“Speaking the truth is a revolutionary act.” is a phrase that Annette Cycon, co-founder of both MotherWoman and GPS Group Peer Support (GPS), has been saying and promoting for decades. “When people speak the truth of what they are living, both they, and the people around them, are changed. All it takes is one person…
We recently asked Julia Ojeda, founder and CEO of RIO Recovery Inspired Opportunities, to assess GPS’s training program for support group facilitators. Ojeda shared feedback from her assessment in an informal interview with GPS CEO and Co-founder Liz Friedman, which we’ve summarized in this post. To assess our facilitator training, Ojeda watched six modules of…
Nallely (Nelly) Willis walked into her first GPS Group Peer Support (GPS) group seven years ago and took a seat by the door. She didn’t plan on staying. As the leader of a nonprofit providing perinatal support to low-income parents, Willis routinely led support groups. In fact, she was running about 10 groups a week….
In her position as GPS Project Manager, Marcy Langrock applies a broad range of skills that keep us going. Her work touches on everything from finance and tech to administration and marketing. “It’s a small company, so we just step in where we’re needed,” said Langrock of GPS staffers. “I have an MBA and I’ve…
One of GPS’s longest-running partnerships is with Perinatal Support Washington, a nonprofit organization that has run support groups using the GPS model for the past six years. In the organization’s most recent annual report for GPS groups offered during 2022 – 2023, participants reported experiencing high levels of engagement and satisfaction with the groups and…
The on-going impact of the pandemic and post-pandemic years to the mental health and well-being of clinicians and caregivers cannot be overstated. Healthcare workers are grappling with pandemic-related trauma including PTSD, exhaustion, personal loss, moral injury, burnout, isolation from colleagues, job-related illness or injury, wages that are not keeping up with the cost of living,…
As our country grapples with a mental health crisis, there’s been much interest of late in intergenerational trauma—the idea that the effects of a traumatic event can be passed down through generations by both genetics and environmental factors like learned behaviors. This field is known as “epigenetics,” or the study of how one’s environment, experiences,…
It’s no secret that there is a mental health crisis on college campuses across the U.S. fueled, in part, by lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, students report experiencing high rates of depression, anxiety, and isolation. The consequences of this crisis were laid out in painful detail in a recent New York…
‘Having that group was incredible’: In her work as a home health care aide, Latoya Cromartie works closely with her clients, assisting them with vital daily tasks such as bathing, dressing, and preparing meals. It is physical work to be sure, but it is emotionally taxing, too. Most of her clients are elderly, living with…
‘It was like getting on a Zoom call with co-workers to talk about the day’: Like many frontline healthcare workers, Karleen Winter experienced unprecedented levels of stress in her life during the first year of the pandemic. As a personal care attendant (PCA) and certified nursing assistant (CNA), Karleen assists people living with disabilities in…
