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Event Archive | Shared Resources (General)

Latinos in Recovery
STAR Center Teleconference, May 24, 2006, 7:00 p.m. ET

Download an audio file or read a transcript  of the conference call.

This toll-free teleconference call provided an overview on how consumer operated programs might better serve consumers within Latino communities. Panelists are leaders from a national consumer movement, "Advocates for Latino Mental Health Advancement or ALMA".

Teleconference Speakers:

• Eduardo Vega is currently Director of Education/Assistant Director at Project Return: The Next Step in Los Angeles, one of the nation’s largest and oldest consumer-run peer support programs, Mr. Vega provides training on recovery practice, peer support, community integration, self-advocacy, advanced directives, illness management and personal care planning among others. A recovering mental health consumer with extensive experience as a provider, he has also authored articles, fact sheets, curricula and research review for the SAMHSA Resource Center to Address Discrimination and Stigma Associated with Mental Illness (the ADS Center), the UPenn Collaborative on Community Integration, Behavioral Healthcare Tomorrow, Mental Health Weekly, and the IAPSRS journal, among others. Mr. Vega has over fifteen years experience in multiple programs in five states as a mental health advocate, social services worker and counselor and holds an M.A. in Psychology from New School for Social Research.
• George Badillo is a Peer Educator at Pilgrim Psychiatric Center on Long Island, New York.  Mr. Badillo’s work is sponsored by the Resource Center, located in Albany, New York. He provides education and information about patient rights, policy issues, and mental health services to mental health consumer peers in outpatient and inpatients settings.  Mr. Badillo’s approach is to provide peers with the opportunity to make informed choices about mental health services and community supports.  Mr. Badillo was previously affiliated with the Oral History Project, and served as a bilingual interviewer from 2000-2003.  He interviewed peers about their previous and unique experiences in state psychiatric hospitals.  His personal story of survival and courage is featured in the film “Inside Outside: Building a Meaningful Life after the Hospital,” produced by Pat Deegan, Ph.D.