Vocal Virginia Summer 2026 Newsletter

2026 Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) Annual Recovery Conference: Stronger TogetherConnection, Learning and a Whole Lot of Fun at the 2026 DBHDS Recovery Conference

Recovery happens through connection, community, and shared experience.That message came to life when people with lived experience, Peer RecoverySpecialists, recovery advocates, behavioral health professionals and recovery allies from across the Commonwealth came together in Roanoke for the sold-out 2026 DBHDSRecovery Conference.

For two days, Virginia's recovery community had the opportunity to connect, shareideas, strengthen the peer workforce and learn from one another. There waseducation and advocacy, along with important conversations about recovery andthe systems in which peers work

To read more, please click here.

Community, Creativity and Connection; A Visit to S.E.E. Recovery Center in Culpeper

This summer, Vocal Virginia had the opportunity to visit S.E.E. Recovery Center inCulpeper for a Vocal Virginia Community Conversation.

On Friday, July 31, Jalna Harris, Vocal Virginia’s Network Program Director, sat down with peers, Peer Recovery Specialists, Heather Comer, RPRS, Recovery Program Supervisor at S.E.E. Recovery Center, and Christina Landrum, RPRS (she/her/hers), Manager ofRecovery Services with Encompass Community Supports.

Our Community Conversations are designed to do exactly what their namesuggests: bring people together, listen, and learn directly from people with livedexperience about what is working in their communities, what challenges remain,and what they need from Virginia's behavioral health and recovery systems.

The conversation in Culpeper was a powerful reminder of just how meaningfulcommunity-based, peer-led recovery support can be

To read more, please click here.

Before You Vote: A Quick Virginia Check-InGeneral and Special Elections will take place in Virginia on Tuesday, November 3.Early in-person voting begins September 18 and continues through October 31.The deadline to register to vote or update an existing registration is October 23;that is also the deadline to request a ballot by mail.

Before voting, it can help to take a few minutes to confirm your registration, find your polling place or early-voting location, and review what will appear on your ballot. Virginia voters can find this information through the Department of Elections’ voter tools and Citizen Portal by clicking here.

For more information on voting, click here. 

Member Spotlight, Joe Stafford: A Life Rebuilt Through Peer Support

From losing nearly everything to helping people through their hardest moments,Joe’s story shows what becomes possible when lived experience is heard,respected and put to work.

For two decades, Joe Stafford worked as a software engineer. He began that career at age 30, built a comfortable life and earned more than $100,000 a year.From the outside, it may have looked as though he had made it. But severe mental illness, combined with inadequate early support, gradually took a devastating toll.

Today, Joe is in what he calls the best marriage of his life and works as a PeerRecovery Specialist II with the Rappahannock Area Community Services Board(RACSB). It is his first formal peer-support position—and, he says, his dream job.His path to that role was neither straight nor easy. It began with early substanceuse, military service, long-term recovery, psychiatric hospitalization and years oflearning how to understand and advocate for his own needs.

To read more, please click here.

To read the entire Spring 2026 Newsletter, please click here.