As the CPA-NJ mission statement states, “the Consumer Provider Association of New Jersey is a statewide network of mental health service providers who have also been consumers/survivors of mental health services. Our purpose is to support, guide and advocate for our growing role and increased professionalism in the mental health system. Utilizing our unique perspective, we help ourselves, other professionals and the general public deal more humanely and effectively with the challenges of mental illness and the treatment system. We accomplish our mission through education on wellness and recovery, advocacy, professional development and networking. We seek ultimately to improve the mental health system and support New Jersey’s current transformation plan to change the way services are delivered, moving from a traditional medical model into a more community-based wellness and recovery paradigm.

This message board has been launched to help the CPA fulfill its mission by providing a forum for consumers (also known as consumer/survivors, and peers) who are working or volunteering in the system to raise and discuss issues, share information, challenges and puzzlements, and in general to be able to learn from and teach each other using principles of mutual support. We invite participation both within and around the state by former, current and future consumer providers and peer specialists, our employers and supervisors, as well as advocates and other allies of the consumer provider movement, including people in recovery from addictions and other serious and persistent mental illnesses.

We ask that discourse be respectful and civil, and we encourage posters to identify themselves as much as they are comfortable doing so. It is an open forum that anyone can read, so we need to please keep that in mind when posting information about ourselves and our situations.