Jacek/Jack Haciak

"I am a person with lived experience who over my 45+ years career has engaged in real system transformations in medical model settings through program administration and clinical work at a Master’s Degree level and with my doctorate as a Licensed Psychologist. In my own consultation business now, I am providing: individual peer support; legislative consultation and testimony; active membership in work groups and projects to advance the inclusion of Recovery Principles in all matters mental health; sit on Advisory Boards for traditional programs making tangible changes to incorporate Recovery philosophy and practice; contribute to the development of research providing evidence of mental health Recovery Principles’ primacy; and present at national conferences addressing Recovery and Peer values. I am certified in Intentional Peer Support, as an HVN Hearing Voices Group Facilitator, and am completing the Common Ground training developed by Pat Deegan.

"In addition to supporting family members experiencing emotional and experiential challenges, I have learned to manage my own: Asperger’s patterns; the effects of early-life serious traumas; and patterns associated with a diagnosis of schizophrenia at age 22. I have learned from multiple perspectives about my own and others’ “serious mental illness,” and what truly constitutes healing and wellness. I currently am focused on creating bridges of communication and support between Peer/Recovery-oriented professionals/consumers and those trained within a medical model orientation. I see it as linking two camps, each having members traumatized by a system acclimated to expediency goals and incentivized by pharmaceutical companies.

"My academic programs were populated by wonderful mentors from a critical/liberation/community psychology philosophical orientation, and they have served me well. Additional learning came through mentors who taught by example and supervision how to live ethics. I am a lifelong learner. I am blessed to be in a position now where I am beholden to no one and can speak my mind."