"There are people that have created those pathways for themselves. We have national leadership now. That national leadership may not have occurred if it were not for the local programs that were funded…10 years earlier." Long-time mental health peer activist Laura Van Tosh and host Livia Davis discuss the history of peer-run programs, the development of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and her hopes for the future of the recovery movement.

This episode is part of a series where we share the wisdom amassed by recovery leaders over the past 5 decades and reflect on the journeys that have laid groundwork for today's recovery movement.

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Learn More:

• Laura Van Tosh: LinkedIn
• Laura Van Tosh: The Life of a Psychiatric Survivor Activist | Mad In America
• Consumer/Survivor-Operated Self-Help Programs: A Technical Report, A Retrospective Review of the Mental Health Consumer/Survivor Movement and 13 Federally Funded Consumer/Survivor-Operated Service Programs in the 1980s
• Consumer Operated Service Program (COSP): A Multisite Research Initiative | Boston University's Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation
• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
• State Mental Health Planning Council
• Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness (PAIMI)
• Protection and Advocacy (P&A) Programs Overview | National Disability Rights Network (NDRN)
• Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General (1999)
• Howard H. Goldman
• Obituary for Larry Fricks (June 13, 1950 — August 3, 2025)
• Maryland Office of Consumer Affairs
• National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD)
• Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute

• BRSS TACS (Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategy)

• Video: October 2024 Mental Health Policy Roundtable "From the ADA to the Ballot Box"
• Video: February 2025 Mental Health Policy Roundtable "No Research About Us Without Us"
• Video: April 2024 Mental Health Policy Roundtable "Pathways to Wellness: America's Youth and Behavioral Healthcare"
• Video: July 2024 Mental Health Policy Roundtable "Navigating Deinstitutionalization: Past, Present, and Future"

Access a transcript of Learning from Recovery Elders: Laura Van Tosh Thank you for listening to this important conversation honoring the history and voices of the recovery movement. Check out more episodes in the "Learning from Recovery Elders" series!