Vancouver’s At Home/Chez Soi Peer Reference Group

The Peer Reference Group is one of the practical mechanisms that ensure People with Lived Experience are engaged throughout, and for the duration of, the Vancouver At Home project.

The role of the Peer Reference Group is to inform and advise the local Project Team and to provide input to other Vancouver site subcommittees and working groups about issues of importance to people with lived experience.

The Peer Reference Group will guide the involvement of people with lived experience across the Vancouver project and will:

Provide a forum for people with lived experience to have input in the At Home/Chez Soi project both locally and nationally;
Train, educate and develop people with lived experience to be effective participants in the Peer Reference Group and other project working groups;
Facilitate the involvement of people with lived experience in aspects of research collection and dissemination throughout the Vancouver study;
Identify opportunities for peer roles throughout the Project (peer support, communications, other).

Members of the Peer Reference Group

Jeffrey Ashborn
(no biography)

Althea Crawford
As the Peer Coordinator and Chair of the Peer Reference Group, I facilitate the advisory role and coordinate the engagement of People with Lived Experience in the Vancouver site of the At Home/Chez Soi project.

I have over five years’ experience working with high risk adults and youth who are in crisis and/or transition. I have lived in the social Bermuda Triangle that is being chronically homeless and addicted with a mental health disability. Surviving this experience motivates and informs all of my work.

I am passionate about improving the quality of life of people who are, or who have been, homeless and addicted with mental health issues. I continue to advocate on their behalf within the At Home/Chez Soi project.

Barbara Bawlf
Barbara Bawlf is the Executive Director of a mental health non-profit agency, the Richmond Mental Health Consumer and Friends Society. She has been actively involved as a full-time employee in the mental health field since 1997 when she worked for CMHA BC Division as a Consumer Liaison and Peer Support facilitator. Barbara was a member of a committee that developed Best Practices for Consumer Initiatives and Involvement in BC. As a volunteer, she served on both the CMHA Victoria and provincial boards.

Barbara has a strong commitment to furthering the process of recovery and independence for persons in the mental health system.

Sandra Dawson
(no biography)

Arianna Kennedy
Arianna’s passion for her work in the field of mental health comes from her own personal experiences.

As well as working on the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s At Home/Chez Soi project as a field researcher and peer representative, she is involved with various groups and service providers in Vancouver who support people in their struggles to achieve mental health and overcome their addictions.

As the Mental Health Commission of Canada strives to attain a mental health strategy for Canada, Arianna hopes to see peer support incorporated into the standard of care developed within the paradigm of services available for Canadian citizens.

John Massam
John has worked in mental health since 1992. Prior to that he was trained as a Rehabilitation Practitioner and worked with people with developmental disabilities for 12 years. John’s extensive experience in mental health has included a variety of front line work as well as developing and teaching Peer Support and Advocacy training for people with lived experience of mental health and addictions issues.

John has used the mental health system and has been in addiction recovery since 1983. Prior to starting work in mental health he lived through a dark time of unemployment and homelessness. John is a great advocate for mental health consumers and strongly believes in peer support for those suffering mental health issues and addiction.

As a volunteer, John was an elected Board member of CMHA National and was a member and chair with the CMHA National Persons with Mental Illness/Addiction Issues Advisory Council.

Debbie Sesula, MA
Debbie has a MA in Leadership (Health Specialization) from Royal Roads University and is certified in Reality Therapy. Debbie’s passion is peer support and her involvement began when she graduated from a Peer Support Training Program. She was instrumental in developing and coordinating the Fraser South Peer Support Program for the Fraser South area.

Her current employment is as program coordinator for the Vancouver Community Mental Health Services (VCMHS) and the Sea-to-Sky (North Vancouver) Peer Support Programs. Debbie is a trainer in peer support, BRIDGES (Building Recovery of Individual Dreams and Goals through Education and Support) and WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan) and designs and delivers recovery-oriented workshops.

She is the secretary for the Psychosocial Rehabilitation BC Board of Directors and a member of a variety of VCMHS committees. Debbie won Coast Mental Health’s Courage to Come Back Award and Canadian Mental Health Association’s Consumer Involvement Award.