Shery Mead

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Shery Mead is a mental health activist and founder of Intentional Peer Support. Shery has helped shape the understanding of peer support in the U.S. and around the world. She developed the first peer run respite, and provided the foundation for alternatives to the psych system through her work with Intentional Peer Support.

Early Influences: During the early 70’s Shery was psychiatrically hospitalized and told by the medical establishment that she had a diagnosis for which she would need to remain on medication for the rest of her life. She began to question this story. As a musician, she found a sense of connection and belonging in the music community.

Using Music as an Alternative to Counseling While teaching music at a boarding school one of her students was killed in an auto accident. His classmates rejected counseling as an avenue for resolving their grief. Shery organized an after hours music session that combined their grief, and their creativity.

Shery then decided on social work to further her studies into creative alternatives to traditional psychiatric services. During this time, Shery was psychiatrically hospitalized a number of times. It was only when a nurse asked Shery what she wanted to be, a mental patient or a Social Worker, that Shery realized the full power of stories, and how they shape self-identity. She chose to complete her studies and earned her Masters in Social Work in 1995.

As part of her Internship, she worked at a domestic violence program. She quickly noticed how stories influenced how the women saw themselves. Initially they described themselves as survivors until they had contact with the mental health system, and began to see themselves as disabled, fragile, and mentally ill. She developed a self-help/mutual support group using music

as a communicator. Gradually, Shery along with group members, began to challenge the idea that there was something wrong with them, and considered instead that what had happened to them was wrong.

First Peer Run Respite Shery started the first totally peer run crisis respite. What she had learned from survivors of domestic violence gradually began to translate into people with histories of “mental illness:” that people had learned to understand their experience as illness. She realized that people going in and out of hospitals were captive audiences to this conditioning. She further noticed that when people framed their stories differently, others were able to also try out new stories about themselves.

Doctoral work: In 2000 Shery went back to school to work towards a doctorate in Human and Organizational Development at Fielding Institute. IT was here that she came across systems theorists, narrative theorists, and organizational change theorists. Shery became interested in research models that looked at how people had learned to make sense of their experiences. She did not finish this degree due to a diagnosis and symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease.

Today, Shery remains active in the development of IPS. She continues to guide and mentor its evolving practices and resources.

Awards: Shery received the VOICE Award from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health in 2012 and ‘the life time achievement from Alternatives Conference award in 2014.

Book chapters With Beth Filson

Shery’s publications include:

PUBLICATIONS

Mead, S. and Filson, B. in press. Mutuality and Shared Power as an Alternative to Coercion and Force, in Peer Support in Mental Health.

Mead, S. nd Filson B. Intentional Peer Support: Creating Relationships, Creating Change. Mad in America, Feb 17, 2017

Mead S. and Filson, B. Becoming part of each other’s narratives: Intentional Peer Support, in Searching for a Rose Garden. 2015

Copeland, M.E. and Mead, S. (2004) WRAP and Peer Support: For Individuals, Groups and Programs. Peach Press: Dummerston VT

Mead, S. and MacNeil C., (in press). Peer Support: A Systemic Approach. Family Therapy Magazine

Mead, S. and MacNeil C., (in press). Discovering the Fidelity Standards of Peer Support in an

Ethnographic Evaluation. American Journal of Evaluation.

Mead, S. and MacNeil C. (in review): Peer Support: What Makes it Unique?

Mead, S., and Copeland, M.E. (2004). WRAP and peer support: personal, program and group development. Peach Press: Dummerston Vt.

Mead, S. (2004) Trauma Informed Peer Support and Crisis Respite: A Training Manual

Mead, S, and Hilton, D., (2003) Crisis and Connection, Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal Summer 2003

Mead, S., (Spring 2002). Crisis and Connection. Revue de santé mentale au Québec.

Mead, S., (August 2001). Rights, Research and Liberation. The Tenet, NARPA, Albany, NY

Mead, S., (2001). Peer Support in Mental Health: A Systemic Approach. (working paper).

Mead, S., Hilton, D., Curtis L. (2001) Peer Support: A Theoretical Perspective. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal. Fall 2001.

Mead, S. & Palmer (1998). Recovery: Beyond Disability. Center for Community Change: Trinity College, Burlington, VT.

Noordsey, D., Torrey,W., Mead, S., (2000). Recovery Oriented Psychopharmacology: Redefining the Goals of Antipsychotic Treatment. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 2000;61 (suppl 3).

Mead, S. And Dremel, K., (In press) Empowerment Through Music. In Group Work For People With Psychiatric Disabilities. Boston, MA: Boston University, Center For Psychiatric Rehabilitation.

Mead, S. & Copeland, M.E. (2000). What Recovery Means to Us: Consumers’ Perspectives.

Community Mental Health Journal, Vol. 36 No.3, June 2000

Mead, S. & Copeland, M.E. (2000). Taking Charge of your own Recovery. The Journal of NAMI California, Volume 10, No. 4.

Provencher, H.L., Gregg, R., Mead, S., Mueser, K., (in press) The Role of Work in the Recovery of Persons with Psychiatric Disabilities. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal

Torrey,W., Mead, S., Ross, G. (1999) Addressing the Social Needs of Mental Health Consumer’s When Day Treatment Programs Convert to Supported Employment: Can Consumer Run Services

Make a Difference? Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, Vol 22, No. 1 Mead, S., & Palmer, H.P. (1997).

Stepping Stone Crisis Respite Training Manual: A Guide For A Consumer Directed And Operated Service Alternative. Burlington, VT: Trinity College of Vermont, Center for Community Change through Housing and Support.

Mead S. And Haas, L. (1997). Evaluation Tool For Measuring Outcomes Of Peer Programs. Division Of Mental Health, Concord, NH.

Shore, S.E., Curtis, L.C., Mead, S., Marshall, A., Gettys, D.,& Shepard, L. (1997). Managing Workplace Conflict: A Skills Training Manual for Mental Health Consumers and Supervisors. Chicago, IL: University of Illinois at Chicago: National Research and Training Center on Psychiatric Disability.

Mead, S., (1996). Stepping Stone Peer Support Counseling Skills Manual. A Training Manual for Consumers running Peer Support and hot line programs. Claremont, NH: Stepping Stone Peer Support Services.

Mead, S., (1995). Re-Visioning Ourselves: A Model of Group Work for Trauma Survivors. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Social Work. Masters Thesis.

Shery Mead

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