Peer Support Toolkit. Philadelphia, 1 Toolkit Design by Susan Hanson, Chicago PA: DBHIDS

Peer Support toolkit module module 1 3 Preparing the Service Organizational Delivery Culture module module 2 4 Recruiting and Supervision Hiring Peer Staff and Retention Module 1: How to Use This Toolkit Preparation The Peer Support Toolkit is an interactive PDF that presents key information in brief reads, yet preserves your opportunity to delve deeper into subjects—as Module 2: your time and interests dictate—with just a click. Interviewing & Hiring The interactive format makes it easy to access content in an order that makes Module 3: sense to you and to skip over content you don’t need in the moment. At Service Delivery the same time, this toolkit retains the essential benefits of a PDF format. For example, you can share this file by email and print individual pages or the Module 4: document as a whole. You can also use the “find/search” feature to search this Supervision & Retention toolkit by keyword just as you would any PDF. The toolkit is organized in four modules, each addressing specific implementation issues relevant to agencies in various stages of integrating peer Tools support services. Landing Page The toolkit is designed to be downloaded to a device and opened with Adobe Acrobat. Please send correspondence about this toolkit to [email protected]. Click “r” for the references. Each module has promising Resource practices with links to associated tools or resources Resources are links to Click “c” to get to the contents. to assist implementation. materials not included in this toolkit. Click this icon to go back to the first page of the toolkit. Use these icons to move A diving icon invites you to take Back to Practice # forward and back one a “deep dive” into a subject. When you’re on a tool page at a time. Click on the link in the paragraph associated page, click this icon with this icon for more information or a more in the footer to go nuanced discussion about a topic. back to the associated practice. Suggested citation: Philadelphia Dept. of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disabilities Services and Achara Consulting Inc. (2017). Peer Support Toolkit. Philadelphia, 1 Toolkit design by Susan Hanson, Chicago PA: DBHIDS. A Word from Dr. Evans Over the last ten years, Philadelphia’s stakeholders have worked tirelessly to create a shared vision of a recovery- and resilience-oriented system of care. It has been no small undertaking to begin implementing the sweeping changes necessary to align our system with that vision. One of these extensive changes has been the integration of peer support services into our behavioral health treatment organizations. Now, more than a decade later, we have numerous promising practices that have emerged from this work and just as many lessons learned along the way. We have witnessed the extraordinary power of peer support services to improve the experience and outcomes of people seeking and using behavioral health services. The ways in which certified peer and recovery specialists have been utilized in Philadelphia vary widely. Many of them work to promote wellness, reduce stigma, increase access to care, enhance life skills, provide education, and walk side-by-side with individuals as they build or rebuild meaningful lives in their communities. Regardless of their specific role, we have found that peer support staff can also vastly enhance organizational culture, adding a crucial element that comple- ments but in no circumstances replaces clinical care: the element of hope. Through their lived experience, peer staff are a constant reminder that recovery is real and possible, regardless of one’s circumstances and the limitations imposed by one’s behavioral health condition. Impor- tantly, peer support staff also address two key issues that have long-hounded the behavioral health community: (1) the need to attract individuals to treatment and services well before their behavioral health conditions exact painful tolls on individuals, families, and communities, and (2) the need to move beyond treatment settings and support individuals in the communities in which they live, work, and play. The past decade has also taught us that peer staff must be more than merely present in an organization; in order to maximize their impact, they must become a fully integrated part of the service team and play an integral role in service planning and delivery as well as in organizational leadership. A fundamental takeaway from Philadelphia’s experience is the need for organizations to pre- pare for the integration of peer staff before peers are hired. Given that peer support services 2 are still relatively new, those who want to onboard peer staff may not know how to best intro- duce and integrate them into their organizations. This toolkit provides the information, resources, and tools to help organizations anticipate and avoid potential misunderstandings and intra-organizational culture clashes. Another key lesson drawn from experience is that organizations will benefit from investing time in envisioning and communicating a clear role for peer staff in their organization. I am very pleased, therefore, to share this Peer Support Toolkit with you. The toolkit incorpo- rates the learning and wisdom of numerous stakeholders—peer supports, treatment providers, administrators—who shared their insights and advice through focus groups and interviews. I thank them all. Many of the promising practices and tools included in this kit were also gen- erously shared by these Philadelphia providers. We believe peer support staff are among the most powerful and also the most untapped resources available to behavioral health systems. Although the transformation of our behavioral health system is still in progress, we are pleased to share our experiences to date and hope that this toolkit will be a catalyst for continued in- novation in Philadelphia and beyond. Thank you for continuing the effort to promote recovery, resilience, and self-determination for all. Arthur C. Evans, Jr., PhD, Commissioner Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services 3 A Word from Dr. Achara-Abrahams It has been an honor to support the system transformation efforts within Philadelphia’s behavioral health system for the past decade. Several years ago, Philadelphia DBHIDS adopted “recovery, resilience, and self-determination” as the overarching aim for the city’s behavioral health service system. With this clear goal, DBHIDS began a comprehensive process of examining services and supports and bringing all aspects of the system into alignment, including fiscal and policy strate- gies, quality improvement processes, workforce development, and service delivery. Philadelphia’s system transformation is ongoing, and while they have celebrated many successes along the way, stakeholders also recognize that there is still much work to be done. One of the most exciting initiatives has been the integration of peer support services into the behavioral health system. This effort has demonstrated the many possibilities that arise when administrators, providers, people in recovery, advocates, allies, and family members work toward a common goal. Early on, before there were any guidelines on how to integrate—and pay for— all peer support staff, many of Philadelphia’s mental health and substance use disorder treatment providers embraced the opportunity to integrate people with lived experience into their treatment settings both as volunteers and as paid staff. These early adopters witnessed firsthand the tremendously positive impact that peers can have on their organizations and especially on the individuals they serve. These providers were supported by advocacy organizations such as PRO-ACT, Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania, and the Family Consumer and Family Taskforce, whose staff were dedicated to infusing the system with peer and family support services. Together, Philadelphia’s stakeholders have made tremendous progress. Numerous challenges and promising practices have emerged along the way, and it is a privilege to have the opportunity to document some of these. I believe that people with lived experience working in peer support roles are among the most powerful untapped resources in our healthcare system today, and I hope that this document contributes to the continued evolution of a recovery-oriented behavioral health workforce. Ijeoma Achara-Abrahams, PsyD Achara Consulting Inc. 4 Acknowledgments LOCAL CONTRIBUTORS This toolkit is based on an initial draft developed by Dr. Larry Over the past decade, many individuals, providers, and stake- Davidson, at the Yale Program on Recovery and Community holders in Philadelphia participated in focus groups, listening Health, which has been updated and expanded by Dr. sessions, work groups, committees and boards, and process Ijeoma Achara-Abrahams and her team at Achara Consulting: improvement efforts to assist in the development, delivery, Eugenia Argires, Brooke Feldman, Kris Rusch, Jennifer and refinement of peer support services. The pioneering Sears, and Pamela Woll. DBHIDS Deputy Commissioner experiences of Philadelphia’s behavioral health stakeholders Roland Lamb and Sean E. Brinda, Manager of the DBHIDS and the lessons drawn from those experiences inspired and Peer Culture and Community Inclusion Unit, oversaw the informed this toolkit. development and production of the toolkit. DBHIDS would like to recognize in particular the leadership SPONSOR and guidance of the Mental Health Association of Southeast- Philadelphia Department

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