As a peer . . . I have to ask myself, how many times do I open a blog or insert into the blog somewhere . . .


“As A Peer”


And how often do I complain that Muggles see me as a something (not someone) different, something other, something to be considered upon a different yardstick measured in gradations of “How crazy does he seem compared to ‘normal’ people?”

I realized something.


Simply by saying time and again “AS A PEER” I am differentiating myself as something other and different.


And this makes me a hypocrite in some sense or another.

I’m a dude who lives by the mantra “It’s not enough to define the problem. What am I going to do to create a solution?”

And honestly, right now, I’m not certain exactly how to compose my blogs so I can yet retain “as a peer” so folks know the premise and foundation from which I write, and also convey I’m no different than anyone else. Even my teasing little word “Muggle” sets up the same perplexing quandary.

I suppose a very wordy solutions is to simply write . . .


As a peer and a person who is essentially the same as you who aren’t a peer, let me tell you about the peer experience that is essentially the same experience you have only I have mental health issues that aren’t something you contend with but with your diagnosis of hemorrhagic fever I’m sure you can relate when people choose to steer clear of you for fear your disease is contagious, which is how I’m treated…”


What a hot mess. And how endless it can become , how eternal the love for wordiness that can go very awry so very quickly for a dude like me who loves exposition. I suppose a shorthand way of encapsulating this sentiment is …


We’re all individuals with our own individual issues. Some of us share similar issues and collectively we identify as “peers.”


The silly thing is I fought hard in New Mexico to exchange the word “peer” for “consumer”, the latter sounding like an economic unit defining a person who uses (consumes) mental health services.

A change in the narrative and lexicon is at the forefront of any revolution. If you read historical texts (primary source) of our country, you’ll notice a pre-Civil War reference to our country as “The United States Are” and a post-Civil War reference to our country as “The United States Is”, a shift in conjugated being that speaks to true unity of our country.

So that’s what I’m aiming for in massaging the narrative for behavioral health. It only took two years for “consumer” to fall out of favor. Let me try to rustle up a word that speaks to individualism framed in unity with respect for collective similarities.

This is going to be a fun Rubik’s Cube of a lexicon shift.