Sherri Matsumoto
Sherri Matsumoto lives with Schizophrenia. Diagnosed with mental illness as a teenager, her first diagnosis was not schizophrenia. Her last hospitalization was about five years ago. In 1994, she participated in a program for paraprofessional mental health workers. The program’s participants all lived with diagnosed mental illness. Her jobsite for the training was the Manitoba Schizophrenia Society. After graduation she became the Winnipeg Outreach Worker for the Society. She now helps the Society with facilitating and sharing her story in voice hearers’ workshops. She helps facilitate a peer support group that runs weekly at the Society. She helps co-facilitate ‘Name that Feeling’, a program for children with a family member living with mental illness. Currently, she has a full life which includes a strong, supportive family and friends who have helped her along her pathway to wellness. She believes everyone should have a voice with a choice and that recovery is possible.
