From the Director

We have been working hard this past year growing the program and assessing the effectiveness of Friends Connection through a National Research Grant with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration, SAMHSA and the University of Pennsylvania. You can read more about our involvement with this National Outcomes Study on Consumer Operated Services on page two. A big thank you goes out to all of the program participants who chose to have a voice in this National Outcomes Project with their participation. Without you, this project would not exist.

Special thanks goes to Bill Burns-Lynch, Terrance Means, all the staff, Mark Salzer and the Researcher at Penn for their hard work and persistence in the recruitment and assessment of program participants and our Consumer Advisory Board for their guidance along the way.

As we move forward in our growth, we have been developing a Friends Connection Web site. This Web site will provide information about the program, individual advocacy, resources on co-occurring issues and a calendar of the program events. Through this site we will be able to help more people have access to our program as an alternative, or as a supplement, to traditional services. Visit us online at www.mhasp.org/friends.

I am sure by now that you have noticed our new logo and Newsletter format. We would like to thank our Web site developer, Nancy Massey of Masseynet.com, Inc. for her work in the development of our new Web site and the design of the Newsletter and logo.

Congratulations to Carol Holmes, manager of the Montgomery County Friends Connection, and the staff for their dedication, commitment and hard work in the successful start up of the program. We would like to extend our thanks to the Montgomery County Administration for the opportunity to provide consumer operated peer support services to people with co-occurring issues.

Special thanks to the MICA team, CTT and ICM's at Central for their support in providing us with referrals and making us a part of the treatment team. It is essential that Peer Support staff have an open line of communication with case managers for the successful growth and recovery of program participants. We have begun this process and look forward to continued success.

One of the challenges we face as a suburban program is the ability to travel. The staff of Friends Connection is working with program participants as they learn the public transportation system in order to access clean and sober activities in the surrounding communities. We believe that in order to foster independence and integration in the community, program participants need to utilize the public transportation system. The ability to travel independently, or with another person, is an empowering experience that helps to build self-esteem and an improved quality of life.

Jeanie Whitecraft,
Director of Friends Connection