CPS Continuing Education
In today's rapidly evolving professional landscape, maintaining high ethical standards is more complicated than ever. "Peer Ethics: Navigating Ethical Challenges" offers an engaging and interactive exploration of peer ethics and its impact on professional environments.
Learning Objectives: By the end of this session, participants will be able to: 1) Understand the CPS-MH Code of Ethics 2) Outline the four-step ethical decision-making model 3) Apply the four step ethical decision making model in your daily work environment
This webinar will offer 1.5 CEUs and will be issued by GMHCN within 30 business days. All participants must pre-register in order to earn their CEUs.
Hurricane Helene Update
services partially restored at the peer recovery and respite center of augusta
10/9/24 UPDATE: Thanks to the heroic efforts of countless friends, allies, and partners, the Peer Recovery and Respite Center of Augusta was able to reopen today at 10:00am, and will now be open daily 10:00am-6:00pm providing recovery and wellness activities and support in person and over the phone. Respite, which is provided in a separate building on the Augusta campus, is not yet possible, but will resume as soon as a leak in the roof is repaired and the building is ready to receive guests again (hopefully within the week). We are especially grateful for the leadership of our board of directors, many of whom put boots on the ground this past Monday to help us get the doors in Augusta reopened. Thanks to everyone who pitched in. This is what recovery looks like!
We know the added stress of the storm and its impacts are challenging many of us and/or our families, friends, and neighbors. Peer support remains available 24/7/365 at 888-945-1414.
If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, please dial 988 at any time for support from Certified Peer Specialists and allied professionals working together to ensure we have access to the resources we need to get well and stay well.
GET PEER SUPPORT
The Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network believes in the ability of everyone living with mental health concerns to enjoy lives of purpose, meaning, productivity, and wellness. Since the first gathering of 30 behavioral health peers in October 1990, this grassroots nonprofit organization has been led and run by mental health peers—people in mental health recovery. GMHCN has evolved into a statewide organization of over 100 employees engaged in advocacy, education, training, and peer support services for the people of Georgia. GMHCN is recognized as a national leader in the peer support movement. At its core, the basis of peer support—one person using their lived experience to support another—is not new; in fact, it is the basis of human growth and development. Mental health peers with special training are now able to use their lived recovery experience in clinical settings to provide something beyond a diagnosis or medication. We provide the evidence that we can and do recover from our mental health challenges. We provide skills, tools, and above all, hope.
Hurricane Helene: SNAP Benefits Replaced for a Limited Time
Please find at the link below a Food Loss Replacement Form issued by the State of Georgia for SNAP benefit recipients who lost food as a result of Hurricane Helene. Please share widely with your extended circle of peers, family, friends, and anyone else in Georgia, and quickly, as there is only a 10-day window to apply for the replacement funds. This article will help to explain it: SNAP Article
Registration for Fall 2024 Continuing Education Opens
The Georgia CPS Project released its slate of fall 2024 continuing education opportunities, including a diverse mix of topics that explore and advance peer support. Learn more and register here.
taking action
The Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network announced on Friday August 2nd, 2025 that GMHCN is in full support of the policy position posted by the National Association of Peer Supporters (NAPS) on their website, and joins them in thanking Senator Tim Kaine and Senator Mike Braun for cosponsoring this important piece of legislation, the Providing Empathetic and Effective Recovery (PEER) Support Act.
To learn more about this important piece of legislature, and what we can do to help ensure its passage, please visit the NAPS website here:
Employment @GMHCN
The Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network has full and part-time opportunities across the state. Whether you want to put your skills to work providing peer support in communities throughout the state, or provide administrative support behind the scenes, GMHCN has opportunities Learn More
DEI@GMHCN
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee of the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network has put together a calendar of opportunities to learn about the cultures and communities that populate the places we serve and the people we work with. You can now find the listing of these celebrations, holidays, observances, and commemorations online.
The Georgia CPS Project Training is the core training of GMHCN. It was launched with Cohort 1 in October 2002. It serves as the foundation upon which all peer support in Georgia--and 37 other states--is based. This landmark training continues to be the gold standard for peer support because of the rigorous attention paid to ensure its fidelity to the model: Developing person-centered, recovery-focused, trauma-informed, culturally-aware practices that are shared with program participants in ways that engage, connect, inform, and inspire. No matter the changes in the world around us, the Georgia CPS Project continues to lead by keeping its focus on what we can do next -- and how to do it best -- for Georgia's mental health recovery community. Click to learn more.
Peer Support 101
Peer Support 101, the introductory training developed by GMHCN, is now available here on video so potential Georgia peer support providers can learn about peer support and prepare for their CPS application on their own time and at their own convenience. Watch it here.
Dual Recovery Is Real
Double Trouble in Recovery provides a safe and welcoming space for people living with substance use and other mental health concerns to achieve and maintain long-term recovery. DTR meetings happen online and in communities across Georgia. Learn more.
RESPECT Institute of Georgia
The RESPECT Institute of Georgia is a 3 ½ day in-person training or 4½ day online training program that empowers participants by acknowledging, by honoring, and by valuing their personal experiences and insights. Learn more.
Some Forms Are Harder Than Others
We are grateful for the Georgia Psychiatric Advance Directive, but it can be a little confusing, and sometimes even overwhelming for some of us. That is why GMHCN worked with a small group of some of our best and brightest colleagues and allies to provide some guidance to Georgia's peers and practitioners (and anyone else) interested in completing a PAD. Learn more.
Join Us!
The GMHCN Board of Directors will hold its next regular meeting at 6:30pm on Thursday November 21. We hope you will join us!
Click to register.
Peer Support Recognized by Georgia General Assembly
Here is a clip from March 28, 2024, the final day of the 2024 legislative session in Georgia, when the Georgia General Assembly recognized the founding organizations who collaborated to create the first Medicaid-billable Certified Peer Specialist Training, including Sherry Jenkins Tucker and the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network, on the occasion of the upcoming 25th anniversary of the first Georgia CPS Project Training #1
THINKING ABOUT PROVIDING OR RECEIVING PEER SUPPORT? WANT TO KNOW MORE?
If you want to know more about peer support, please join us for Peer Support 101, in which we will discuss what a peer support specialist is, the application process, and what the Georgia CPS Project training is like.
Learn more here.
Central State Hospital in Milledgeville
Pictures of Central State Hospital's crumbling remains are popular on websites such as Atlas Obscura because of the disturbing portrait of humanity they portray. But they only tell a part of the story. The recitation of facts such as the number of pounds of meat, butter, and other foods consumed each day at Central State Hospital, and the way people confined there are described in "But for the Grace of God," paint a more complete picture, in an even more chilling way, of what this place, in that time, was really like. Learn more.
WHOLE HEALTH AND WELLNESS REMINDER
No matter the season, remembering to take care of the basics, such as sleeping well, eating healthy and balanced meals, drinking plenty of water, and getting fresh air, sunshine, and exercise, can help us to achieve and maintain our mental health recovery, no matter the storm any season may bring. To learn more about a Whole Health and Wellness approach to Mental Health Recovery, please call the Call the Peer2Peer Warm Line any time at 888-945-1414
Join Us for Thanksgiving!*
Spending holidays with people who understand us, and support our recovery and wellness, can make holidays feel like... holidays, and not something to dread. If you or someone you know is not looking forward to the holidays, and lives with a behavioral health concern, learn about how Georgia's Peer Support, Wellness, and Respite Centers can change how we perceive and anticipate the holiday season. Learn more.
*and New Year's Day, and Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day and Memorial Day...
Peer support for all Georgians, all the time.
Peer support for all Georgians, all the time.
Peer support for all Georgians, all the time.
Peer support for all Georgians, all the time.
1-888-945-1414
Peer2Peer Warm Line
We all need someone to talk to who can understand us, and is willing to listen. Our Certified Peer Specialists, who work out of our Peer Support and Respite Centers, are available day and night to share in your successes, and support you if you're struggling. Learn More
Georgia's Home for Peer Support
GMHCN's Peer Support, Wellness, and Respite Centers connect Georgians in mental health recovery with the tools and resources we need to maintain our recovery and wellness, and to lead lives of purpose, meaning, and productivity in our communities.
Click here for an overview of respite, or learn more about each of the Centers in Augusta, Bartow County, Colquitt County, Decatur, and White County.