The article is a qualitative study exploring how Certified Peer Specialists (CPSs) integrate their personal lived recovery experiences into their professional roles, highlighting both the pride they take in their unique expertise and the potential challenges of blending their personal and professional identities.

Every two years between 2010 and 2020, Live & Learn staff and partners conducted the Peer Respites Essential Features (PREF) survey. All peer respites in the U.S. were invited to participate in each wave.

Promotional spot for Reclaiming Employment, an online platform providing self-employment resources for people with mental health challenges.

A 2014 panel discussion on peer respites at the California Institute for Behavioral Health Solutions.

A 2014 Senate Committee hearing on access to higher education for U.S. students with disabilities.

The Guidebook provides practical guidance for peer support programs to conduct low-cost self-evaluations, including developing a logic model and collecting data.

Report includes data from a six-month pilot study of Reclaiming Employment, measuring outcomes for users seeking self-employment support.

Evaluation of the HOPE program, a peer-run initiative in California supporting participants transitioning from hospitalization to community integration.

Report details survey and interview findings from CBOs across 21 states on their needs and experiences with program evaluation.

Survey on the impact of stakeholder advocacy (with CAMHPRO) on decisions affecting public mental health systems in California.

Article argues that confronting ableism requires confronting capitalism, which values people based on their production efficiency.

A Job Accommodation Network article discusses self-employment viability for people with mental health conditions, highlighting research and the Reclaiming Employment peer support program.

This article discusses the expansion of the peer respite approach, noting that Live & Learn counts 33 peer respites in the U.S., up from 19 six years prior.

The article argues that Massachusetts mental health policy overly focuses on hospital capacity, missing the critical need for community-based services and peer-run recovery supports.

The Psychology Today interview with Laysha Ostrow, conducted for a series on the future of mental health, discussed her work synthesizing lived experience and professional expertise to promote systemic social change.

This article stresses the need to mainstream conversations about psychiatric medication discontinuation so that doctors can better support individuals' choices in the process.

As reported in HuffPost, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) convened a hearing on this topic, framed around the pending reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.

A 2016 presentation to the Milwaukee Mental Health Task Force detailing the benefits and structure of peer-run respites.

Presentation at the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration on the Career Outcomes Study, covering wages, financial wellbeing, burnout, and policy recommendations.

Interview with Laysha Ostrow on her research, consulting company, peer specialist inclusion in care, and personal system experience.