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- ️Fri Feb 21 2025
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Announcements
Emotional CPR Book Just Released
Emotional CPR: Assisting People through Emotional Distress recounts how a team, mainly comprising individuals with personal experiences of severe mental health conditions, developed a novel method to aid those in mental health crises. Unlike conventional approaches, this method prioritizes establishing a heart-to-heart connection over diagnosis. By treating individuals as resourceful, the approach empowers them to navigate their path forward, fostering revitalization. This approach reflects how the Emotional CPR developers desired to be treated during their own distress, and how such treatment facilitated their journey through distress. Click here to purchase the book.
On December 12th, our Emotional CPR Coordinator Kimberly Ewing hosted a virtual coffee house to announce and discuss the launch of the book. Click here to view the recording.
APA Publishes Paper Supporting Peer Respites
NEC is proud to announce the publication of a groundbreaking paper on the unique approaches of peer-run respites, “Peer-Run Respite Approaches to Supporting People Experiencing an Emotional Crisis,” published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Click here for the press release.
Neurodiversity Gifts is Now Available!
Neurodiversity Gifts is an impactful, multi-dimensional encounter workshop brought to you by Josh Roberts and the National Empowerment Center. It is designed to give people living with mental health conditions a fresh, colorful perspective of their potential, and an expanded view of reality at large.
By combining insights from Western perspectives (science, psychology, and philosophy) with insights from Non-Western perspectives (traditional cultures, spirituality, and mysteries), the goal is to reframe your identity away from self-stigma, towards post-traumatic growth, and the potential gifts of your neurodiverse mind.
The 3 hour individual training is now available for $120. Click here to purchase the individual training!
Artists for Change Exhibit
Gayle Bluebird has completed an art exhibit featuring the work of artists with lived experience who are part of the peer movement. It is now available for anyone who wishes to view it. Click here for the exhibit.
Emotional CPR Presentation and Podcast Interview with eCPR Coordinator Kimberly Ewing
NEC’s Emotional CPR Coordinator Kimberly Ewing presented on eCPR for the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) in December and was interviewed for the Peer Voices podcast in August. Click below for the recordings.
Webinar Recording Now Available: Providing Culturally Competent Support to People with Facial Difference: A FaceOut Project webinar in honor of Sandy Goodwick
Presenters: Felix Guzman, David Roche, and Sora J. Kasuga
This webinar was catalyzed into existence by the late Sandy Goodwick who was a FIERCE advocate and proud member of the Peer and Facial Difference movements, amongst many others. She was dedicated to building bridges between communities and movements and she steadfastly believed that no one should be shut out or left behind. Sandy, we love you and we are honored to uphold your legacy and continue the work you started so many years ago.
Webinar Description: Facial difference (FD), an underrepresented disability, is mostly left out of the DEI conversation and yet 1 in 10 people live with a facial difference that, due to stigma, severely affects the ability to lead a typical life. However, if acknowledged and understood, the lessons learned from the FD community have the potential to transform the care we are able to give each other. In this webinar, participants will take away practical tips on our bias reduction, preferred language usage, and how to best support FD peers. We will cover what it means to live with facial difference and the unique systemic barriers individuals face that significantly contribute to high rates of mental health challenges in our community. We will break down the history of stigma against visible difference (dating back to ancient times!) and how harmful representation of FD in the media perpetuates stereotypes. Learners will get a glimpse into our community and our collective wisdom as we share our stories. We at The FaceOut Project hope this webinar helps participants become culturally competent in FD and use these lessons to ultimately better serve everyone, visibly different or not.
Click here for the webinar recording.
Webinar Recording Now Available: From Weight Biased to Weight Inclusive: Understanding and Practicing Fat Positivity
Presenter: Rachel Millner, Psy.D.
It is becoming more common to hear messages such as how weight stigma is bad and how important it is to be “kind” to people in larger bodies. However, these messages are frequently shared by weight loss researchers and companies leading to even more misinformation about what weight stigma is, the harm it causes, and how to work from a fat positive framework. In this webinar, we will talk about the impact of weight stigma and anti-fat bias and develop a deeper understanding of what they are and how they get perpetuated in the culture. We will then discuss how to shift to a fat positive framework that changes the way we work with clients, how we approach inclusion and advocacy, and how we think about our own healing.
Click here for the webinar recording.
A Good Intro to Emotional CPR
Recent Work
Updated Hearing Voices Curriculum Now Available!
Originally developed by Dr. Pat Deegan, the NEC Hearing Voices Curriculum now includes updates developed by Dr. Dan Fisher, Oryx Cohen, and Digital Eyes Film. In addition to the original simulation exercises, the updates include a new DVD featuring one of the co-founders of the Hearing Voices Network, Dr. Marius Romme, as well as testimony from voice hearers themselves. The updated curriculum includes new discussion questions that will help participants better understand how they can support voice hearers after the training.
For more information about the curriculum click here.
Learn more about the updated Hearing Voices Curriculum in the video below.
Resource of the Week
ReAwaken Manifesto
The ReAwaken Manifesto was born out of a week-long gathering of international leaders in mental health, addiction, and trauma at the inaugural ReAwaken conference, ReAwaken Australia, which took place 8-12 April 2019 in Adelaide, South Australia. The manifesto reflects the collective work and vision of these leaders. ReAwaken recognizes that our society is asleep in many ways, more isolated than ever from each other and the environment, which has led to ineffective and often harmful polices and practices in the fields of mental health, trauma and addiction. We call for a great reawakening of the human spirit, a reclaiming of our narratives, and a reconnection with our fellow travelers and the earth. We know this is possible because we have achieved this in one short week, having created a beautiful, safe, inclusive, and loving community in one small corner of the world.
Studies on Emotional CPR
Research findings of an eCPR study published in June 2022 found eCPR benefits individuals from multiple, diverse demographics. It can enhance their ability to connect with others, to understand what it means to be with someone who is experiencing a mental health challenge or crisis, to accept their own emotions, and to be confident in being their most authentic self in both their work and personal lives. Participants found eCPR training to be a valuable resource for learning new skills when engaging with an individual who may be in distress or experiencing a mental health crisis.
For a one-page summary of the article, click here.
To access the full-text publication, visit: https://formative.jmir.org/2022/6/e32219/
A study published in April 2021 found that eCPR may increase feelings of belonging while increasing supportive behaviors toward individuals with mental health problems and improving clinical outcomes related to positive and negative affect and feelings of loneliness. Statistically significant pre-post improvements were found related to one’s ability to identify emotions, support others in distress, communicate nonverbally, share emotions, and take care of oneself, as well as to one’s feelings of social connectedness, self-perceived flourishing, and positive affect. Findings indicated promising evidence of pre-post improvements (not statistically significant) related to loneliness, empowerment, active-empathetic listening, mindfulness awareness, and hope.
For a one-page summary of the article, click here.
To access the full-text publication, visit: https://jopm.jmir.org/2021/1/e25867.
Popular in the NEC Store
Hearing Voices Curriculum
By Patricia Deegan, PhD ($549.00)Heartbeats of Hope
By Daniel Fisher, MD, PhD ($30.00)Emotional CPR: Assisting People Through Emotional Distress
Editors: Barbara Meyers, PhD, MDiv, CPS; Daniel B. Fisher, MD, PhD; W. Reid Smithdeal, MSW, LCSW, CPSS; Oryx Cohen, MPA; and Shira Collings, MS, LPCFree Shipping!
Featured Video
An Introduction to Emotional CPR (eCPR)
Finding Our Voice
Finding Our Voice is a program for training emerging c/s/x leaders in advocacy skills and ways of being.
The following video was produced by one our graduates, Miriam Israel using the skills that she learned in our training.
Quick Resources Guide
Warmlines
A warmline is a peer-run listening line staffed by people with lived experience of mental health challenges. Click here for a list of warmlines in each state.