Todd R. Yeatman is a U.S. Army Veteran and Virginia National Guard Veteran, worked construction for ten years and had his own crew, WRAP Facilitator diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder in 2001.  In recovery now and owns a small business.  Father of a beautiful seventeen year old daughter and a handsome fourteen year old son.friends4recovery@comcast.net
 
Tammy Barry is a 2005 graduate of Virginia Human Services Training Center.  She is currently working as a consumer provider for Chesterfield Mental Health Support Services as an Intake Specialist with their Adult and Emergency Services Department.  She is also a 2005 WRAP Graduate and founding member of Friends 4 Recovery in Chesterfield, Virginia.  She began her recovery process as a member of Chester House.  "As a member of Chester House, I met a group of people, my peers, who accepted me as no other group has that I'd encountered previously.  They inspired me to work towards my own recovery and continue to give me the confidence I need to help both others and myself."friends4recovery@comcast.net
 
Carla Beck is a 2006 CELT Leadership Academy graduate and was certified as a WRAP Facilitator in July 2006.  She is currently facilitating at Chesterfield Mental Health and the Chester House.  "Early in my recovery process I tried to find a support group for people with my diagnosis and could not find one in our area.  As a founding member and facilitator for Friends 4 Recovery I am looking forward to the opportunity to provide a needed service and to learn and grow in my recovery with my peers."  Carla is also the mother of two beautiful children and the wife of a very supportive husband of sixteen years.  She enjoys exercising, gardening, reading, writing and spending time with her family. friends4recovery@comcast.net

Cassandra Nudel is an educator, advocate, nonprofit consultant, and writer of grants, proposals, plays, poems, and stories. You can read more on her website: As the Crow Flies: Holistic Consulting for Grassroots Social Change.

Robin Hairfield is Founder and Coordinator of WeCare. “I am a mental health advocate. I believe that mental health consumers, my peers, have a right and a say in their treatment plan/program. I am a recovering addict and alcoholic, and have been clean and sober for over six years. I am now a sponsor to many women. Through CELT Leadership Academy, I learned empowerment and leadership skills, and I am now a CELT trainer. I am also the Vice-President and the chairperson for the Volunteer Committee for the VOCAL Network Founders Council. I am in the process of opening a consumer-run recovery center for my community in Martinsville, VA. The organization named “WeCare” is now officially incorporated in the state of Virginia. I attended WRAP facilitator training run by VOCAL’s REACH program, and I am also a full time honors college student at Old Dominion University through the Teletechnet program, studying Human Service Counseling and Psychology.” robinhairfield@yahoo.com

John Heritage. John Writes: “I’m retired and a freelance writer. I have a mental illness--bi-polar disorder and paranoia--which has figured in my life for the past 37 years. Another major, but more positive factor in my life has been writing. After reporting jobs with two newspapers, I took the environmental job with the Senator. The speeches, articles, and press releases I wrote for his name were instrumental in launching Earth Day, involving millions of people. With the psychotic breakdowns which ensued over the years afterwards, however, I wasn’t to write successfully again until the late 1990s, when, as a free lance writer, I placed five opinion pieces in major newspapers, including two in The Washington Post. My position as the Senator’s environmental assistant during Earth Day involved planning, organizing, speaking, and media relations, as well as the writing. My later editorship of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s magazine gave me a ten-year look at the printing business as well as planning and putting together a publication. My recent volunteer work organizing courses for the Shepherd’s Center, a community of older adults in Vienna-Oakton, has exposed me to intensive contact work with potential speakers as well as to the presentation of material in class.” John can be reached at johnheritage@verizon.net 

Betsy Brown is Co-founder and Co-facilitator of Richmond Mental Wellness Mentors. “My goals are to educate, advocate for, and empower my peers living with the challenges of mental illness, and to be a part of bringing recovery-oriented mental health services to all. I was as a member of a clubhouse from 1986- 1995. I have over 25 years of experience learning how to empower myself through such wellness tools as work, and successfully recover my mental health. Now I am working to teach others that they can experience wellness and the life they aspire to live. I have written extensively, and given numerous public speeches since my early days as a clubhouse member. In 1998, I started working as a staff member at the very club house where I was once a member. Over and over, my connection as a peer has offered a unique place from which to work and share recovery tools with people.” esbrown@co.hanover.va.us

Robin Hubert is the Director of On Our Own Roanoke. Started in 1993, On Our Own of Roanoke Valley's mission is to provide a safe, consumer-run alternative for the purpose of socialization, self-help, recreation, and education. The Center operates after the time traditional providers of mental-health services are closed, and employs mental health consumers as staff to provide a safe haven for other consumers. Rvonourown@peoplepc.com