Local peer recovery zone learns to ‘Steer Your Story’

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

Shana Lair said that Kristin Pedemonti’s presentation in Charles City on Thursday would certainly help her help those afflicted with trauma in the community.

“I have learned incredible information that I can now transfer on to how I interact with people who come in here,” said Lair, who is the mental health peer support specialist at Plugged-In Iowa in Charles City. “There were activities that we did that I absolutely will be putting on the calendar in the future.”

Lair is the site manager at the local peer recovery zone, located at 102 North Main, and she was recently promoted to regional director over other area zones.

Pedemonti made a stop here on her “survivors tour,” from Pennsylvania to Alaska, called “Steer Your Story.” She helps survivors of trauma reclaim a positive and healthy inner narrative, and helps support survivors to “heal and steer” their stories.

“She definitely opened my eyes regarding the other people that she works with,” Lair said. “I’m hoping to tap into demographic groups like that.”

Plugged-In Iowa provides mental health peer support to adults with mental illness. The non-profit organization’s purpose is to educate the public as to the value of peer support, to provide outreach to agencies that are currently utilizing peer support and to support an individual’s recovery through various peer-based services.

Lair stressed that people from every economic and social level are welcome.

Pedemonti started her current tour in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and is working her way toward Alaska. On the way, she’s made stops in Chicago, Nashville and Grand Rapids, Michigan — among many other places — and has made presentations to victims of sexual trauma, domestic abuse, teen-age mothers, Vietnam veterans and more.

“My program evolved out of tools and techniques I was using myself — to flip my narrative — to reframe the story in my head that was more empowering, and more true to who I really am,” she said.

“I’m a trauma survivor myself, and I recognized that my internal narrative was really limiting at times. I was letting the trauma talk, not who I really am.”

Pedemonti said her program used to be called, “We become the stories we tell.” Changing it to “Steer Your Story” is empowering, she said.

“I get to choose,” she said. “I steer my story, and I’m in the driver’s seat.”

Pedemonti said she may be back in Charles City in mid-October, and teacher Cassie Michael was happy to hear that.

Michael, who was at the presentation Thursday, helped with the Charles City School District’s trauma-informed initiative last year. She said she was hoping to get a conversation going to see if she could get Pedemonti into the school for a presentation.

“This might not be the last time that we see Kristin in Charles City,” Michael said.

Michael said that last fall the school district became a “trauma-informed school.” That is, they started with a small group of staff becoming trauma-informed and attended conferences that focused on the effects of trauma on students. Michaels was one of the facilitators to the rest of the district, and she said the information she learned opened her eyes.

“It was amazing,” she said. “We have students at home who are having to raise their siblings because their parents are at work, or there is abuse or addiction at home — those types of things. If that’s what they’re dealing with at home, their homework and participating in their schoolwork is the last thing they’re worried about.”

Michael said that Pedemonti’s presentation Thursday would be helpful to her and to the district as a whole when it comes to dealing with students impacted by trauma.

“As a district, and as a staff, how can we help these students to deal with that and help them achieve great things at the school?” she asked.

Pedemonti said that “Steer Your Story” is a multifaceted program that includes interactive workshops offering tools and techniques to shift from being stuck in trauma and negative self-image to feeling more empowered, at ease and less stressed. The result is increased resilience, self-confidence and healthier choices and relationships.

“There is a common human condition that every single person has,” Pedemonti said. “Every single one of us wants to be seen, we want to be heard, and we want to be valued and we want to be understood. People who experience trauma often feel a lack in all four of those things. This is about shifting that story.”

The Charles City peer recovery zone, which opened last year, is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The state program is paid for by the county through the Iowa Department of Human Services.

A mental health peer support specialist is someone who has his or her own lived experience with mental illness, but has achieved a level of recovery that allows them to help others who have a mental illness.

Lair said that she’s had good response since she started in Charles City late last year, and she has been trying to get more people to come more regularly.

“Some people just want to do it so they can take a deep breath, and they’ll come in once,” she said. “Some people come in on a steady basis and enjoy it. They say their lives are richer for coming in and just having people to spend time with in a confidential and safe environment.”

Some of the things recently added to the local peer recovery agenda include goal-setting and home visits, Lair said.

“I would say that if someone wants to meet and they’re still nervous about coming here, and being seen, this is a great opportunity,” she said.