Erin is a mother of four beautiful children. She has lived experience as a parent with child welfare involvement. Her parental rights were terminated and then REINSTATED after a period of incarceration and rehabilitation. She successfully reunified with her son in 2020. She is currently employed by the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network where she serves as the Training Coordinator for RESPECT Institute of Georgia. Her role is to assist peers in developing their own stories of recovery through a five-day training process. She is a Certified Peer Specialist-Mental Health as well as a Certified Peer Specialist-Addictive Diseases. She is formally trained in both Youth and Adult Mental Health First Aid and has completed trauma-informed care and cultural competency training. She is a Whole Health and Wellness Coach. She is a mentor and advocate for her peers who are experiencing challenges related to mental health and substance use disorders. Erin is part of the GA Parent Advisory Council through GA DFCS.
Erin was award the 2021 National Reunification Hero Award (she's a hero and more in our book!) https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/child_law/erin-thomas-hero.pdf
Her story of reunification is a story of hope, health, faith, healing, resilience and more. You won't want to miss this!
Resources for this week's episode:
Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network
Georgia Council on Substance Abuse
CARES Warm Line *Substance Abuse
1-844-326-5400
Peer2Peer Warmline *Mental Health
1-888-945-1414
www.peer2peer.center
Welcome to the conversation!
Email: thefwordfostercare@gmail.com familiesanchor@gmail.com
Twitter: @families_anchor @FWordFosterCare
Facebook: www.facebook.com/familiesanchor
(Georgia Virtual Parent Support Group information can be found on Facebook)
Music: https://www.purple-planet.com