Peer Support: A Brief Overview GINA KAYE CALHOUN GCALHOUN@COPELANDCENTER.COM AND DR. SCOTT T. HELLER SCOTT.HELLER@PAPRS.ORG PA Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services 1
Gina s Story Moving from What s Wrong to What s Strong gcalhoun@copelandcenter.com 2
The Role of Peer Specialist in the United States Peer Supporters are people with similar life experiences who have been trained/certified to support peers in identifying and achieving specific life goals. 3
The Role of Peer Specialist Listens without giving advice or fixing things for an individual Instills hope and provides evidence that hopes, dreams and goals are possible Develops a relationship based on strengths NOT perceived deficits Facilitates community inclusion; supports a person in developing a strong support system. 4
What do Certified Peer Specialist Do? Depending on the person s self-identified goal - concrete examples include: Thinking through questions for care providers and going to appointments when requested by the person. Advocate with a person to access specific services and supports Go with a person to activities and events the 1 st few times until the person discovers their own natural support system Learn skills together- such as cooking, transportation, interviewing for a job, etc Working with a person toward physical health goals- losing weight, healthier eating, walking, etc 5
Training Design The Certified Peer Specialist training is designed with wellness at its core. We strive to create a safe, flexible and mutual learning environment. We focus on providing education, skill building and experiential processes. 6
Recently In 2010, the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, Temple University and the PA Peer Coalition conducted our 1 st Certified Peer Specialist survey! Take a look at some of the results 7
Survey Content: How do Certified Peer Specialists impact society? the behavioral health system? the individuals who receive the training? 8
Societal Outcomes: Peers Report Reduced Entitlements and Hospitalizations 60% 52% 47% 50% 42% 40% 30% Yes 20% 10% Reduced public assistance Decreased hospitalizations Decreased crisis/er services 0% 9
System Outcomes: Peers Contribute to the Behavioral Health Workforce by Working with Many Different Populations 10
and in Many Different Settings 11
Certified Peer Specialists People Participating in Peer Services Organizations Moving Toward Recovery 12
The History: 2004-2005 Montgomery County transforming services to recovery oriented services which would include Certified Peer Specialists (CPS) CMS awarded PA a Systems Transformation Grant to replicate the work of Montgomery County in the three remaining regions 13
Montgomery County and Philadelphia came on board using County Funding 14
History of Certified Peer Specialists in Pennsylvania: 2004-2005 OMHSAS selected the following applicants: Western: Erie County Central: Capital Area Behavioral Health Collaborative Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon and Cumberland/Perry Counties Northeast: Tioga, Bradford/Sullivan Lackawanna/Susquehanna, and Luzerne/Wyoming Counties AND 15
History: 2004-2005 Harrisburg State Hospital was closing at the same time as we began to roll out the CPS initiative, thus Franklin/Fulton and York/Adams Counties were added to the pilot CPS counties. Bring on the voice of the people!!! 16
PA Mental Health Systems Transformation Grant (2005-2007) OMHSAS developed State Plan Amendment for CMS review and approval OMHSAS statewide workgroup developed PSS standards MHASP developed 10-day, 75-hour PSS training and certification course http://www.parecovery.org/services_peer.shtml 17
PA PSS Statewide Implementation CMS approved 2/22/2007 Create buy-in at all levels of our mental health system Statewide kickoff of PA PSS standards review and Q & A sessions -2007 Train Certified Peer Specialists in all 67 counties OMHSAS review, approval and licensure for PSS providers 18
CMS Service Requirements Outline for a Medicaid funded PSS Service Definition Service Goals Target population Program requirements Allowable activities Staffing requirements and credentials Service exclusions Place of Service exclusions Documentation 19
CMS Service Requirements Outline for a Medicaid funded PSS (cont d) Admission Criteria Continuing Stay Criteria Discharge/Exit Criteria Authorization Periods Benefits Limits Code/Unit of Service/Billing 20
Four Essential Keys to Implement Systems Change Lessons Learned 1. Executive Level Administrative Support 2. Effective Technical Assistance 3. Internal Leaders to keep the Vision Alive 4. Strong Teamwork and Extended Stakeholder Partnerships (Internal and External) 21
Where are we now? Over 4200 Certified Peer Specialists in Pennsylvania Over 1500 Certified Peer Specialists Supervisors Over 145 organizations offer Peer Support Services Peer Workers represented at all levels of the Mental Health System 22
Thank You QUESTIONS COMMENTS MUTUAL LEARNING http://www.parecovery.org/services_peer.shtml Gina Kaye Calhoun gcalhoun@copelandcenter.com Scott Heller scott.heller@paprs.org 23