Many educators, licensed clinicians, people affected by mental health challenges, and those working in state positions have requested, time and time again, a state peer mentoring certification and implementation program. It could lead to paid posts, in the mental health field, for people with different demographic needs, as derived from their branch of learning and experience. It could be a powerful means, as participants already have real-life experiential details impressed in their mind and memory to share. It could stimulate further a life-changing behavioral health landscape. Peer activities that students do well in, where practical, could avail upon a peer's life an opportunity of taking part in such collaboration; in other words, sift through a sort of life direction. The association of like-minded individuals engaged in one common pursuit. That of the state-mandated peer certification is mutually refreshing to all that the strength and experience of the entire body become imbued and the property of everyone.
Mentorship, when pursued in a harmonious environment, could enlist development and mastery of its contents with greater ease and comprehension. The study, when pursued in a friendly atmosphere, becomes moreover enjoyable and a learned and compassionate skill than labor. The advantages of state certification must result in proposed classes with race, gender, sexual orientation, and religious affiliations in the forefront of its base of teaching.
The first requisite, to the formation of state peer certification, is the state legislature listening to the guidance that the many people, associated with this endeavor, be taken seriously. Large numbers of the needy - those without services - have slipped through the cracks, even our support systems in place are overwhelmed to the maximum. Professionals of many disciplines, trying to hold the gates open to all those, are needed. Homelessness is an all-time high in California - the worst in the nation - and help for the mental health population is a very apparent problem that requires a base-line solution. Many of our peers, living in the bowels of our state, don't have life-changing documents, such as a social security card, a birth certificate, or even a post office box. They are unnecessarily off the radar screen. As someone once said, "A goal is a dream with a deadline."
Moving on
A way forward
Come on with me my friends
Be my guardians
Moving forward
Time together posts on a clock
Every day, afternoon and evening
We stand by each other with solidarity
Moving beyond
Sourcing our stories
To be retold and retold
Like a retiree with gobs of experiences
Moving within
We paid an exorbitant price
Lost years of living of personal freedom
Strategic coping skills to keep us in the saddle
Our crew in a journey of tearful joy
Father time still ticking, so we do not stand in the "forgotten."