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The New York State Office of Mental Health's Bureau of Recipient Affairs began in 1992 as a single individual charged with bringing consumer/survivor (c/s) perspectives into the policy-making process. Since then, Recipient Affairs has grown to include 14 people in six locations around the state, working to ensure meaningful c/s participation at all levels of the mental health system, to change policies and practices that interfere with growth and recovery, and to promote and support peer-run alternatives. Our strategy is to work in partnership with independent c/s groups to bring pressure for change from both inside the system and outside the system simultaneously.

This strategy evolved naturally from the process by which the bureau began. The idea for the bureau, and the pressure on the Office of Mental Health (OMH) to create it, came from grassroots c/s leaders. In 1988, in response to a federal law mandating public advisory committees, OMH formed the Mental Health Planning Advisory Committee (MHPAC), which included c/s activists and advocates. This was the first time that OMH formally brought c/s into policy discussions, and their involvement was the impetus for all the changes that followed.

In 1989, an MHPAC task force on stigma and discrimination was convened. Several c/s leaders were members, including George Ebert (Mental Patients' Liberation Alliance), Laura Ziegler ( Project Release), JoAnne Piazzi, (Westchester County rights advocate), and the late Dick Gelman of New York City. These activists set the tone for the group's deliberations, resulting in a number of concrete recommendations to combat discrimination. Among the recommendations was the establishment of an office of consumer affairs, headed and staffed by c/s, to bring our perspectives into the policy-making process. After two years of lobbying and negotiation, a single position, Special Assistant to the Commissioner for Recipient Affairs, was created. The activists fought hard to ensure that the position was part of the management team, had direct access to the commissioner and other senior officials, and had the freedom to offer alternative viewpoints without fear of retribution.

In June 1992, Commissioner Richard Surles asked me to take this position. I had already worked for the OMH Planning Bureau for five years, four of those years as staff to the MHPAC. My participation in the c/s movement was a direct result of getting to know the activists on the MHPAC. I had not previously been aware of the movement and, as strange as this seems to me now, hadn't recognized that my own psychiatric history was relevant to my work at OMH. Getting to know c/s leaders as mentors and colleagues has had a great impact on my life and on the perspectives I bring to my work.


Current Initiatives

The 14 members of the Bureau of Recipient Affairs are involved in a wide range of activities on the local, state, and national levels. The five of us in OMH Central Office focus on influencing policy and practice, expanding self-help within OMH-run programs, and ensuring that resources and technical assistance are available to c/s groups across the state. Each of us has special areas to nurture the development of self-help and empowerment services within the PMHP. They hold monthly self-help seminars in New York City for PMHP members and provide on-site technical assistance across the state. They also administer a new program which provides seed money to PMHP self-help activities, and will provide c/s trainers, self-help materials, and training for staff on how to support self-help activities. A psychologist, Ron, is active in the American Psychological Association (APA), with the goal of bringing a c/s perspective into APA activities.

There are eight members of the Bureau of Recipient Affairs located in the five OMH field offices. Celia Brown, Peter Stastny, and D.A. Johnson work in the New York City Field Office. In addition to the PMHP project described above, Celia and Peter have the lead on implementation of the new Peer Specialist civil service title. This title, designed to bring the experiential knowledge of c/s into the OMH workforce, is based on an innovative grant-funded project that Peter and Celia headed at Bronx Psychiatric Center in the late 1980s. Statewide, 38 people have been hired as Peer Specialists in recent months, and Celia and Peter are coordinating quarterly peer support and inservice training for them.

D.A. Johnson is Recipient Affairs Specialist at the New York City Field Office. This role involves serving as a liaison with c/s groups and individuals in the region and bringing a c/s perspective to the work of the field office. D.A., formerly director of a peer-run program in Westchester, has a particular interest in housing and trauma issues. She was instrumental in bringing a c/s perspective to inter-agency work in New York City that resulted in a proposal to extend the Metropolitan Transist Authority's half-fare program to people with psychiatric disabilities. Anne Krauss, a former peer advocate, has been Recipient Affairs Specialist (RAS) for Long Island since March 1998. Before that, she served for two years in the same position in the Syracuse field office, where she helped organize the Peer Networking Group, a 19-county coalition of c/s working on managed care issues in the Central Region. Among her many responsibilities, Anne provides support to the new Bi-County C/S/X Coalition and to the Peer Specialists at Pilgrim Psychiatric Center and the Consumer Link program in Nassau County. She has particular expertise on research and evaluation issues, along with managed care.

Patrick McComish is the RAS for the Hudson River region, where he serves as a liaison for c/s groups and individuals in a 16-county region and brings a c/s perspective to field office activities. Patrick has a special interest in peer-run businesses and peer-run housing. His outreach and technical assistance to both counties and recipients about Reinvestment opportunities has resulted in the Hudson River region having the largest number of Reinvestment-funded peer-run programs in the state. He also provides on-going support to the 12 Peer Specialists located in his region.

Carole Hayes-Collier brings more than 25 years' experience in the c/s movement to her role as RAS in the Central NY region. She continues the work Anne Krauss started with the Peer Networking group, and has assisted c/s in the Western region in setting up a similar group. Carole has a particular expertise in peer support and in person-centered approaches. In addition to bringing a c/s perspective to the field office, Carole supports Peer Specialists at Binghamtom and Hutchings Psychiatric Centers and peer-run groups in a 19-county area. As the RAS located closest to Albany, Carole is often called on to serve on OMH task forces, including a current group developing recommendations to reduce restraint and seclusion.

Kathy Lynch, RAS in the Western NY field office, has more than 10 years' experience as an advocate and organizer in Buffalo, along with experience as a psychiatric nurse. Kathy has a particular expertise in trauma issues, and has done extensive training on this issue for both staff and recipients. She also works with children who are trauma survivors, using her menagerie of animal puppets to communicate. She supports Peer Specialists at Buffalo Psychiatric Center and serves as a liaison for c/s groups and individuals in a 19-county region. Kathy was instrumental in developing the Recipient Associates at Buffalo PC, a mentoring program which pays recipients stipends to learn about management and administrative issues.

Mike DiPirro works half-time with the Bureau of Recipient Affairs as a trainer and half-time as a pharmacist at Buffalo PC. His pharmacy training is key to his ability to help recipients understand medication issues so that they can make informed choices. Mike presents extensive trainings on recovery, empowerment, and related issues across the Western region, and brings a c/s perspective to the OMH Therapeutics Committee.

This brief overview has touched on just a few of the activities of the Bureau of Recipient Affairs. Some of our other interests include preserving the history of people with psychiatric labels, developing evaluation tools that measure the real concerns of c/s, reducing all forms of coercion in the system, promoting peer advocacy and other rights protection issues, and a host of other topics. In partnership with other c/s across the state, we hope to continue to expand c/s influence in the mental health system.