About the Staff Survivor's Network



	The Staff Survivor's Network

		The Staff Survivor's Network was founded in the fall of 2004 by Lee Shuer and Sera Davidow. Lee and Sera met in 2000 in Northampton, Massachusetts at the local mental health agency where they were both employed. Though not realizing it right away (due primarily to the agency's stance at the time against self-disclosure), they eventually discovered that they shared the experience of being mental health consumers employed as mental health staff. After coming to that realization, they began discussing the apparent lack of support for individuals in their position. Ultimately, Lee suggested the formation of a group specific to staff survivors/consumers and so began the Staff Survivor's Network. The group formed primarily with two goals: that of offering peer support to individuals identifying as both mental health staff and consumers and to provide a forum for critical thought and the development of a unified voice representing individuals in this dual role. At present the Staff Survivor's Network is intent upon maintaining its place both as a support and an activist group and is steadily fleshing out its philosophy, website and overall role in the survivor movement. Networking with others in the survivor movement as well as upon outreach to local and national mental health agencies are amongst the group's current focuses. Local meetings remain consistent and SSN has also begun utilizing interns (from local MSW programs) to accelerate the building of their website and to conduct research and has also looked into assisting individuals outside of Western Mass in creating chapters of SSN in other areas. Interested in starting a chaper of the Staff Survivor's Network in your area? E-mail us!

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