SPIRIT is the Hope in the Behavioral Health System: Application Deadline Extended

Hume Center has benefited greatly from the SPIRIT Program and the SPIRIT Program has been a great boon to the people of Contra Costa and its behavioral health system of care.

In 1994, Contra Costa Behavioral Health, formerly Contra Costa Mental Health or CCMH, designed and implemented a recovery-oriented peer support provider training. In 2008, the training was renamed to the Service Provider Individualized Recovery Intensive Training, also known as the SPIRIT program. In 2010, SPIRIT became an accredited course at Contra Costa College. The Hume Center has been teaching in SPIRIT since 2011 and has been hosting SPIRIT Interns and hiring SPIRIT Graduates since 2014. A long list of current and former clients of our services have graduated from SPIRIT and achieved the benefits that this inspriing course brings.

SPIRIT includes classroom instruction, homework, site visits to local behavioral health programs, learning how to understand and tell your story, creating a Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP), training in skills and knowledge key to working in the behavioral health field, a six-week internship at a local behavioral health program, and entrance into a presitgiuos and supportive SPIRIT alumni fellowship. The SPIRIT Graduation is one of the highilights of the annual events in Contra Costa, as the graduates celebrate a momentous achievement in front of their friends, family, SPIRIT alumni, and representatives from the whole continuum of services and supports in the county. SPIRIT brings the hope to the system, proving that reocvery is real and showing that lived experience is a vital ingredient in being effective healers.

Contra Costa's Office for Consumer Empowerment has extended the deadline to apply for SPIRIT 2021 to October 23, 2020. Please download this application for more details. The course is following all safety guidelines and has many supports in place to help you register to be a student at Contra Costa College and successfully navigate going back to school and earning college credits!