Renewing Our Collective Focus on Joy!

Hi there! Sarah Mikulis here. Quick question…

What’s bringing you joy right now?

For me, watching the birds at my feeders, outrageous morning texts with my friend Paul, and my new job at NJPN bring me sparks of joy. I am a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist, or CPRS, in New Jersey and am so happy to be greeting our community this December during the holiday season. As a person in long-term recovery from a substance use disorder, I have worked in New Jersey as a peer for over six years and recently began with NJPN as a Peer Workforce Development Trainer.

In 2018, I joined the newly launched DMHAS-funded peer initiative, Telephone Recovery Support (TRS), at Rutgers UBHC, as a peer recovery specialist and later promoted to supervisor. Over the course of five years, our “small but mighty” team of peers provided telephone-based support statewide before, during, and after the pandemic — in the office and remotely from home — seven days a week.

Throughout that time, we found that focusing on wellness and personal goals with participants created a space for us to rekindle hope when all could seem hopeless. Asking someone “what brings you joy?” connects us all back to a person’s humanity and personal power. Joy pulls me out of the rote and mundane. As a peer, in mutuality, I can offer my own joys – everyday moments shared and appreciated together.

Who can you share a Joy with right now?

Sharing some joy at the 2024 NJPN Peer Summit!

Following my tenure at Rutgers UBHC, I was excited to join RMC - Recovery Management Checkup - as a Partnership Navigator at Prevention Links, helping launch a new DMHAS peer initiative connecting individuals with local recovery supports after treatment. I was able to travel throughout the state, literally and virtually, to witness the awesome spectrum of services our recovery-oriented system of care or ROSC provides.

The connective tissue of our collective ROSC is growing, and I am so encouraged by the peer community’s work through various coalitions and at our annual NJPN Peer Summit as we continue to bring these efforts together in a coordinated way that identifies and addresses outstanding needs and areas for development. As we scale up the supports, my challenge to all of us is:

Are we also scaling up the Joy?

In the coming year, I am looking forward to our soon to be announced Peer Fellowship Program where we will seek to create a beloved community — extending hope, support, and learning through a group of early-career peer workers. Selected Peer Fellows, from across New Jersey, will train and receive mentoring as well as a stipend during their onsite work experience at participating Community Peer Recovery Centers. Part of that training includes developing a practice of self-care (and Joy-care) at the outset of one’s career.

As we approach winter and the sun both sets earlier and rises later, kindling our joy is akin to lighting the rooms of our hearts. As I look out over the state, I see the shining hearts of our peers illuminating all twenty-one counties — warming us up, reminding us to hope — and creating space for others through our shared experience and the possibility of joy.

What is bringing you Joy today?

(Please note: this post is inspired by Inciting Joy: Essays by Ross Gay, 2022.)

Sarah Mikulis is a Peer Workforce Development Trainer with NJPN. As Certified Peer Recovery Specialist in New Jersey, she has worked for over six years in roles supporting individuals in their recovery journey. Through NJ CARS, she supported TI ROSC county change groups advocating for the development and nurturing of inclusive representation and leadership for sustainable system-wide change. Sarah is passionate about complex care and having fun while doing serious business. In her role, she continually advocates for going beyond hearing the peer voice to honoring the peer choice. She is a person in long-term recovery from drugs and alcohol.