Follow-Up Discussion | Crisis Response: Peer Leadership to Develop Community Solutions

Harvey Rosenthal serves as the CEO of the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS), a peer-provider partnership that has been a leading state and national change agent over the past 25 years.  Harvey has over 44 years of experience working to promote public mental health policies and practices that advance the recovery, rehabilitation, rights, dignity and full community inclusion of individuals with mental health and/or trauma related challenges.  Harvey has helped to create several nationally acclaimed and replicated peer support and transformational training innovations.  He has also worked to fight stigma, discrimination, and human rights violations and to advance informed choice protections, self-directed care and cultural competence. Harvey is a recipient of CBHL’s Timothy J. Coakley Award for Behavioral Health Leadership. His interest in his work is personal, beginning with a psychiatric hospitalization at age 19.

Lisa St George, MSW, CPRP, CPRSS brings over 40 years of experience in the health and human services industry. She is a seasoned executive leader and currently serves as the Vice President of Peer Support and Empowerment at RI International. Her work with RI has spanned 20 years, during which time she has provided executive leadership and program development of RI International’s peer support workforce and programs in Arizona, California, and New Zealand. She is a principle author of RI International’s Peer Employment Training which, as of February 2021, has trained 14,560 peer support workers nationally and internationally. In addition, she has written over 100 training tools, articles, publications, and presentations that have focused on peer support, recovery, inpatient psychiatry, and crisis services. Ms. St George has been recognized by her peers and has received the Mental Health Director’s Program of the Year (San Diego) and California Health Hero (Mental Health Association of CA) as well as the Elton George Armstrong Award. Recent publications include, The Emerging Field of Peer Support within Mental Health Services, within the Book Workforce Development Theory and Practice in the Mental Health Sector, (2017) IGI Publications, and Self-Advocacy and Empowerment, within the Handbook of Recovery in Inpatient Psychiatry (2016), and United States Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, Workbook for Certification (2003). Ms St George also serves as a peer reviewer for several professional journals and believes in supporting the growth of knowledge in the field. Ms. St George served as Faculty Associate at Arizona State University and provided the Master’s Level Social Work Course, Mental Illness, Recovery and Social Justice. She has supported the mental health community in Phoenix, AZ by serving as Vice Chair of the Maricopa Human Rights Committee and as a member of the Arizona Behavioral Health Planning Counsel. Ms St George completed both her Bachelor of Social Work and her Masters of Social Work at Arizona State University. She was a board member of International Association of Peer Supporters for fifteen years and sat as Board Chair for three years. As an Advisory Board Member of Open Minds, Lisa supports organizations and systems in the development of peer support and recovery services as well as training and consultation in a variety of areas. Ms St George, worked in childhood oncology and child protective services, where she researched and developed a care protocol for crack addicted infants for the State of Arizona Child Protective Services before joining RI International. Lisa also serves vulnerable communities and especially refugees within her community through education, support, and guidance. Ms St George believes in the resiliency of the human spirit, and in the inherent strength of people with trauma, mental health, and addiction challenges.

Mark Clarke is known to have  excellent problem solving skills and even greater interpersonal skills – drive to innovate is second nature. He has a love for technology that he is more than happy to leverage to the betterment of any projects he is assigned. Mark started working as a Peer Bridger in 2018 for Baltic and through hard work and an environment of growth provided by Baltic, he is the Project Manager for the Adult Home Initiative.

Within the Adult Home Initiative, Mark has worked closely with his team to ensure that those involve in the Class Action Settlement of O’Toole vs Cuomo (NY state) have the opportunity to transition from their current Adult Home living, into the community of their choice. It has been Mark’s great pleasure to be able to work with such a dynamic team to implement policies and processes that will affect the lives of those who are disenfranchised, within the Adult Home or Assisted Living system.

Mark has completed course work in the field of International Business Management out of Charles Sturt University in Sydney Australia in 2008-2010. That experience of the world and sharpening of his business acumen, has guided Mark’s work ethics. Mark is honored with the role he plays within Baltic Street and looks forward to growing with the organization as they seek to do the important work of community-based Peer services.

Quote : “If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities.” – Maya Angelou

Steve Miccio is Chief Executive Officer of People USA. Inspired and driven by his personal lived experience, Steve has spent over two decades creating, providing, and promoting innovative crisis response services and systems-level improvements – across the United States and internationally – that raise the bar on customer service, person-centered communication, trauma-informed care, empathy, and positive expectations for people’s recovery & wellness outcomes. Steve’s unique models and approaches significantly reduce hospital utilization, incarceration rates, and overall healthcare spending. Steve’s professional highlights since joining People USA in 1999 include the following:

• First in the United States to embed peers in a hospital psych. ER, blazing the way for a best and evidence-based practice standard today.
• Created the Rose House model of peer-operated crisis respites / home-like alternatives to hospital psych. ERs & inpatient units; first peer-run hospital diversion houses in New York.
• Helped open 39 peer-operated crisis respites using the Rose House model across the United States and Europe.
• Developed OMH White Paper, “Infusing Recovery-Based Principles into Mental Health Services” with input from over 40,000 New Yorkers.
• Created the Dutchess County Stabilization Center; first peer-run crisis stabilization center in the world; first crisis stabilization center in the Northeastern United States.
• Created the Transitional Care Wellness Team model, a unique hybrid of transitional care management and wellness coaching.
• Created the Westchester Forensic Mobile Crisis & Response Team; first peer-run criminal justice-focused mobile team in the United States.
• Engaged in community-wide systems transformation – across sectors – in multiple counties throughout New York’s Hudson Valley region.
• Developed unique training programs – for hospitals, local government units, and behavioral health organizations across the U.S. – to help them build tomorrow’s behavioral health workforce and culture.
• Organized and provided Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) trainings to hundreds of law enforcement throughout New York.

Steve is active with the following groups: Chair of the National Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (PRA); Board member of CIT International; Subject matter expert for the Re-entry Policy Academy headed by the SAMHSA GAINS Center and Policy Research Associates; Member of the International Crisis Now coalition; Member of the Crisis Residential Association; Member of New York State Suicide Prevention Council; Board member of 2-1-1 policy board of Hudson Valley; Executive member of the Dutchess County Criminal Justice Council (DCCJC); Chair of the Diversion Committee (DCCJC); Member of the Dutchess County Police Reform and Modernization Collaborative; Advisory Board member of the Northeast Caribbean Mental Health Technology Transfer Center.

Steve lives in the Village of New Paltz, one of NY’s most vibrant college towns; he is originally from Fishkill, NY. He enjoys drumming, fishing, gardening, hiking, rocket building, and – most importantly – spending time with his family, including his two amazing daughters, and his partner Renee.