It’s the end of an era. On June 30, 2026, we say good-bye to AdvocacyWorx - a peer advocacy program at HopeWorx for the past 20 years. They were also known as Community Advocates of Montgomery County and they were a team of peers whose expertise came from their lived experience. They used that personal experience and knowledge to assist adults who were having difficulties navigating mental health services or gaining access to them.
The advocates would meet individuals wherever they were experiencing difficulties—at a group home, at a psychiatric hospital or even in jail. They were active listeners and focused on encouraging their customers to advocate for themselves. They did their jobs humbly and without hesitation. Problem-solving was often a team exercise at the weekly staff meetings. There was often more than one way to solve a problem—but the goal was to ensure the customer was satisfied with the outcome.
I think it’s time to remember who those advocates were and where it all began.
The idea of an advocacy team started with the Montgomery County Consumer Satisfaction Team (CST) around 2005. Led by then Executive Director Sandra Watson, CST members gathered information by meeting individuals in person with surveys prepared by the team. The information gathered was reported to the county and the providers to address concerns and create pathways for change.
But many times during the surveys, people expressed concerns about problems they were having, and there was no one to help them. The staff would report these problems to Sandy who would personally handle many individuals advocacy issues over the years. Sandy stressed dignity and respect and encouraged staff to talk with then Mental Health Administrator (the late) Eric Goldstein. When they met with Eric, he agreed that an advocacy organization was needed and encouraged them to pursue it. A very small budget was approved to start Community Advocates of Montgomery County.
I was hired by Sandy Watson to lead the advocacy team and I was very excited to return to my advocacy roots. Five years earlier, I had worked as a Patient Advocate at Norristown State Hospital where I also served on the Human Rights Committee and later on the CST Board. Now, I was returning to work at Building 6 on the grounds of the state hospital where CST leased space from the state for $1.
The advocacy idea was so new that I literally walked into an empty office. I had an office but no furniture and no staff. Sandy Watson forgot to mention that little piece of information! But we quickly got to work from the ground up. There were consultants working a few doors down the hall that would later join our Advisory Board. Dr. Hatti, Andrea Galambos, Betsy Gorski, Mark Boorse, Valerie Melroy, Kim Keyes and others helped shape the idea of Community Advocates. Consultant Maureen Feeny-Byrnes, a core group of CST staff and I created the Community Advocates Self-Advocacy Curriculum using resources from the Freedom Self-Advocacy Curriculum, a train-the-trainer curriculum developed by:
· the National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse,
· the National Mental Health Association (NMHA), and
· the National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems (NAPAS).
Community Advocates worked with individuals, family members, professionals and advocates to modify and adapt existing curricula to meet the needs of Montgomery County residents. In addition, NAMI’s Peer-to-Peer Training and provider training was used as a resource. Team members from the Consumer Satisfaction Team of Montgomery County assisted in developing a role-play which focuses on dignity and respect and demonstrates self-advocacy skills.
By learning effective advocacy skills, individuals take control their personal recovery and are empowered to assert their rights.
Over 1,000 individuals, including family members and professional staff, have participated in the Community Advocates Self-Advocacy Trainings throughout Montgomery County.
We created a video of the role-play to share at trainings. This was no small feat but we had amongst us the expertise to create the video. HopeWorx Executive Director Sue Shannon (who was hired as office manager in 2005) had a former career in film and productions. Sue was the director and producer and it took hours of practicing lines and retakes to get it right!
It was a wonderfully creative time where hidden talents were revealed. Actors actually auditioned for the parts in the play which was written by CST staff. The video was named “A Call for Change.”
I remember Larry DePetripaolo shining as the first actor on screen, waking up in a group home to shouts by a group home staff person played by the late Pam Baptiste. Ellen Kozlowski, Anthony Garcia, Caroline Chen, Jack Klein, Mary Moore playing great parts in depicting “a day in the life” where someone was having a bad day. As the day went on, they learned how to speak up and then realized they had succeeded in making changes for the better after a very important meeting with fictional administrator “Warren Peace.” The video was created by CST through memories of personal experience or actions witnessed during surveys. Despite the seriousness of the material, there was always an air of mischievous humor and puns thrown in for comic relief.
In 2006, we hired three advocates: Caroline Chen, Anthony Garcia and Ellen Kozlowski. We did trainings at mental health centers and residential group homes. Advocates also did outreaches several times a year where they spoke about advocacy services we provided which included any issues related to community living, including problems with service providers, landlords, roommates, utility companies, benefits and more.
In 2011, Community Advocates developed an interactive educational course designed to provide peer advocacy, problem solving information and support for individuals who have behavioral health and justice related issues. In collaboration with Dr. Gail Van Zelfde, a forensic psychologist who worked at the Forensic Center of Norristown State Hospital, peer advocates with lived experience of criminal justice involvement developed a 14-week course which focused on helping people develop good decision making skills to foster successful living in the community and to avoid reoffending and reincarceration.
The classes called "It's T.I.M.E." began at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Eagleville, PA, and Central Behavioral Health, a mental health agency in Norristown, PA. The classes were facilitated by Forensic Certified Peer Specialists Anthony Garcia, Jonathan Sigal, J.B. Brooks and Jomel Silverio.
“It’s T.I.M.E.” stood for: It’s time to Think, Identify, Make changes and Enter a new life.
The class participants responded positively to the instructors and the information. Some of the comments included:
· “We learned about mental illness, signs, symptoms and triggers.”
· “How to deal with society and life in general.”
· “I have learned that you have to think about the consequences behind everything that you do.”
To see more information about the advocates' work including a Community Rights Booklet, their Justice and Recovery Quick Reference Guide and the justice and recovery newsletter "The Interceptor" from March 2013, go to: https://www.hopeworxinc.org/services/advocacyworx/library-resources.html
In 2016, Community Advocates held a open house celebrating 10 years of their work and honoring all of many community partners who collaborated with them over the years. To bring it full circle, the late Eric Goldstein gave a speech on the importance of advocacy.
To have support from the administrator of mental health was very much needed. Our jobs were raising concerns and complaints in an assertive - not aggressive - manner, while silently praying “please don’t shoot the messenger!”
“Right here at HopeWorx we have several examples of modern day advocacy at work. I would like to highlight the Montgomery County Advocates who for almost a decade, sometimes without recognition, have been daily battling for the rights of the consumer. Using a powerful peer approach with some good old fashioned 1960’s organizing and a modern day use of data, the team works with the community. A few years ago, with people like Tory Bright and Nancy Wieman as encouraging members of the team, set their sights on the prisons. Peer advocacy in the county jails has been tried before but in my years few advocacy teams have really worked as well as wished. HopeWorx Community Advocates are successful because they know when to use the peer and when the advocacy. I tell you as a 40 year professional they are remarkable. One cannot ignore the leadership and the members of the team. So they have not shrunk. Instead, their work has grown.” - Quote from the late Eric Goldstein’s speech at 10th Anniversary
Community Advocates could not have done the work without the support of the county mental health office, the county mental health centers, NAMI Montgomery County, the Montgomery County Public Defender’s Office, the Montgomery County Correctional Facility, former PA State Representative Thomas Murt, Pat Madigan from PMHCA, Sue Walther of PMHCA and Dr. Gail Vant Zelfde.
For me personally, Community Advocates was a rewarding job and a great place to work. I learned so much from listening—listening to the team, listening to the customers, listening to the families, to the providers, to the wardens, to the public defenders, to probation and parole.
And Community Advocates knew we were part of something bigger—that big flat democracy called HopeWorx.
Note: After leaving Community Advocates in 2018 for family reasons, I was able to continue working part-time initially as a consultant but later as the CSP newsletter editor. I manage the CSP and HopeWorx websites and create social media content for both. For the past 9 years, through Zoom meetings that started due to the pandemic, I was able to stay connected to the Montgomery County mental health community and to help promote the great work done by passionate, hard-working people and their organizations. Warm regards—Kathie
To see more photos and a list of advocates past and present, please go to:
