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Peer Networking Groups

Peer Networking Groups

In March 2005, The Mental Health Empowerment Project, Inc. (MHEP) was one of nineteen recipients of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Statewide Consumer Network Grant. The purpose of this grant was to help develop, support and sustain peer networking groups (PNGs) throughout New York State.

Grassroots Networking

A Peer Networking Group (PNG) is a group of peers who come together to disseminate information, share self-directed recovery tools, identify community resources and work together to identify and strategize issues related to systems advocacy.

Training & Technical Assistance

MHEP assists the PNGs by providing training and technical assistance for the purpose of maintaining and increasing membership, promoting leadership development, identifying ways to sustain groups, developing innovative approaches to community organizing and systems advocacy, and identifying fundraising options, and other ways as requested.

Systems Transformation

The Peer Networking Groups hold monthly statewide teleconferences to share skills on a group-to-group level, and to identify ways to impact the mental health service delivery system on a state and federal level. The groups continue to be self-sustaining through the ongoing efforts of their individual members and, as people in a particular area express a desire to organize, a new Peer Networking Group may begin.

STATEWIDE

The Opal Project

Website: www.theopalproject.org

Contact: Lauren Tenney

Tel: (516) 319-4295

Email: laurentenney@aol.com

Hours: 24 hours

WESTERN REGION

Western New York Peer Networking Group

Contact: Rose Cooper

Tel: (716) 783-8124

Email: rac962@roadrunner.com

CENTRAL REGION

Peer Networking Group of the Adirondacks

Contact: Lilah Mitchell

Tel: (518) 521-3507

Email: lilah.mitchell@yahoo.com

Hours: Mon.-Fri. 8:30 am – 4:30 pm

Contact: Shelley Shutler

Tel: (518) 521-3507

Email: shelley.shutlermhafc@yahoo.com

Hours: Mon.-Fri. 8:30 am – 4:30 pm

Peer Networking Group of Central New York, Inc.

Office: (315) 473-1544

Contact: Donna Ce’Cartel

Tel: (315) 222-5843

Email: donnacecartel@yahoo.com

HUDSON RIVER REGION

Capital District Peer Networking Group

Contact: Marianne Briggs

Tel: (518) 235-2173

Email: mariannemhep@live.com

Hudson Valley Peer Networking Group

Contact: James Haskin

Tel: (518) 828-4282

Email: jhaskin@mhacg.org

Hours: Tues. & Thurs. 3:00-5:00 pm

Westchester Peer Networking Group

Contact: Sabrina Johnson

Tel: (914) 682-3926 x 2109

Email: sjohnson@wilc.org

Hours: Mon. – Thurs. 9:00 am- 6:00 pm

Peer Networking Meeting of Rockland

Contact: Beth Wendy Grundfest

Email: malkabethwendy@verizon.net

Contact: Caitlin Sperling

Tel: (845) 445-1002

Email: gmktkdcaitlin@gmail.com

Hours: Mon. 7:30-10 pm; Tues.9-10 pm; Thurs. 12-9 pm; Sun. 8:30-10 pm

NEW YORK CITY

New York City Peer Network Group

Contact: Annette Campbell

Tel: (212) 780-1400 x7728 or 7704

Email: nycpeernetworkgroup@gmail.com

People of Color Network

Contact: Sabrina Johnson

Tel: (914) 682-3926 x 2109

Email: sjohnson@wilc.org

Hours: Mon. – Thurs. 9:00 am- 6:00 pm

Contact: Celia Brown

Tel: (212) 330-6352

Email: ONCSCEB@omh.state.ny.us

LGBT Peer Networking Group

Contact:  Helen (Skip) Skipper

Tel: (914) 513-7776

Email: skip@theempowermentcenter.org

Staten Island Peer Networking Group

Contact: Angela Cerio

Tel: (718) 667-2893

Email: peer2peers@aol.com

Harlem Peer Networking Group

Contact: Ed Randolph

Tel: (212)-222-7122

Email: edrandolph203@hotmail.com

LONG ISLAND

Suffolk County Peer Networking Meeting

Contact: Tracy Puglisi

Tel: (631) 226-3900 ext15

Email: tracypuglisi@mhasuffolk.org

Hours: Mon.-Fri. 8:30 am – 4:30 pm

SEEC – Survivors Educational Empowerment Coalition

Website: www.seecli.org

Email: seecli@optonline.net

Contact: Helen Jasuta

Tel: (866) 669-0450 x1

Contact: Laura Stauffiger

Tel: (866)669-0450 x2

PIPER

Contact: Deb Damone

Tel: (631) 747-4197

Email: Deb_Damone@yahoo.com