource information, a computer lab, a library and space for workshops and trainings, as well as offices and a homebase for RLC workers. However, there are also two satellite RCCs in that region (one in Pittsfield and one in Greenfield - both in the early stages of getting up and running) that offer the same or similar supports on a smaller scale.

The Western Mass Training Consortium: Generally referred to as 'The Consortium,' The Western Mass Training Consortium is the umbrella organization under which the Western Mass RLC operates. The Consortium is a non-profit organization that describes is mission as creating "conditions to enhance the lives and make possible the dreams of people living with disabilities and/or the impact of abuse. Our ultimate goal is for communities to welcome and value differences in a safe and just world." More information can be found at www.wmtcinfo.org.

Trauma-informed: When people say they are 'trauma-informed,' they generally mean that the majority of people with whom they will come in contact have experienced trauma in their lives. Based on that assumption, many organizations and groups will attempt to create trauma-informed environments that, based on that assumption, strive to make group spaces safe and not re-traumatizing. In the most basic of senses, this can mean things as simple as providing snacks so that people can tend to their most basic of needs for nourishment or avoiding yelling and loud, startling noises.

Underlying this concept is also that of the 'centrality of violence.' Based on a great deal of research (the ACE study, etc.), it has come to be widely accepted that, although the actions and methods of coping for individuals in the addictions, mental health, and prison communities may be different, the one very consistent overlap between these groups is the experience of childhood trauma.

Trainings on trauma and being trauma-informed will periodically be available through the RLC.

Wellness: A term often used in place of 'recovery,' wellness refers simply to your own state of feeling and being well.

Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP): Originally developed by Mary Ellen Copeland, and as described at www.copelandcenter.com, WRAP "is a self-management and recovery system developed by a group of people who had mental health difficulties and who were struggling to incorporate wellness tools and strategies into their lives." It provides a structured approach to developing a personalized wellness plan, including drawing a picture of what you look like when you're well and making specific plans of who can help you (and how) when you are not well.

Wellness Tools: Those approaches, skills and coping mechanisms that you use to stay feeling well. For instance, going for regular walks, reading, eating well and/or getting enough sleep may be a wellness tool that you use for yourself.