Youth peer providers can use this tip sheet to learn more about bringing trauma-informed principles into their work. The tip sheet defines trauma-informed care and offers concrete examples of what it might look like in common scenarios. It also poses reflection questions to help youth peer providers identify and apply trauma-informed practices. Read this tip sheet to deepen your understanding of themes such as safety, trustworthiness, transparency, empowerment, voice and choice, collaboration and mutuality, and more.

On January 13, 2022, this experienced peer support panel of Arkansas peer leaders presented information on identifying and tapping into peer statewide infrastructure. Participants will hear their journey and lessons learned while developing a Peer Advisory Committee in the state of Arkansas. Objectives: Understand the need for Peer/Consumer Advisory Committees, Be able to identify the best practices to support person led advocacy, and  Learn the structure of the Arkansas Committee as a model.  PowerPoint slides can be viewed HERE.

Panel Presentation Recording Panel Presentation Summary This panel presentation occurred during the 2022 South Southwest MHTTC First Episode Psychosis conference on June 2nd. Dr. Molly Lopez was the panel moderator and the panel members were Angie Tyler, Clayton Carrier, and Hiram Cortes. Presentation Summary: Coordinated specialty care (CSC) for early psychosis offers a range of multidisciplinary services, including medication management, recovery coaching, family support, peer support, supported employment and education, and psychotherapy. Growing research and lived experience highlights the integral nature of peer and family support roles within these teams. However, peer support specialists have identified the importance of role clarity and teamwork to be effective in their roles. This panel explored strategies for effective multidisciplinary collaboration that centers peer and family support roles. Panelists discussed peer and family support roles, role clarity and collaboration, and overcoming barriers to effective centering of these roles. About the Panelists Moderator   Dr. Molly Lopez (she/her/hers) Director Texas Institute for Excellence in Mental Health   Molly Lopez is the Director of the Texas Institute for Excellence in Mental Health, a licensed clinical psychologist, and a research associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin, Steve Hicks School of Social Work. Her research interests include child and adolescent service systems, implementation of evidence-based practices, and mental health systems development and policy. She has led a number of initiatives focused on enhancing the effectiveness of systems that interact with children, youth, and adults with significant mental health challenges and their families. Dr. Lopez currently serves as a director of the South Southwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC) and principal investigator on the Early Psychosis Intervention Network in Texas (EPINET-TX). Panelists     Angie Tyler (she/her/hers) Certified Bilingual Family Partner Integral Care   Angie Tyler has been working with Integral Care RA1SE Team for 5 years and 7 months. She is part of a team in Austin, TX. As a Certified Bilingual Family Partner, she is able to share her lived experience with families and help them navigate through community resources. Her work background includes working with Travis County Juvenile Probation, Caseworker at Lifeworks for Homeless foster Youth, and Arc of the Capital Area working with IDD services as well as with the Juvenile Justice Program. The work she feels most proud of is with Integral Care RA1SE team because it has allowed her the honor to walk with so many families through their own journey and to give them hope and encouragement in their most challenging moments.     Clayton Carrier (he/him/his) Peer Support Specialist Integral Care   Clayton Carrier works with young people in a First Episode Psychosis program in Austin.             Hiram Cortes (he/him/his) Program Manager Integral Care   Hiram Cortes is currently working with Austin/Travis County integral Care with the RA1SE FEP program. He has training in CBT, CBTp, and CPT, trainings that help inform services for RA1SE clients. Part of his experience is collaborating with the multidisciplinary team including PEERS and Family Partner to deliver comprehensive and person-centered care to our population. He has previously worked at The Harris Center, in Houston, Tx where he first came to know about FEP programs via their Early Onset team.   Positionality Statement: The population served by RA1SE limits participants to range of 15-30, making it a very young population. The age of the population I serve is definitely something I keep in mind as I am very close to this age group myself. I am oh Hispanic culture (Mexican) and have interacted with some of those we serve as well as their families who have a similar cultural background. Being bi-lingual (Spanish) has also helped to facilitate rapport building and buy-in to the RA1SE program for some of these individuals. I am also aware that I am a first generation in my family to attend higher education and join the mental health field, giving me a unique perspective to families and individuals we serve as the majority come from low SES circumstances. My experience as a LPC and working specifically with trauma and CBT has allowed me to connect with a variety of populations, but working with the population served by RA1SE gives me an opportunity to work with individuals who have time to alter their lie course and increase their chances at “normalizing” their life trajectory. Alternatives to early intervention have been demonstrated to include homelessness, severe substance use, and/or being involved with the justice system. While there are many community relations and systems in place to help out the community at large, the programs currently available for the FEP population is minimal and not well known but for those in the mental health field. I see it as a great honor to also include in my work the duty of being an ambassador to our work and raise awareness of the services we provide and the results we have seen including individuals getting their GED’s/higher education, becoming employed, establishing careers, sobriety, and establishing a support system.

ABOUT THIS RESOURCE Individuals often believe that their pain is unchangeable and that leads to poor self-efficacy and conflict in treatment. New understanding about pain is beginning to shift pain care itself. Evidence indicates that patient and clinician knowledge of pain science can move those receiving services toward self-care and supports a more positive conversation about opioid tapers as well. This presentation will explore the use of Oregon State tools and resources for clinician and patient pain education to develop a biopsychosocial-oriented pain care treatment plan. The Oregon Pain Guidance toolkit has videos, written material and shared decision making tools that allow clients and patients to pace their own learning and care plan based on their readiness to change.   The tools can be used in self-study, or guided by anyone on the care team and can create a consistent message that decreases the burden on each team member.    Come learn a bit more about pain science and use of  state tools to easily share the information with your clients or peers. These tools are  based on principles of trauma-informed care and motivational interviewing and strive to be more inclusive of diversity. Hosted by the Northwest MHTTC in partnership with the Mental Health and Addiction Association of Oregon. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Presentation slides Clinician module for Oregon Pain Management Commission Patient pain toolkit   FACILITATORS Nora Stern, PT, MS PT Nora Stern is a pain educator and physical therapist with 30+ years of experience in complex pain. Nora is director of Know About Pain Consultation and Educational Products and is chair of the Oregon State Pain Management Commission. With Know About Pain, Nora provides consultation and develops pain education content for inpatient and outpatient care, with a current emphasis on the acute care arena. With OPMC, she was a primary author of the popular “Changing the Conversation about Pain” module, and authored portions of the new pain toolkit for Oregon Pain Guidance. During 25 years of work at Providence Health and Services, she developed pain education innovation for the primary care continuum in her role as pain educator for Providence Oregon, and guided the Persistent Pain team within Providence Oregon Rehab Services as the Pain Program lead. Nora was an initial developer of the Providence Comprehensive Pain Services clinic, using cost-effective group treatment to serve Medicaid and Medicare, as well as conventional fee-for-service care. Nora is committed to improving clinical understanding of pain across disciplines and to helping the public to rethink pain. Michelle Marikos Michelle Marikos is a Certified Peer Support Specialist that has lived with chronic pain since 2003; she attended the Mayo Clinic’s Pain Rehabilitation Clinic (PRC) in 2012. Though the PRC program she was able to taper off of high dose opioids and benzodiazepines. Michelle then became an Oregon Pain Guidance (OPG) Steering Committee member in the Fall of 2012, worked on the Southern Oregon Pain Conference planning team 2014-2017, and became a Certified Peer Support Specialist (PSS) in May, 2013. She started and ran a Chronic Pain Support Group that was hosted at the YMCA and at Jackson County Health and Human Services, including working as a PSS at Pain Resiliency Program from 2013-2014. Additionally, Michelle is certified and worked as a Living Well educator. She has served as an Oregon Pain Guidance media campaign advisor and participant in a media campaign that won an EMMY. Michelle has also participated in Jackson Care Connects (JCC) Performance Improvement Project (PIP) call center support video, advised on the Stay Safe Oregon Campaign, participated in HealtInsight’s Medicare and chronic pain video series, and met with and worked with various public officials, including Greg Walden, U.S. Representative for Oregon, and Ron Wyden, U.S. Senator for Oregon.

Panel Presentation Recording Panel Presentation Summary This panel presentation occurred during the 2022 South Southwest MHTTC First Episode Psychosis conference on June 1st. This panel was moderated by Cecilia McGough and the panelists were representatives from Students with Psychosis including Cecilia Joyce, Rei, Daniel Nepveux, Deanna, Katie Sanford, Maddie Jiles, and Vera Muñiz-Saurré Presentation Summary: There is no one-size-fits-all experience for a student living with psychosis. This session had a panel moderator and seven Students With Psychosis members from the student lived experience perspective. Students With Psychosis is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that empowers student leaders and advocates worldwide through community building and collaboration. The panel included a mix of storytelling and discussion followed by Q&A. The discussion and storytelling highlighted intersectionality, academic accommodations, and action points on how to transform community, workplace, and educational environments to support and empower students living with psychosis.   About the Panelists Moderator   Cecilia McGough (they/them/theirs/she/her/hers) Founder and Executive Director Students with Psychosis   Cecilia McGough is a New York City-based mental health activist, nonprofit executive director, consultant, and former radio astronomer. McGough is autistic who also happens to have schizophrenia but does not let her diagnoses define her. McGough is the founder and executive director of the global nonprofit Students With Psychosis. As a TEDx speaker, twice Special Books by Special Kids interviewee, Anthony Padilla interviewee, CBS This Morning national news feature, and PBS Documentary “Mysteries of Mental Illness” feature, McGough’s story has been viewed over 30 million times across multiple platforms. McGough has been featured in Glamour UK, The Boston Globe, Women’s Health Magazine, twice in Forbes, USA Today College, Healthline, Daily Mail, The Indian Express, MTV University, WGBH, Mental Health America, and more! McGough currently serves as a curator and social committee member for the Global Shapers Brooklyn Hub and a task force member through the World Economic Forum. McGough finds it important to connect with health advocates across a wide range of diagnoses and currently is a Lightbulb ambassador and severed as a 2020 conference advisor for Healthevoices. McGough collaborates with industry leads and mental health researchers and clinicians; for example, McGough was a 2020-2021 think tank participant organized by One Mind to focus on early screening for psychosis in youth. McGough is an UNLEASH talent who traveled to Denmark in August of 2017 to be an active voice to attain the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and make sure people with psychosis are represented. Also, McGough has been selected as the keynote speaker for the 2022 Congress of the Schizophrenia International Research Society to take place in Florence, Italy. At the age of 17, McGough co-discovered PSR J1930-1852 leading to opportunities such as helping represent the United States in the International Space Olympics in Russia and being a Virginia Aerospace Science And Technology Scholar through the NASA Langley Research Center. McGough’s story as a radio astronomer through the Pulsar Search Collaboratory can be seen in the documentary Little Green Men.   Panelists     Cecilia Joyce (she/her/hers) Executive Board Member Students with Psychosis   Cecilia Joyce joined @studentswithpsychosis because she was looking for a place where she could feel safe to express herself. Her search led me to @cecilia_mcgough’s TEDx Talk and this fantastic Students With Psychosis (SWP) community. Growing up, she felt lonely, isolated and embarrassed by her symptoms. She was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder as a teen and spent the majority of her high school career in a therapeutic treatment center. Even in that environment, surrounded by people with mental health diagnoses, she felt the stigma of being psychotic and having delusions. Becoming a part of SWP has cured the loneliness and isolation that she continued to experience. Before, she lacked a community, now she has built lasting friendships and has been a part of events that she will always cherish with pride. Since joining the organization she has become happier and has found herself more eager to stick to her treatment plan. She enjoys going to meetings and finds it easy to attend several a week, even as a busy college student, working on her bachelor’s degree. She feels truly blessed to have met and become a part of the SWP family. There are many ways to get involved with SWP. This is a welcoming space where you are able to participate or not, as much as you want. She encourages everyone to see what they have to offer because she believes SWP can change your life for the better. She hopes you can join her on this journey.     Daniel Nepveux (he/him/his) Advocate Students with Psychosis   Daniel Nepveux says that you may call him Daniel, Dan, Dano, Danny boy, or Judd. He currently reside in Texas, USA. Daniel was featured on the Special Books By Special Kids Youtube channel, and Instagram page, for an interview he did with its wonderful and kind creator, Mr. Chris. Daniel is diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder/Depressive Type, CPTSD, BPD, and Multiple Traumatic Brain Injuries. He am an AVID reader of almost every genre, but his favorite is horror; and his favorite author is (of course) the great and hilarious Stephen King. He owns fifty two of King's books and is always on the lookout for anything new by him. Daniel loves singer songwriter music with lyrics that contain emotional depth and moving melodies. But his heart truly lies with reading and writing.   Positionality Statement: Daniel Nepveux is a 36 year old combat veteran currently working on being an advocate in the mental health community. Recently he has begun work on his second published book of poetry and is happy to be doing something he loves. He is the first and only member of his immediate family to have joined the military and he did so at the age of 17. Daniel is diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder Depressive Type, CPTSD, anxiety, and deals with chronic lung health issues. Having not experienced the difficulties of dealing with mental health while in school, he wants to better understand the trials that the younger generation goes through when navigating the upper education system.     Deanna (she/her/hers) Live Chat Moderator & Outreach Coordinator Students With Psychosis   Deanna is a college student studying audio engineering and film production. Deanna is from the suburbs of Austin, Texas and still resides in the area. Deanna is living with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and anxiety. She has a strong passion for art, film, and music, and is currently working on several projects. Deanna is a Live Chat Moderator and Outreach Coordinator at Students With Psychosis.   Positionality Statement: Deanna is from Austin, Texas. She makes it a point to help others when they are in need. Deanna is atheist, but doesn’t push her ideology on others and is respectful of others beliefs. Deanna has a libertarian political view; believing in full autonomy and limiting the states violation of one’s individual liberties.     Katie Sanford (she/her/hers) Advocate Students with Psychosis   When Katie was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder at 17, she thought her life was over. But when she went to college and began to prove all of my stereotype-based ideas wrong, she wanted to share that with everyone - that people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders are capable of so much more than people think. And when she spoke publicly about it for the first time, she realized that my story had a bigger impact than she had thought when it came to changing other people's minds. Katie is always looking for new ways to expand my advocacy and meet others who live with similar disorders. Everyone's story is so different, and she love that Student's With Psychosis amplifies all these different voices, showing not just others, but also each other, that our stories are powerful and important no matter what they are and she wants to use the skills she has gained in her advocacy experience to support the efforts of Students With Psychosis and expand her network and capabilities as an advocate as well.   Positionality Statement: Katie Sanford is a 31-year-old legal assistant and mental health advocate residing in a small town in Illinois an hour outside of Chicago. Katie grew up in “wine country” in northern California, living in both rural and suburban areas after her parents divorced when she was four years old. She attended small, often under-funded public schools that provided opportunities like small-group advanced classes and agricultural and viticultural exposure. She grew up in non-religious, middle class households and identifies as an agnostic heterosexual woman with a liberal-leaning bias. She recognizes the privilege that comes with these things as well as with being a white, college-educated female in the United States. She earned her degree in psychology at Northwestern University, which provided opportunities others may not have had, like working on psychiatric research. Her professional experience includes assisting with schizophrenia research, retail management, food service, finance, and estate planning law. She has lived with depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder from a very young age that went undiagnosed until she began treatment at 17 when she was also diagnosed with depressive-type schizoaffective disorder. She also lives with an eating disorder, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. Her experiences with schizoaffective disorder inspired her decision to pursue a degree in psychology.     Maddie Jiles (they/them/theirs) Executive Board Member Students with Psychosis   Maddie has had schizophrenia since early childhood, and until the middle of their undergrad career it went undiagnosed, unnoticed, and untreated. It taught them a special way of living with themself and dealing with all that entailed. Maddie's family’s motto always has been, “Once you lose your sense of humor you die.” Maddie took that and ran with it through every mental health huddle and struggle in life. No matter how hard things got, they found some kind of way to laugh and find joy in even the smallest thing. They believe that’s their purpose in life, to spread that same joy. Maddie is the voice of the MadHaus Podcast and the founder of Powered by the Haus, a tabletop group on Twitch. Outside of that, they are an elementary educator and a street performer. And wherever they go, doing whatever they're doing, they make sure that they keep their family’s motto in mind. It’s important to live loudly as yourself, in every aspect that you are yourself. And they find no place where they embody that more than in @studentswithpsychosis.     Rei (he/him/his/xe/xem/xir) Executive Board Member Students with Psychosis   Rei is a non-binary, autistic, Jewish social work student who is also living with psychosis among other disabilities. He is very active on campus as the President of Columbus State's Pride Club as well as an officer for several other groups, including his college's branch of Phi Theta Kappa. He has been nominated for quite a few awards and scholarships during his time at CSCC. Rei currently works 2 part-time jobs, including a work study job as a Student Resource Educator and another job as an artist at Transit Arts. His art will soon be featured in local community gardens. In his free time, he likes to cross-stitch, spend time with his cats, read, and play video games. He hopes that one day he can help better the lives of people living with disabilities, including but not limited to psychosis, on both a micro and macro level. He is extremely passionate about the ableism and abuse that exists within the medical system and strives to do all he can to fix this system.     Vera Muñiz-Saurré (they/them/theirs) Executive Board Member Students With Psychosis   Vera Muñiz-Saurré is a nonbinary, queer, Peruvian-American public health professional currently working as an HIV Prevention Specialist at a mental health agency in Boston and now also as part of the Executive Board of Students with Psychosis! They have Schizoaffective disorder and are a survivor of gay conversion therapy. Starting in 2017, Vera helped found and admin the Psychosis Spectrum Server on Discord and they're still a strong community! Vera is currently seeking their Master of Public Health from Boston University focusing on Community Assessment, Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation. They joined Students with Psychosis to find more community and to be more involved with psychosis advocacy! They want to use what they are learning and have learned through their time working in public health to serve our community and to help fight the systemic barriers that keep those of us most affected by health inequities from accessing quality care.   Positionality Statement: Vera Muñiz-Saurré is a 25-year old first generation Peruvian-American of mixed indigenous Andean and Spanish descent studying Community Assessment, Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation at Boston University’s School of Public Health living with Schizoaffective Disorder. Vera is a queer nonbinary person who uses they/them pronouns and who has done work in Boston’s community as an HIV Prevention Specialist with Casa Esperanza, a Latin American focused mental health agency, since 2019. Vera centers decolonization, liberation, and community-based participatory research in their approach to Public Health and is currently doing their practicum through Students with Psychosis in which they will conduct a Community Health Assessment and Community Health Improvement Plan for the community of people in Boston who experience psychosis. Vera was raised in a conservative Catholic environment and is a survivor of conversion therapy. They plan on applying for a Clinical Psych PhD program in the fall and hope to help reduce the harms of colonization while working towards the goal of decolonizing the mental health system and broader recognition of indigenous sovereignty.

Peer support workers are increasingly serving in roles within the crisis care continuum. With 988 roll-out, states working in integrate peer support services within crisis care call centers, mobile crisis response teams, and crisis stabilization units. Peer support workers strengthen engagement and improve outcomes for people experiencing a crisis. Peer support workers provide crisis prevention services and post-crisis services like peer navigation and community support, essential for people who recently experienced crisis.   In this 60-minute webinar, participants: Learned about how the New England MHTTC worked with partners to learn more about the competencies used by peer support workers in crisis services Discussed workforce preparation needs in crisis services Described organizational structures that support crisis teams that include peer support workers View a recording of this 3/16/23 session here. 

This three-hour webinar deep dives into the core competencies previously drafted and shared during the Competencies for Peer Support Workers in Crisis Services webinar hosted in March 2023. The co-facilitators – including a youth peer with recent experience working in the field in a crisis setting - explore each competency and allow participants to apply the competencies in peer crisis work scenarios. We present detailed information about how each competency is applicable in peer crisis work and then use breakout rooms and case studies to prompt discussion on how to utilize a specific competency.    Participants gain knowledge about the complexities of working as a peer in crisis settings and how to maintain the ethical standards of the peer role; gain a detailed understanding of the 5 Core Competencies and how they were developed by the MHTTC team; develop a practical understanding of how the competencies will show up in their work in crisis settings; and learn about practices and tools that can be used to assist with becoming comfortable and skilled in the competencies.   View a recording of this 7/31/23 session here.  

This webinar focuses on important points to consider when hiring or contracting with youth peer support specialists. This includes the pros and cons of partnering with an outside agency, conducting internal hires, considering full or part-time positions, recommended policies and procedures, etc. The webinar is hosted by Maria Hermsen-Kritz and Caitlin Baird, two experienced youth peer support specialists and supervisors.   Resources Slides available for download here Assessment of Youth / Young Adult Voice at the Agency Level (Y-VAL)   Trainers: Caitlin Baird Caitlin Baird is a Project Manager and Trainer with Pathways RTC at Portland State University. Caitlin has experience working directly with transition-aged youth and young adults as a peer support specialist and as a supervisor for peer support specialists in wraparound and other mental health settings.       Maria Hermsen-Kritz Maria Hermsen-Kritz is a Research Assistant with Pathways RTC at Portland State University. She has experience providing peer support for transition-aged youth,supervising youth peer support specialists,and managing a youth drop-in center program.      

Building a strong sense of ethics and boundaries is essential to peer youth providers’ professional development, and to developing the emerging workforce as a whole. This resource provides an overview of ethics and boundaries for those in youth peer provider roles. Employing clear definitions and multi-media exercises, this resource can be used by individuals, groups, or supervisors to support peer providers’ understanding and application of ethics and boundaries.

In celebration of the National Hispanic Heritage Month, the Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health, in partnership with the New England MHTTC, invited people to a listening session about the importance of elevating Lived Experience Leadership among Latine/Latinos/Hispanic Peer Supporters and Latinos/Latine People with Lived Experience to inform the development of the first Hispanic/Latine Yale LET(s)Lead Transformational Leadership Academy, a 9-month FREE transformational leadership development opportunity. 

/*-->*/ /*--> Coordinated specialty care for early psychosis is an evidence-based treatment model aimed at fostering resilience and recovery for individuals who have experienced a first episode of psychosis or are at clinical high risk for developing psychosis. Each webinar will be co-presented by a professional with expertise in that component of care, as well as an individual with lived experience who can speak to how this aspect of care was meaningful in their journey towards recovery. This series is geared towards any individuals that are new to working on an Early Psychosis Specialty Team – including students, clinicians, prescribers, supported employment specialists, family clinicians, and peer specialists.   Presenter:  /*-->*/ /*--> Patrick Kaufmann  

The Encouraging Change podcast is hosted by Kris Kelly, BS and Laura Saunders, MSSW. This series addresses topics related to using motivational interviewing in peer recovery support. Laura is a Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) member and a MI trainer, and Kris is a program manager for the Peer Recovery Center of Excellence and an expert in peer recovery support services. All the episodes in this newly released series are available on the Great Lakes Wave Anchor channel, along with tons of other great content. You can listen to all of our podcasts directly on Anchor, or you can listen to them using Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and many other podcast platforms!    Episode 1 - Introducing the podcast and an overview of the application of MI skills in peer recovery support services. Episode 2 - Using MI Skills to Initiate and Develop Relationships Episode 3 - Providing Support: What Does It Mean? Episode 4 - Skillfully Sharing Lived Experiences of Recovery Episode 5 - Personalizing Peer Support: The Uniqueness of the Recovery Process Episode 6 - Recovery Planning: Are We There Yet? Episode 7 - Effective and Person-Centered Ways to Connect People With Resources, Services, and Their Communities  Episode 8 - Growth Through Discovery and Co-Learning Episode 9 - Peer Recovery Support Providers Coming Alongside Recoveries In Crisis Episode 10 - Valuing Communication Through Active Listening  Episode 11 - Developing Effective Relationships, Partnerships, and Family Systems Episode 12 - Promoting Leadership and Advocacy Episode 13 - Becoming More Reflective and Competent in Your Practice

About this Resource: Given their shared lived experiences, Certified Peer Specialists (CPS) are crucial in offering mutually beneficial support to peers who are recovering from psychiatric and/or substance use disorders. This infographic accompanies the on-demand recording by Dr. Monty Burks on faith, spirituality, and peer support. It discusses stigma as a barrier to treatment and care, the relevance of faith and spirituality in recovery, and the crucial role of peer support in promoting lifelong recovery.

This interactive presentation was facilitated on March 17, 2022 by Rita Cronise and Gita Enders.  In this presentation, you will learn about the origin and values of peer support, the introduction and inclusion of peer support services in traditional service settings, the role of the supervisor in helping peer staff to remain true to peer support values, and some best practices for supervisors of this unique workforce. After the presentation, participants will be able to: Describe mutual support and the core values of peer support Compare clinical services with non-clinical peer support Communicate the benefits of supervisors who have experience as peer support workers Utilize best practices in the supervision of peer support workers.   Download the Powerpoint slides here.   

Youth peer support is an emerging and innovative role within mental health that is seen as valuable for young adults who are system involved. While many agencies want to employ or do employ youth peer support specialists, there are many questions and challenges regarding how to best support this role. In this webinar we will clarify the responsibilities and boundaries of the youth peer support role and offer tips on how to support this role and these employees within your agency.