Dan will describe the essential aspects of recovering his life through a lived experience of recovery from a severe mental health condition. He will also share his experiences as a peer, a family member, a researcher, a psychiatrist and an advocate. In each dimension of lived experience, Dan has learned the importance of connecting at an emotional level as a bridge across diverse beliefs and roles. Dan and several other peers started the National Empowerment Center in 1992 and helped define the components of recovery. During the last 11 years, Dan and a team of 20+ peers have been developing emotional CPR as a means of implementing the lessons of recovery and peer support for the whole community. Through connecting at a heart-to-heart level and respecting each others humanity, we can help others and ourselves experience Connection, emPowerment and Revitalization. When a community embraces these values all members contribute to each others' recovery.