Larry Fricks

Thomas Lawrence “Larry” Fricks (1950 – 2025) was a pioneering national leader, advocate, and innovator in the fields of behavioral health, mental health recovery, and peer support systems.

(Photo Credit: Facebook Tribute)

Early Life and Personal Journey

Born in Vidalia, Georgia, Fricks spent decades navigating and addressing his own lived experiences with mental health and substance use challenges. Achieving long-term sobriety and stability, he channeled his personal journey into transforming a broken mental health system, firmly believing that the greatest potential for recovery comes from within an individual supported by peers, family, and community.

Professional Impact and Peer Support Innovation

Fricks spent over thirty years at the forefront of private and governmental mental health initiatives. As a co-founder of the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network (GMHCN), he played a monumental role in institutionalizing peer support as a legitimate, recognized component of professional healthcare.

From 1993 to 2006, Fricks served as the Director of the Office of Consumer Relations and Recovery at the Georgia Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Addictive Diseases. During his tenure, Georgia partnered with GMHCN to establish the nation’s first Medicaid-billable peer support services. Crucially, Fricks led the creation and development of the pioneering Certified Peer Specialist (CPS) training and certification program, a framework that revolutionized workforce development and catalyzed the nationwide expansion of certified peer support specialists.

National Legacy and Whole Health Advocacy

Fricks’s visionary framework spread far beyond Georgia, laying the groundwork for widespread national adoption and influencing programs such as the Whole Health Action Management (WHAM) training through the National Council on Mental Wellbeing. His work bridged the gap between mental and physical health, emphasizing whole-person wellness and challenging public stigmas surrounding mental illness.

Widely recognized for his contributions—including being featured as a primary subject in Richard M. Cohen’s bestselling book Strong at the Broken Places—Fricks left behind a transformed behavioral health landscape where tens of thousands of certified peer specialists leverage their lived experiences to uplift others.

Sources: Obituary, Georgia Mental Health Consumers Network (GMHCN), National Council on Behavioral Health (later renamed the National Council on Mental Wellbeing), Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance.

Additional Information:

Writing

Fricks authored books focusing on history, wit, and local culture, including The greatest of these: The wit, wisdom and memories of Asa Dors and Mountain Lines: Wit and Wisdom From the North Georgia Mountains.

Memorial Project

Fricks played an active, leading role in the national consumer memorial project to honor the hundreds of thousands of anonymous individuals buried at state psychiatric hospitals across the United States. This initiative and the advocacy surrounding the memorial at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C., were chronicled in the documentary Recovered Dignity and companion news articles.

Multimedia

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