The Office of Recovery Community Affairs (ORCA) would like to announce that the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) will hold two virtual Town Hall meetings in March 2022 to discuss Peer Respites. These meetings are open to the public and present an opportunity to pose questions and understand the different models and research about this topic. You can register using the links below or at the Office of Recovery Affairs page.

For any other questions contact Cheri Bragg, Assistant Director, Office of Recovery Community Affairs at cheri.bragg@ct.gov or (860) 426-4534 (work cell). 

Town Hall 1: March 8, 2022 at 12:00 PM. Register Now

Town Hall 2: March 9, 2022 05:30 PM. Register Now.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information about joining the meeting.

The Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) is looking to create a vaping awareness campaign. The Hub is part of the committee and before the committee moves forward with recreating another campaign, we need our community's voice to see what already exists. We are looking to gather some information around campaigns and who is using what. Please complete this survey and share with those who can provide insight and have knowledge on existing vaping campaigns. We greatly appreciate your time and help.

The Hub would like to compile a list of behavioral health trainings offered throughout our region. Please fill out this form if you or your organization would like to include your training(s) on our list.

Peer-run respites are voluntary, short-term programs that provide 24-hour, community-based, non-clinical support to people experiencing mental health crises. Peer-run respites are operated in home-like environments by peer support specialists, who have lived expertise with mental health conditions. These will not only be effective in supporting people currently undergoing mental health crises, but peer-run respites will also help to proactively prevent further crises. Learn more about advocating for peer-run respites.

The Hub is part of CT Prevention Network and actively tracks the status of bills related to mental health and substance use disorders. Here is the current list of bills we are watching. They are updated on a regular basis since things change often. Here is a February 25th legislative update from DMHAS.

Please refer to our earlier newsletter for additional advocacy resources.

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