The experience of living is splendid but not always easy. Sometimes, we find ourselves on a glittering pathway that is splattered with joy, wealth, fun, and ease. And sometimes we find ourselves gracefully negotiating sorrow, pain, poverty, and loneliness. Most times things are just messy. We bump along and sometimes we crash, or life crashes around us. Or we find light, grace, and possibility in the depths of despair. In the midst of success there can be failure, and in the middle of failure we find a way forward. Nothing is simple, but in the complexity of life, we learn to feel, to hope, to dislike, to regret, and to change. Sometimes feeling hurts, but without it we will never know love. Love is what makes everything worth it. If we dare to feel intensely with our whole heart, we will be fully alive.

Lisa St. George

Lisa St. George is the Vice President of Peer Support and Recovery for RI International. Lisa St. George has treasured serving at RI for the past 20 years. She developed and implemented many of RI’s peer support services in Arizona, California and New Zealand. Lisa St. George was a primary author of “Peer Employment Training”, “Advanced Peer Practices”, “Supervisor Training”, “My Wellness, My Doctor, and Me”, “Transformational Advocacy” and many more trainings for RI International. She is an expert in peer support and recovery practices and shares from her heart and experience in support of service to the people we serve.