J Helms (they/them) is an educator, advocate, writer, and psychiatric survivor. They currently work as the Training Institute Director at Pathways Vermont, overseeing Pathways Vermont Training Institute, Vermont's Peer Workforce Development Initiative, and the Vermont Peer Certification Training Center. They previously worked as a service coordinator in Pathways' permanent supportive housing program and as a peer support advocate at HCRS, a designated agency in southern Vermont. J is a certified Intentional Peer Support trainer, Alternatives to Suicide group facilitator, and Hearing Voices group facilitator. J facilitates trainings and workshops on various topics, including Intentional Peer Support, Peer Support Ethics, Conversations About Suicide, Mad Movement Histories, Harm Reduction Approach to Psychiatric Drugs, and Pathways Vermont's Relationship-First Practice. J has an MFA in Creative Writing. Their lived experience includes neurodivergence, anxiety, sadness, grief, suicidality, and coming off of psychiatric drugs.