Matt Bane, Behavioral Health Liaison, lives out Adult & Child’s mission every day as a person in recovery. By sharing his personal testimony, Matt not only offers hope to those facing similar challenges, but he also educates others on the importance of mental health, crisis services, and peer support.
Matt was recently invited to speak at the 21st Annual NAMI Indiana Mental Health and Criminal Justice Summit. In a keynote session titled, “Navigating National Peer Support Across the Crisis Continuum and Personal Resilience,” Matt and Amy Brinkley, Senior Recovery Support Systems Coordinator with the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, blended data-driven insights with lived experience to advocate for a deeper understanding of the crisis continuum.
“Matt is incredibly passionate about all the “work” he does,” said Cassie Squillace, Director of Culture and Talent. “I am intentionally putting ‘work” in quotations because I think that when you care so deeply about what you are doing every day, you don’t view it as work. You view it as a privilege and an honor, and that is what Matt does when he shows up for organizations, whether it is Adult & Child or NAMI or a different organization.”
During his presentation, Matt shared how thirty seconds of care and hope shown to him by an intake specialist were crucial in setting him up on a path to receive the support he needed. He also explained how his role as a peer has further reinforced his own recovery.
“[Matt] is in the perfect space within his role right now to meaningfully share his own recovery journey, to educate others internally and externally on what peer recovery is and the importance of this work, and to help grow peer recovery supports,” said Cassie.
To learn more about peer support services, including the many roles that peers can play, the benefits of peer support, and employment options for peers, please contact Matt Bane at mbane@adultandchild.org. To view Adult & Child’s current job openings, visit adultandchild.org/careers.
