Each year, Vinfen presents a special Peer Leadership Award to recognize the outstanding achievements of a staff member with lived experience of a mental health and/or substance use challenge who has made significant contributions to the organization and peer movement. We are thrilled to announce that the recipient of the 2024 Peer Leadership Award is Lead Peer Specialist Mikiel Peratino, from our Adult Community Clinical Services (ACCS) Essex North Team 1 in Lawrence.

Julie Anne Entwistle, Vinfen’s director of Recovery Services, lauded Mikiel’s honor, saying “In what was a highly competitive selection process, Mikiel received multiple enthusiastic nominations that spoke highly of his skills, dedication, and passion for peer support work. Nominations also touched on Mikiel’s extensive peer support knowledge and ability to leave others feeling ‘inspired, encouraged, and supported.’ “

“I’m extremely honored to be given this award,” said Mikiel. “I have a number of exceptional colleagues who’ve received it in past years, and they’re all people that I greatly admire. I never once had any expectation that I would be considered for it someday. It’s a wonderful surprise!”

Mikiel’s tenure with Vinfen began at our YouForward Young Adult Access Center in Lawrence, where he worked as the center’s recovery navigator, a dynamic position in which he used peer support and recovery coaching skills to support young adults with substance use, and helped develop key relationships with community partners in the areas of substance use and harm reduction. Mikiel excelled in that position, becoming a key resource for the center’s young adults and for other staff.

Today, as a lead peer specialist, Mikiel works as part of a clinical multi-disciplinary outreach team serving adults with mental health conditions and/or substance use disorder, taking on a leadership role as a supervisor of the team’s peer specialists. “I feel that my role, and that of the other peer specialists, is to build connections with people and find out exactly what they need to grow and thrive,” Mikiel says. “Many of the people I’ve met who are in recovery don’t have much of a community to rely on—they often feel like they’re out there trying to figure life out without much support.”

To that end, Mikiel has led the creation of social groups connecting individuals around shared interests, including the “Nerd Sanctuary,” a group of people served by ACCS with a shared passion for comic books, video and role-playing games that meets each week at a local Lawrence comic book shop. Mikiel says that group initially centered around hobbies has, over time, evolved into a close-knit group of friends who support each other in other ways. “It starts with taking the time to understand and encourage people liking what they like,” he says. “That helps us to break down some of the barriers, get people less afraid to speak openly about their own lives, and eventually build a community where members are inspiring each other to try new things.”

Peer Leadership Award winners are nominated for outstanding job performance and leadership by their colleagues and/or supervisors, and winners are selected by a committee of Vinfen leaders. Criteria for selection includes:

• Promoting constructive change on issues regarding persons with lived experience
• Influencing the success of persons with lived experience
• Helping to bridge the gap between persons with lived experience and non-peers
• Supporting a greater understanding of the values of hope and resiliency as related to peers

“Mikiel brings a natural energy to his work, creating a sense of a safe and supportive space wherever he goes,” says Julie Anne. “He demonstrates an innate ability to meet people where they are, and adeptly uses his own lived experience to support, educate, and advocate for others. Mikiel’s knowledge is extensive, but he continually seeks out opportunities for growth and learning with his characteristic enthusiasm, thoughtfulness, and diligence.”

To learn more about Vinfen’s peer support services, visit https://vinfen.org/peer-support-services.

Interested in becoming a peer specialist? Apply today at https://vinfen.org/peer-specialist.