PRA 50th Anniversary Celebration!

The Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (PRA) held their 50^th Anniversary Celebration and conference at Drexel University, in Philadelphia, November 10 – 11, 2025. It was a very exciting reunion of pioneers and leaders in the field of psychiatric rehabilitation who had not been together like this since the last in-person conference in 2018.

Over the two days, there were three informative panels (research, public policy, and peer support) and 16 amazing workshops. Overall, three main themes were woven through the two-day event that represented the current practices and most urgent needs in the psychosocial rehabilitation field:

• Peer Support

• Transition Age Youth

• Policy and Advocacy

Crestwood was a Gold Sponsor of the event. Speaking was by invitation only, so we were honored to be asked to deliver both a workshop and to participate in a panel discussion. Crestwood’s two presentations fell under the first area listed above – peer support.

Alyssa Torres, Peer Support Specialist at Crestwood Fallbrook Healing Center, participated in a panel focusing on “The Centered Peer: Avoiding the Drift, Embracing the Mission.” While this was the focus of the panel, questions also included other challenging issues currently being experienced in peer employment. Alyssa did a great job of representing West Coast concerns, which were somewhat different from the situations in other states. It was interesting to see the variations in how peer support is implemented in different types of facilities in different geographic areas.

Patty Blum, Alyssa Torres, and Lori Ashcraft from Crestwood presented a separate workshop on the advantages of Peer Support Specialists (PSS) working in crisis settings titled, “The Magic of Peers Working in Crisis Settings.” The workshop was well received, and the team provided several handouts to enable attendees to go deeper into understanding the innovative practices that have been developed with peers in a recovery-oriented crisis setting.

The theme of Transition-Aged Youth began with a panel of researchers followed by many informative workshops. On the second day, the theme of Policy and Advocacy was set in motion by a panel of experts discussing “Federal Policy Shifts and the Future of Recovery.” This panel provided time and space for the audience to ask questions and talk with experts about current issues.

Finally, to round out the theme of Advocacy, Mark Salzer, a long-time friend and colleague of Crestwood presented, “A Just and Necessary Mission: Centering Community Inclusion in Psychiatric Rehabilitation Advocacy.”

Of particular interest was a workshop entitled “INSET: Psych Rehab for People Who Don’t Want It,” presented by Melissa Wettengel, MPH. Rita Cronise, a colleague and researcher from New York State, who came along to support the Crestwood team, introduced us to Melissa, who is operating a program in Long Island (New York) that is very much like the new program Crestwood is offering in San Francisco for people who are uncomfortable in traditional treatment settings. Melissa will be doing a podcast with us, and there may be more opportunities to collaborate with Melissa and this innovative program, so stay tuned.

A special thank you to Pam Norris who accompanied the team, cheered us on, and helped support us throughout the event. And of course, thanks to Crestwood for supporting this event and making it possible for us to attend, present, and participate.

To see photos of the 50^th Anniversary Celebration, please visit PRA’s website: https://www.psychrehabassociation.org/50th-anniversary-photos