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Beatrice Stanig is a young woman who is making her way in Trieste. She is a member of the Women’s Association, Luna e L’Altra and a peer support worker in the mental health system. She has also written a book, Sei Innocente and started the process to work on a second.

In this conversation, we cover several topics that help to provide insight into the way in which community based mental health system comes alongside the users who depend upon it. We touch upon:

• The special place in holds in her heart for the women’s association, Luna e l'Altra which has provided her a place of community and purpose since she first stepped across the threshold when she was 22.
• Her role as a peer support worker and her desire to see this profession recognized by the Italian system in order to create a viable path toward economic independence for those who do this job.
• The recent creation of an association in Italy meant to organize peer support workers. It is called the Associazione Italiana Persone Esperte in Supporto tra Pari (AIPESP). Translated that would be the association for experts in peer support. Here is another article that describes the formation of this association.
• Her thoughts (and personal experience therewith) about the “power gap” that exists between system users and the clinicians and staff professionals in the mental health system and why it is important to have another person in the room when users meet with the professional staff.