My name is Ginger Miller and I recently started working at Warren-
Washington Association for Mental Health as a Peer Specialist in Dual
Recovery. I am a CRPA (Certified Recovery Peer Advocate), and I am
working to become a Certified Peer Specialist. A CRPA is someone that is
most often in long-term recovery themselves, I just celebrated 8 years. They
have received training to become a Recovery Coach and meet certain
qualifications through the OASAS (Office of Addiction Services And
Supports). A CRPA’s main goals are to help others that want to work on
their recovery to find a path that works for them, to help remove barriers
when possible, to connect them with community resources, to share
personal experiences when appropriate of what things helped or didn’t
help them in their own recovery, and to offer support and hope. A Certified
Peer Specialist does the same things but has training and meets criteria that
the OMH (Office of Mental Health) requires. A Certified Peer Specialist is
similar to a CRPA, but is someone that has a mental health diagnosis. I am
not a therapist or counselor, I don’t have degrees for either one. When
supporting people as a CRPA/Peer Specialist, I am not a sponsor (a 12-step
program mentor). It is my sincere desire to help people find hope, to be
encouraging, to be honest, and to be supportive of individuals building the
life they want in dual recovery.
If you or someone you know would like some support like this, please feel
free to contact me to see when we can talk or meet. We can determine what
ways I might be supportive or helpful. I can be reached by phone at 518-
401-5991 or by email at gmiller@wwamh.org. Although you may feel as I
did – alone, unimportant or hopeless – please know you are NOT alone. You
ARE important and there IS hope. There are people like me that have been
there, that care and want to help if you’ll just give us a chance.