Advocacy and Recovery Support

Services

Compassionate Ear Warm Line
The Compassionate Ear Warm Line is a peer-operated listening service for persons in need of support. Line hours are from 4 pm—10 pm, every day of the week. Warm Line operators are volunteers and work out of their homes. To receive peer support through Compassionate Ear, dial 1-866-WARM EAR or 913-281-2251
Contact ARS staff for information on how to volunteer for Compassionate Ear.

Wellness and Support Advocates (WASA)
As the number of people in the public system with unmet mental health needs increases, WASAs provide mental health peer support

Services. At agencies outside of the traditional mental health service arena, WASAs help and encourage others in recovery from mental illness, connecting them to valuable community resources and providing tools and wisdom for lasting recovery.

Currently, WASA partner agencies include Kansas City Kansas Housing Authority, The Wyandot Center for Community Behavioral Health, El Centro, Inc., Marion Apartments in Leavenworth, Campbell apartments in Kansas City, KanDo apartments in Kansas City, KS, and Blaylock Residences

Advocacy Efforts

Systems Advocacy
Systems Advocacy is a broad term that encompasses all our regional, state, and national-level efforts to promote mental health and improve the quality of life of persons with mental illness. This includes work with local coalitions, program and policy development efforts with state departments, direct work with legislators to provide them with facts and information pertaining to mental health and recovery, and other cross-agency and departmental and governmental efforts to realize our agency’s mission and vision.

Case Advocacy
Case advocacy provides support, information, and resources to individuals to assure they have access to the full range of benefits, services, and entitlements within the public mental health and social service system. Trained peer professionals work with individuals to ascertain their advocacy needs and to identify the most effective manner of assuring these needs are met. Past efforts have included:

Assistance obtaining new services;
Improving the quality of services already received by an individual;
Assistance in identifying housing and other resources;
Education to individuals seeking to understand complex state and federal policies directly impacting their quality of life.

Successes

MHAH’s ARS services have a demonstrated ability to provide positive outcomes at all levels of the public mental health system.
95% of individuals receiving peer support from MHAH staff report increased quality of life.
92% of peer support recipients report being better able to meet their basic needs because of MHAH ARS services.
100% of our agency partners report an enhanced ability to meet the mental health needs of their clientele.

The Power of Peer Support

Central to all Advocacy and Recovery Services is the concept that true expertise in recovery from mental illness is inherent in persons who have themselves experienced that recovery.
Currently, every Advocacy and Recovery Service staff person self-identifies as a person with the lived experience of recovery, and works to bring this experience to bear to help others.
Mental Health America of the Heartland programs apply the wisdom gleaned from personal experience at the individual, agency, and systems levels.
Mental Health America of the Heartland ’s Advocacy and Recovery Service staff understand the mental health delivery system in a manner that other professional staff do not, and often know through personal experience which resources are best suited to meet particular needs.

Goals

To provide quality peer support to those who need it, in venues outside the traditional mental health service arena.
To enhance the existing base of consumer leaders while identifying and providing support to new or emerging consumer leaders.
To provide advocacy and support to individuals seeking to improve the mental health system or seeking to access the full range of expected benefit from the existing system.

Mental Health Recovery Facts

The Surgeon General’s 2000 Report on Mental Health states that 60% of all persons diagnosed with mental illness recover in their lifetimes. Surgeon General David Satcher, MD, has stated that new information places this figure closer to 80%.
The President’s New Freedom Commission Report on Mental Health calls for a consumer– and family-driven mental health system that will promote the recovery of all.
Research clearly indicates that advocacy and peer support improve outcomes for all persons with mental illness.
The United States Government has recently acknowledged peer support as an evidence-based practice.

Simon Messmer, MSW
Senior Director of Advocacy and Recovery Services
(913) 281-2221, ext. 109
smessmer@mhah.org

Bonnie Castro, CPS, CMPS
Manager, Peer Projects
(913) 281-2221, ext. 111
bcastro@mhah.org

Lois Hohn
Coordinator, Compassionate Ear
(913) 281-2221, ext. 121

Mayela Gamez
Coordinator, Bilingual Services, Compassionate Ear
(913) 999-6079

We invite you to join our movement to help all people live mentally healthier lives. To learn more, find help, or get involved, call (913) 281-2221 or email info@mhah.org

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