My favorite path for "walk and talk" meetings is the Great Allegheny Passage along the Monongahela River at the Waterfront in Homestead near Pittsburgh PA. Our river communities have a proud legacy of steel manufacturing and are working to overcome economic, health, and inclusion challenges.
Early in my career, I had the privilege of managing health/fitness and victim services training programs for nonprofits. Based on my lived experience of post-trauma wellness, I advocated for trauma-competent care at public “speak-outs” and presentations to providers. My wellness journey and writing expertise have supported several community programs.
Healthy People 2020 Community Innovation Grant
There is a special place in my heart for programs that make evidence-based physical activity programs accessible and enjoyable for people with disabilities and economic disadvantages. In 2011-2012, Heart Resources LLC partnered with the Steel Valley Wellness Collaborative (comprised of nonprofit organizations in Homestead PA) to develop a proposal and identify federal funding to pilot a shared fitness program for 100 adults with mental, developmental, and physical disabilities. The lead agency, Steel Valley Council of Governments (now Steel Rivers Council of Governments) received a $10,000 Healthy People 2020 Community Innovation Grant by the Office of Disease Prevention/Health Promotion at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Funds were used to purchase equipment and hire qualified fitness instructors to provide evidence-based physical fitness activities over a 12-week period. I co-facilitated Peer Advisory Groups to gather feedback about the activities and incentives offered, identified and supervised the instructors, and prepared the program evaluation.
SAMHSA Voice Awards Fellowship
I have been honored to receive multiple nominations for the Lilly Reintegration Award and SAMHSA Voice Award. I was selected as one of eight advocates to serve a one-year paid federal Voice Awards Fellowship with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in 2012-2013. I received training and mentoring in strategic communication skills to share positive behavioral health messages. I designed and implemented a campaign providing 188 hours of service. Using my personal story of finding post-trauma wellness, I shared the benefits of exercise (as a mood and metabolism moderator) in recovery with 608 individuals at 16 events. I advocated for recovery in over a dozen media and social media placements. From May (National Mental Health Month) to September (National Recovery Month) I walked alongside and coached weekly fitness walking workouts with mental health consumers and staff at a local nonprofit recovery organization culminating in our team’s first-time participation in the Pittsburgh Great Race 5K Fitness Walk. Heart Resources LLC sponsored t-shirts, race registrations, and certificates of completion. I served as a volunteer first-round judge for the SAMHSA Voice Awards Program and National Recovery Month Awards until 2018 and as a federal grant reviewer for SAMHSA’s National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative.
In 2019, the Voice Awards Program was discontinued under the first Trump Administration. Records at http://www.samhsa.gov/voiceawards/fellows.asp were taken from public view. Proof of the program’s benefits and impact remains including the photo below, presentations, reports, and records which I hold dear and will share upon request.
Turtle Team
Following the HP2020 grant project, in 2012-2015, I co-founded Turtle Team with another Pitt grad Darah (Richardson) Thompson owner of OMNI Health and Wellness. We shared our fitness expertise and mental health journeys as volunteer coaches for fitness walking teams with people recovering from trauma, mental health problems, and addictions.
Our weekly “walk-and-talk” workouts began in May during Mental Health Month and culminated in our teams participating together in the Pittsburgh Great Race 5K Fitness Walk in September during National Recovery Month. Heart Resources, LLC and Omni HW provided funding for marketing, scholarships for race fees, t-shirts, and post-race awards for participants at two local mental health organizations. Request information about how to start a Turtle Team on my Contact page.
Darah and ME at the finish line of the great race in downtown pittsburgh September 2012. Team member photos remain private for confidentiality.
SAMHSA’s Working Definition of Recovery: A process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential.” The process is often non-linear and occurs over time.
Post-Trauma Wellness Presentations
Over the past 45+ years, I have presented numerous fitness, health, and mental health promotion sessions and advocated for trauma-informed care as a guest speaker at mental health professional training programs and webinars. I want to inspire others through storytelling about helpful approaches and resources for healing child abuse and creating a path to post-trauma wellness over a lifetime. My presentations speak from lived experience and offer a positive message that helps to bridge the gap of understanding between professionals, family members, and persons seeking recovery.
My first book, TELLINGS: From Wound to Wellspring (Outskirts Press, 2008), and an article written for the public and health professionals during my SAMHSA Fellowship, share my psychological, physical, spiritual, and work recovery process. My next book is titled Finding Post-Trauma Wellness A Story of Resilient Recovery and Resources for Healing Child Abuse will be published by Balboa Press, a Division of Hay House Publishing in 2025.
2012-13 SAMHSA VOICE AWARDS FELLOWS and mentors from vanguard communications, WASHINGTON D.C., 12/7/2012 (I am in the top row far left.)
