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As New Yorkers rise to meet the challenge of providing a full package of support for a community struck by the trauma of the World Trade Center attacks, representatives from the self-help community have come together with a strong offer of assistance to local and state officials.

Seeking to follow in the extraordinary tradition of service and support that peer mental health communities in other states have demonstrated in previous disasters, a series of meetings were held this past month in New York City that included Quincy Boykin, Citywide Consumer Chairperson of the New York City Federation; Laverne Miller of the Howie T. Harp Peer Specialist Center, Isaac Brown of the Baltic Street Mental Health Board, Jody Silver of Community Access, Marguerite Gayle of Transitional Services, Peter Ashenden of the Mental Health Empowerment Project and Harvey Rosenthal of the New York Association for Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS).

The group has been guided by the valuable support and insight of representatives of the peer-run agencies that received national recognition from the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) for the support they offered in the wake of the California earthquake of 1994 and the
Oklahoma City bombing of 1995.

Laverne Miller, one of the leaders of the New York City peer disaster response work group, told New York City Voices that "we have been working on developing a package of peer supported assistance to both disaster victims, mental health consumers and members of
traditionally under-served ethnic, racial and religious minorities."

"The agencies participating in this project are looking forward to helping individuals and communities heal from not just the short-term effects of the disaster but to also assist them in improving their overall mental health," added Isaac Brown.

According to Jody Silver, "CMHS has amply documented the strong responsiveness and effectiveness of peer support in Oklahoma City and Ventura County disasters. Programs have been established in these areas including self-help groups, warm lines and information and referral services. We are putting together a proposal to establish these types of peer-run
programs in the greater New York City area."

Laverne Miller emphasized that 'our work group' has been formed to allow both consumer run and traditional mental health programs to collaborate together in meeting the needs of vulnerable and at risk communities."

Representatives from the New York City Department of Mental Health and the New York State Office of Mental Health have been very supportive of the groups' offers and efforts. Department of Mental Health Commissioner Neal Cohen, MD has emphasized on several recent occasions the important opportunity the mental health service and support community will have, in stepping up to support the general public, to break down some of the stigma and discrimination we have traditionally faced.

The Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), in collaboration with the Center for Mental Health Services recently approved a $22.7 million Crisis Counseling Program allocation for disaster-related mental health support services, $14 million of which has gone to New York City. In mid-November, the City and seven surrounding counties will be finalizing applications for follow up grants, which might well fund the counseling, referral and education services and supports for up to an additional 18 months.

At a recent training session conducted for area mental health practitioners, Beth Nelson, M.S.W, the current Chief of CMHS' Emergency Services and Disaster Relief Branch emphasized that "a primary source of help to people with serious mental illnesses we have funded and supported in past disasters have been self-help groups."

"We funded a very effective peer-run program in Ventura County, California (in conjunction with Turning Point Foundation) after the 1994 earthquake." She said: "They did such a fine job that we hooked them up with the Oklahoma City Consumer Council, who used their help to get their own efforts off the ground, after the Oklahoma City blast. With technical assistance from the folks in Ventura County, the Oklahoma City group was able to develop a network of self-help groups to aid in the that county's disaster response."

According to materials provided to the New York City group by their peers in California, the Turning Point program provided peer counseling disaster support groups and services to adult mental health clients from Ventura County suffering from the effects of the Northridge earthquake of 1994. During its first seven weeks of operation, all of the staff were hired and trained, went through a process of identifying potential participants and established a network of peer support groups.

The California project went on to establish peer support groups in 21 community residences, 10 adult mental health outpatient treatment settings, the local public psychiatric hospital, five private psychiatric facilities and a range of community settings in each of the county's 10 cities. They offered initial peer counseling disaster crisis support groups and services, follow-up peer counseling support groups and referral services to link persons affected by the disaster to needed services and resources in the community.

In contrast to California's program, Oklahoma's mental health peer disaster intervention was aimed at supporting the general public, in addition to individuals with psychiatric disabilities. Toward that end, they offered considerable outreach to help identify and provide initial individualized support to distressed Oklahomans, conducting outreach activities, offering follow-up support groups in private homes, public libraries and local businesses and establishing a network of peer support groups and a crisis hot line.

"We are hoping that the city, state and federal governments will provide us with the funding to allow us to extend the power of peer support to distressed New Yorkers in each of the five boroughs," Miller said. "We have been touched by all of the tremendous sense of community, caring and compassion people from across the City have been demonstrating during this time of great challenge. We know we have something very special to offer, something that has been proven to help, and look forward to the chance to do our part."