Reduce The Stigma is an initiative by Straight Up Care, with a mission of reducing the stigma that surrounds substance use and mental health. Too often, stigma creates barriers and restricts access to services. Our hope is that by spreading the stories of individuals with lived/living experience with substance use and/or mental health we can break down barriers and build bridges. Reduce The Stigma has two series: Meet the Peer and Recovery Conversations, both hosted by Whitney Menarcheck.

Meet the Peer is a special series where we shine the spotlight on peer specialists. Peer specialists are individuals with mental health and/or substance use lived experience who have received special training to support others along their recovery journey. Straight Up Care uses the term peer specialists to cover the various titles and certifications that can be held by an individual with lived experience helping others, such as Certified Recovery Specialist (CRS), Certified Peer Specialist (CPS), Certified Family Recovery Specialist (CFRS), Certified Peer Counselor (CPC), Peer Support Specialist (PSS), Recovery Coach (RC), and more! All peers interviewed on Meet the Peer are providing peer support services through the Straight Up Care Platform. To find a peer support specialist, visit https://straightupcare.com/members/.

Recovery Conversations is a series of discussions with people and organizations who are serving individuals with lived and living substance use and/or mental health experience. Through Recovery Conversations, we hope to spread awareness of the numerous resources, initatives, and programs available to support individuals with substance use and/or mental health needs.

About the host, Whitney Menarcheck: Whitney is the Chief Innovation Officer at Straight Up Care. Whitney is a trained professional counselor who recently completed training as a peer specialist. With over 12 years of experience serving individuals with substance use and/or mental health needs, Whitney is passionate about reducing stigma and elevating the voices of those with lived experience. Whitney's personal lived experience is with depression, grief, and trauma.

Straight Up Care is a comprehensive platform ecosystem that provides all the administrative, compliance, and marketing tools for peer specialists to work for themsevles. Our hope is that by eliminating the barriers peer specialists encounter we can accelerate the connection between peers and the individuals who seek their services. Learn more about Straight Up Care: https://straightupcare.com