This FREE HRC webcast, which aired on Thursday, July 9, 2009, highlighted principles of recovery, benefits, and common barriers to participation as they relate to consumer integration. The presenters discussed potential roles for people formerly or currently experiencing homelessness. This webcast was Part I of the two part series on consumer integration.

Click here to listen to a podcast of the presentation.

Click here to view a transcription of the presentation.

Part I of this two-part webcast series on consumer integration featured Laura Prescott, Executive Director, Sister Witness International and Steven Samra, Veterans Services Coordinator, Operation Standdown. The presentation highlighted principles of recovery, benefits and common barriers to participation as they relate to consumer integration. The presenters will also discuss potential roles for people formerly or currently experiencing homelessness.

Presenters
Laura Prescott, Founder and President, Sister Witness International, consults and lectures nationally and internationally, addressing Gender-Specific Policies and Practices in Mental Health, Substance Abuse and Criminal Justice Settings.  Her expertise includes such topics as Human Rights, Reducing Seclusion, Restraint and Retraumatization, and Understanding Self-Inflicted Injury and Childhood Physical and Sexual Abuse. Laura is a survivor of abuse, a psychiatric ex-patient and recovering from substance abuse.

Steven Samra, Veterans Services Coordinator, Operation Standdown, spent 30+ years in and out of homelessness while battling addictions. He "got it together" in 2000, and received his BA and MPA at Cal State University Chico. Since then, he has dedicated his life to serving those who are still on the street. For the past three years, Steve has worked as a street outreach worker and you can currently find him assisting homeless veterans in and around Nashville, Tennessee. Steve co-founded and writes for The Contributor, a street newspaper produced and sold by the homeless, trains outreach workers for the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, and blogs at Stone Soup Station.

To receive the slideshow from this presentation please send an e-mail request to generalinquiry@center4si.com. Other resources will be posted within two weeks from the date of the webcast.