Description
You will see how sharing your lived experiences can give the legislators a better-informed ability to make decisions with your input during these important times when laws are being changed or put into place. Learn how to be empowered as you become an informing part of the process of change affecting you and those around you. We will provide you with handouts on how to access resources and supports to write testimonies and where to go to learn what bills the legislators are looking at. Legislators (past and present) will be available for a Q & A portion of this workshop.
Learning Outcomes:
1) Review the legislature
2) Understand what is involved in testifying at a legislative hearing
3) Understand what legislators do
Presenters
April Kerr April is married and has 3 grown children as well as 8 grandchildren. She is a Statewide Consumer Council Representative as well as the chairperson for the Farmington Local Council. She is also a member of the PNMI advisory committee. She is a trained Fidelity Assessment Common Ingredients Tool (FACIT) evaluator and helps at her local church where she is a dedicated member who serves in multiple positions. She loves music and is an organized, mindful person who pays attention to details. She is a certified Family to Family facilitator who loves people and has found her voice in the legislative process and is dedicated to helping others do the same.
Vickie McCarty Vickie is a policy analyst and the assistant director for the Consumer Council System Council of Maine. She works primarily with other peers and allies in helping to create policies and positive systemic changes relating to Maine’s Mental Health system which includes leveraging the valuable skills, talents and contributions of Maine’s recovery community. Vickie has interacted with diverse groups of people, from every day lay people to legislators and policy makers. She passionately believes in open communication and education as stepping-stones to creating effective social justice opportunities for all.