Watch on YouTube:
Group Peer Support
There are not many group models that are supportive of a wide range of people concerning their languages, environments, and backgrounds. My two guests today have formed a powerful support system that needs to be replicated everywhere in the world. Join us to learn more!
About Annette Cycon
Annette Cycon has been a social worker for over 30 years specializing in group work. She was the co-founder with Liz Friedman, of the non-profit MotherWoman in Massachusetts, and led that organization for 15 years. Their mission was to increase awareness and access to mental health resources for perinatal women at risk for or experiencing perinatal emotional complications. This included designing and training peers and professionals in their unique trauma-informed support group model for moms. In 2017 they founded GPS Group Peer Support to broaden the scope of their work to include not only perinatal parents and caregivers, but also people struggling with addiction and recovery, newly arrived refugees from Afghanistan, Central America and Ukraine, first generation college students, frontline workers suffering trauma as a result of the COVID -19 pandemic, and many others. GPS is now being implemented in communities internationally and in 7 languages. GPS also held their first online Facilitator Training in Spanish in 2023! Annette is super-proud and loves what she does! Oh yes and she is about to be a first time grandmother to a baby girl this fall!
About Nelly Willis
Nallely Willis, CLC, BBA, PMHC, has provided nationwide peer support in English and Spanish to families experiencing perinatal mood and anxiety disorders for more than 10 years. She’s uniquely attuned to the challenges that expecting and new families face because she offers wide-ranging services such as lactation, childbirth, doula, and postpartum consultation, education, and support. Nallely ran a non-profit organization, Heartsounds Inc., serving perinatal, low-income Latina, and BIPOC mothers across southern AZ. Nallely has been with GPS Group Peer Support for 6 years, rising to the position of Program Director, as well as being a GPS Certified Coach, Support Group Facilitator, and Master Trainer in English and Spanish. Nallely has been a volunteer for 9 years with the Arizona Chapter of Postpartum Support International in Outreach and Education and on the Bi-lingual Warmline and is currently a counselor with the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline. Nallely is of Mexican heritage.
Group Peer Support Show Highlights:
The background of GPS: How it began and what the program is all about
The benefits of group peer support programs
How GPS trains people to run peer support groups with a consistent structure and sequence based on learning how to listen
Why a group program needs to have consistency and “sameness”
How group programs invite people to say the hard things in a safe space
How GPS is filling in the gaps with high-quality mental health care for communities of color
Why the training for therapists through GPS is much-needed and unique
Highlights of the 100% Spanish GPS program for the Latino population
Resources:
Connect with Peer Group Support:
Website: https://grouppeersupport.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/grouppeersupport/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grouppeersupport/
Tools, Skills and Hacks for New Moms
Manage thoughts & feelings of overwhelm
Learn how breathing & grounding help reach calmness
Exercises to find peace
