Brittyn's Story

Peer Specialist Program Coordinator

www.wicps.org

Brittyn Calyx coordinates the statewide training and certification of Certified Peer Specialists (CPS) and Certified Parent Peer Specialists (CPPS) in Wisconsin. Xe also coordinates core professional and workforce development projects in support of the Wisconsin Peer Specialist Employment Initiative (WIPSEI), including employer technical assistance and WIPSEI communities of practice. Brittyn began working at Access to Independence, the contracting organization for the WIPSEI, in late August 2019 as the Peer Specialist Program Communications Assistant. Starting in March of 2021, Brittyn took on the responsibilities of the Peer Specialist Program Coordinator and serves in that role today.

Before xyr time at Access to Independence, Brittyn became a Certified Peer Specialist in Wisconsin in January of 2014 and has offered peer support and facilitated trainings and support groups in a variety of settings, including peer-run respites, community centers, institutions, warmlines, Zoom meeting rooms, and cafes. Brittyn began xyr journey in peer support as the DVR Peer Support Specialist with Grassroots Empowerment Project, then worked as House Manager at Solstice House Peer-Run Respite in Madison, and served as a Community Coordinator with the Wildflower Alliance, the home to the Western Mass Recovery Learning Community. Xe also finds much meaning in the natural peer supports that have sustained xem in both trans and veteran communities.

Brittyn works to ensure that central peer support principles such as mutuality, curiosity, co-learning, self-determination, anti-oppression lenses, and community healing and empowerment remain the guiding framework and vision for peer support offerings in Wisconsin. In xyr personal time, Brittyn loves connecting with xyr family, explores nature, organizes around around struggles important to xem, plays clawhammer banjo, and fully embraces xyr inner nerd.
Brittyn uses the pronouns xe/xem/xyr and she/her/hers interchangeably, and xe/xem/xyr pronouns are modeled above.

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