Puerto Rico’s First Mental-Health Certified Peer Specialists

by Eric O. Jackson-Rivera, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Mr. Jackson-Rivera conducted one of the CPS training sessions.

Nydia Ortiz-Nolasco gives certificates to participants who completed the CPS training.

ASSMCA administrator Nydia Ortiz-Nolasco hands out the CPS Certificates. Left to Right: Maria de Lourdes Pacheco-Garcia, Angel Olmo-Toledo, Violeta Figueroa-Robleto, Angel Cortes-Cruz, Katy Castro, Eric Jackson, Nydia Ortiz-Nolasco

Eric Jackson and Katy Castro

Author Eric Jackson-Rivera with newly trained CPS Katy Castro.

In October of 2008, the first training for mental-health Certified Peer Specialists (CPS) in Puerto Rico took place at the Center for Integrated Recovery Services in Trujillo Alto (CSIRTA), as an initiative of the Internal Affairs Division of the Puerto Rico Administration of Mental-Health and Anti-Addiction Services (ASSMCA). One month later, the first-ever group of Certified Peer Specialists in Puerto Rico graduated and was presented with certificates.

Only half of the thirty individuals who had registered for the CPS training participated, due to the many logistical and structural obstacles faced by Puerto Rico’s mental-health consumer community. Reducing these obstacles is one of the main challenges for mental-health peers and providers in Puerto Rico. Many groups, agencies, and individuals are diligently working on this task in order to support programs and initiatives that help individuals achieve and sustain recovery from mental-health and substance-abuse issues. The participants who completed the training and became Puerto Rico’s first Certified Peer Specialists are looking forward to improving their lives and the lives of others.

Below are profiles of some facilitators and participants and their thoughts on what made the training a success:

Ricardo Torres-Muñoz, former director of ASSMCA’s Internal Affairs Division, was instrumental in coordinating this program in partnership with the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA). Headquartered in Chicago, DBSA is regarded as the leading client-directed national organization focusing on mental illness.

Peter Ashenden, DBSA’s president and CEO, was on site during the training to meet with mental-health and disability officials and make needs assessments. Peter hopes to continue providing assistance to Puerto Rico’s mental-health community.

Jana Spalding Ramsay, a doctor from Panama now living in Miami, and David González, director of RecoveryXChange, a New York-based Latino mental-health empowerment company, led the CPS training. RecoveryXChange is a wellness-management training partnership of peer specialists and providers who believe that with the appropriate supports and resources, recovery is possible for anyone. David, the first mental-health consumer to be honored with the Paul G. Hearne Emerging Leadership Award, looks forward to sharing and expanding RecoveryXChange’s unique experience with the Latino community in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Proyecto Visión profiled David González in 2006.

Katy Castro, born in San Juan, has a BA in Social Sciences from the University of Puerto Rico and completed two years of Law School at the Inter-American University. “I have a strong interest,” Katy says, “in the stories of people who, despite mental-health diagnosis, have overcome their challenges and have pursued a full life.” She adds that prior to being trained as a CPS, she had been a mental-health advocate for many years. She says, “I was also happy that it was DBSA which did the training. I had long ago requested the needed paperwork to start a chapter of DBSA here in Puerto Rico, and now, along with other CPS’s, we’ll be doing whatever is needed to accomplish that as a way to help people live better lives regardless of a mental-health diagnosis.”

Angel Cortes-Cruz, born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, has a BA in Hispanic Studies from the University of Puerto Rico. He is currently the vice president of the San Patricio Mental Health Center’s Community Support Group and has also recently started a successful CPS job at CSIRTA. Angel says that he had participated in support groups before, and when he got the opportunity to become a CPS, he realized that he could help others. He says, “That’s my biggest goal in life, to help others achieve mental-health recovery. Because, even though for me it was at first difficult to achieve, I was able to do it.”

Violeta Figueroa-Robleto, born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, has lived in Puerto Rico for the last 15 years. She has a BA in Business Administration and worked for several years as an administrative assistant at the Bayamon Mental Health Center of ASSMCA. “Sometimes,” Violeta says, “you believe that you can’t recover or can’t face and overcome life’s challenges, but I believe we need to reclaim faith and hope to, once again, stand up on our own two feet. There is a time for everything. A pastor once told me that, ‘obstacles are roads that allow us to jump into better opportunities.’”

Joel Mercedes-Diaz, also of Santo Domingo, received his peer specialist certification and looks forward to getting a job as a CPS. He is learning more about independent living and has received several vocational rehabilitation trainings to improve and acquire skills. “I want to have a house,” Joel says, “a job, a car, and be able to progress in life and be a productive citizen. I want to have a wife, a son and a daughter, and share my life with my family.”

Rocamar Cruz-Alejandro, born in Puerto Rico, has a BA from the Inter-American University. She has worked in several professional fields, excelling as an executive and administrative assistant at different companies in Puerto Rico. Rocamar says, “My preference would be that all human beings, regardless of their intellectual abilities, can achieve their dreams; which to me mean health, love, and to be productive and honest citizens. Being part of this work, a Certified Peer Specialist, means you can achieve and receive whatever your heart wishes.”

Angel Olmo-Toledo and Victor Andino-Nieves, two other participants who completed the training, are also in the process of achieving independent living and work as peer specialists. They, along with Katy, Rocamar, and Angel, recently shared their stories of hope and recovery on a Puerto Rican TV show and have been featured in the major local newspapers.

Opening the way for the work of Certified Peer Specialists—peers as providers—is a long overdue initiative in Puerto Rico and is the first step towards creating a local peer community. This model has proven to be highly effective in other mental-health systems and more and more, the role of peers as providers of support and the role of alternative treatments are paving the way for more successful recovery initiatives. The main goal of these initiatives is to help current and former recipients of mental-health services integrate into the communities of their choosing. Today, all stakeholders in the disability community are realizing that the full integration of people living with mental and emotional diversities and disabilities is a worthy goal.

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