Lauren Vorwald is the Training and Development Associate for the Iowa Peer Workforce Collaborative at the National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice (NRCFCP) and a Certified Mental Health Peer Support Specialist (MHPSS). Prior to joining the NRCFCP, Lauren worked for the Iowa Peer & Family Peer Support Training Program within the University of Iowa Department of Pediatrics Division of Child and Community Health (UI-DCCH) in collaboration with Child Health Specialty Clinics (CHSC). 

Lauren studied broadcast journalism at the University of Northern Iowa. She worked at several TV stations as an associate producer, photographer, and news reporter prior to serving as a consulting associate for North American Television for an international media consulting firm. In a later career change to banking, she worked in a variety of roles including personal banker, loan officer, and Private Banking associate.

Lauren is a graduate of the Connecticut Community For Addiction Recovery (CCAR) Recovery Coach Academy (RCA) and is trained as a CCAR-RCA facilitator. Lauren is a Certified Personal Medicine Coach (CPMC) and Certified Personal Medicine Coach Trainer (CPMC-T) through Pat Deegan’s Common Ground Program. As a CPMC, Lauren empowers others in discovering their inner resilience by coaching them to develop their own personal medicine - simple actions taken on a regular basis that help individuals get well and stay well. Lauren appreciates the strengths-based, recovery-oriented, and person-centered approach of peer support.