Community Access’ CEO, Steve Coe, and our Director of Real Estate, Maggi Knox, are currently in Rotterdam, Holland: attending an International Mental Health conference, in Utrecht, and visiting the mental health organization Pameijer, which started using Community Access’ Howie the Harp (HTH) peer-training model back in 2012.

Community Access has long been at the forefront of peer training and employment. Our HTH program in Harlem has been training mental health recipients to work in the field of mental health-care for 17 years, and is now starting to be replicated, under license, by other agencies both at home and overseas.

In recent years, delegations of mental health leaders, government workers, and mental health recipients from both Denmark and Holland have made “inspiration” trips to visit and learn from Community Access programs. Pameijer was one of the first agencies to do so, and has subsequently won prestigious awards in recognition of successfully promoting peer work and recovery. (Pameijer staff and peers continue to visit Community Access in New York. Most recently, on September 17, about ten representatives from Pameijer visited our new Crisis Respite Center. The atmosphere was one of greeting old friends.)

The Future of Health

by Clarissa Silva, a graduate of Pameijer's HTH program

After Steve and Maggi return from Europe, we’ll quickly look forward to hosting more European visitors. Starting Monday, October 14, a delegation from Rudersal, Denmark, will tour many Community Access programs. Rudersal, a short distance from capital city Copenhagen, is currently implementing new local government policies that will transform its mental health-care system – in particular, by emphasizing recovery-orientated approaches pioneered by Community Access.

Local government managers, leaders of local services, staff, and consumers from Rudersdal will visit:

• our Crisis Respite Center, a predominantly peer-staffed alternative to psychiatric hospitalization
• one of our supportive housing sites that integrates families and people in recovery from mental illness
• East Village Access, which follows a goal-oriented program for people in recovery

And - of course! -

• our Howie the Harp Peer Training Center, which has so far trained more than 900 individuals for numerous careers within health and human services.

...And maybe you thought Community Access was 100% NYC!