Helen Skipper

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Skip’s Biography

Skip has an extensive background in peer support, beginning in 2007, following 25 years of multiple incarcerations and system impacts. Formerly the Senior Manager of Peer Services at the NYC Criminal Justice Agency, she transitioned in March 2022 to become the founding Executive Director of the NYC Justice Peer Initiative.

Nationally recognized as a subject-matter expert, Skip consults and presents extensively on employing justice-involved peers, program design, and incorporating lived experiences. She serves on several national working groups and lived experience advisory boards and has been nominated and accepted as a lifelong member of the Council on Criminal Justice.

Recently, Skip was confirmed as a member of the NYC Board of Correction by the NYC Council. She was elected as Vice Chair, a position she will assume in July 2024 for a one-year term. Additionally, she serves as a Peer C.I.T. trainer for NYPD and NYC B-Heard and consults with the Urban Institute, representing community perspectives in research.

As a Beyond-the-Bars Fellow and a Columbia University Justice-in-Education scholar, Skip maintained a 3.5 GPA at St. Francis College, majoring in Criminal Justice. She was the first graduate of the Justice Initiatives program to be invited to Honors classes and graduated with distinction. She is now advancing her studies in Criminology, attending graduate school at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, with the goal of obtaining a Ph.D.

Skip’s accolades include:

• Membership in the American Society of Criminology
• Executive roles in the NYC Peer Workforce Coalition and NYC Justice Peer Initiative
• The inaugural Peer Supervisor position at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
• Several awards in 2022, including the SAMHSA Recovery Innovation Challenge and College and Community Fellowships’ Rising Star Award

She is also a published author, currently working on four articles that have been accepted for publication in scholarly journals. Dedicated to supporting justice-involved individuals, Skip serves on multiple boards committed to criminal justice reform.

Her personal mantra:
"I've been around the block a time or two on my tricycle. I use my lived expertise—gained from lived experience—to support those in the broken Criminal Justice System."

PUBLICATIONS

Reentry & Directly Impacted Working Groups – The Justice Roundtable

The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls Justice-

Involved Behavioral Health Workgroup – NYSPI

Alliance for Higher Education in Prison

The Formerly Incarcerated, Convicted People and Families Movement From Prison Cells to Ph.D

STEM Opportunities in Prison Settings

• SYNAPSIS – A HEALTH HUMANITIES JOURNAL

Intersectionality’s—rage, fear, fearlessness https://medicalhealthhumanities.com/2021/01/22/intersectionalities-rage-fear-fearlessness/

• The Journal of Women and Criminal Justice – Winter 2021 page 114

Where are all the Impacted Women Leaders?

https://www.njreentry.org/application/files/5416/4433/9237/The_Journal_of_Women_and_Criminal_Justice_2021_Winter_Edition.pdf

• New York City's Wounded Healers: Findings from a Study of Credible Messengers

https://www.urban.org/research/publication/new-york-citys-wounded-healers-findings-study-credible-messengers

• A Cure for Darkness...The Story of Depression and How We Treat It - Alex Riley Published by Simon and Schuster – April 2021

Part 3 – “I Live and Breathe Peer” page 266 - 272

Helen ‘Skip’ Skipper - links of work, speeches, panels, awards, features, acknowledgments

An ethnographic interview – as told to Author Alex Riley https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YaPigpOPbhaK4xHfxTVpmbKPo-33VYPO/view?usp=sharing

• Conceptualizing Peer Support to Mitigate the Rural-Urban Divide - anticipated pub Jan 2025 – special issue – International Journal of Rural Criminology

• Lived Experiences and Intersecting Journeys: An Autoethnographic Odyssey from Lived Experiences Peer to Lived -Expertise Academic (in-progress) accepted for publication – Intersectionality in Convict Criminology

• Beyond Lived Experiences: Elevating to Lived Expertise in Corrections/Criminal Justice Research - accepted for publication – A.S.C Division of Correction & Sentencing Handbook – anticipated publication date – January 2025

2021 Women's Forum of New York Educational Fund Scholar

https://www.womensforumny.org/education-fund/education-fund- scholars/?_year=2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kndlEO1wuis&t=71s

2022 Color Magazine – Women of Color Wellness Innovator Award

https://colormagazine.com/women-of-color-leadership-empowerment-conference- 2022/

SAMHSA 2022 Recovery Innovation Challenge

https://www.samhsa.gov/about-us/who-we-are/offices-centers/or/recovery- innovation-challenge/winners

2022 Inaugural College and Community Fellowship Rising Star Award

https://secure.givelively.org/event/college-and-community-fellowship/ccf-say-yes- 2022-gala

Alternatives 2022 Cookie Gant and Bill Compton LGBT Leadership Award

https://www.alternatives-conference.org/alternatives-2022-awards-recipients

Bard BPI Public Health Fellowship

2023

The Alliance of Rights and Recovery (formerly NYAPRS)

2023 Kirsten Vincent Innovation Award

1) https://www.nyc.gov/site/boc/about/helen-skipper.page

2) https://www.pli.edu/faculty/helen-skip-skipper-i2130902

3) https://justiceineducation.columbia.edu/work-by-jie-alum-helen-skipper-wins-samhsa-recovery-innovation-challenge/

4) https://peertac.org/people/helen-skip-skipper/

5) https://www.projectspace-efanyc.org/skip

6) https://www.nysenate.gov/sites/default/files/admin/structure/media/manage/filefile/a/2024-01/nyc-justice-peer-initiative.pdf

7) https://rightsandrecovery.org/e-news-bulletins/2023/3/24/highlighting-women-leaders-of-color-helen-skip-skipper/

8) https://www.cases.org/2024/10/09/helen-skip-skipper-honored-with-samhsa-equity-champion-of-the-year-award/

9) https://counciloncj.org/ccj-directory/helen-skipper/

10) https://drive.google.com/file/d/17bPnV6oA5pMr1W19MYX_y8zhmqUoX_Ox/view?usp=sharing