Tim's Journal: Nancy Pietrulewicz and Lived Experience

Winfield Park resident Nancy Pietrulewicz knows that when it comes to mental illness, “each experience is an individual experience.”

She has taken her own experiences recovering from mental illness and turned them into a career as a Peer Wellness Coach at a Partial Care center run by Northwest Essex Community Healthcare Network in Belleville.

While she says at some agencies peer providers—mental health workers who themselves are recovering from mental health challenges—are given lower status, she has not found that to be the case in her job. “I feel like I’m just being myself. I’m not treated any differently. They have the same expectations of me as they do of other workers,” she says. “It’s almost like a dream job.“

Nancy facilitates wellness groups at the center, where she is given “a lot of range” and is able to incorporate many of her own interests, including nutrition and exercise as part of a wellness plan.

“I’m there to help people set and achieve their wellness goals,” she says. “They know I have their backs.”

In her 2 ½ years at the center, she says she has seen many positive changes in people.  “Sometimes the changes that come slowly you don’t see as clearly but they’re the most lasting changes.,” she says. She gave as an example an obese man who month after month only lost a pound or so, but over time was able to trim off 15 pounds.

She has covered topics such as how to read food labels, the value of fresh foods and healthy snacking.  

She acknowledges that in her own recovery, getting enough exercise has always been a hurdle. When she encountered the same inertia in an exercise group she was running, she successfully turned it into a walking group that drew a greater response.

One of the challenges in her job is meeting the many individual needs of the people she serves. “I find that people have different goals. Some may be concerned about physical wellness, but others may be awkward socially or have trouble managing stress,” she says.

Nancy is a graduate of the Mental Health Association in New Jersey’s Consumer Connections peer training program and previously worked on the Peer Recovery WarmLine that provides telephone support for people throughout the state.

“What I try to do is turn my lived experienced into a source of hope and strength for the people I serve,” she says.