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This study uses survey data from certified peer specialists (CPS) who were currently employed in any type of job, providing peer support services or not. Using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and Areas of Worklife Survey (AWS), along with other measures of personal and job characteristics, relationships of predictors variables to burnout measures were described in unadjusted and adjusted linear regression models. Scores on each of the averaged burnout measures differed significantly between those employed in peer services jobs and those in other job types, with those in peer services jobs reporting lower exhaustion, cynicism, and higher professional efficacy.

This study of over 680 certified peer specialists (CPS) in four states found that those who are unemployed are more likely to be receiving Social Security disability benefits, be veterans, use outpatient counseling or therapy, and not disclose their mental health status in the workplace. In this study, the benefits of peer support jobs, compared to non-peer support jobs, include longer job tenure, availability of employee benefits, and higher job satisfaction.

Confronting ableism requires confronting capitalism, which values people only for the efficiency of their output within mechanized schedules.

This study uses survey data from certified peer specialists (CPS) who were currently employed in any type of job, providing peer support services or not. Using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and Areas of Worklife Survey (AWS), along with other measures of personal and job characteristics, relationships of predictors variables to burnout measures were described in unadjusted and adjusted linear regression models. Scores on each of the averaged burnout measures differed significantly between those employed in peer services jobs and those in other job types, with those in peer services jobs reporting lower exhaustion, cynicism, and higher professional efficacy.

This study of over 680 certified peer specialists (CPS) in four states found that those who are unemployed are more likely to be receiving Social Security disability benefits, be veterans, use outpatient counseling or therapy, and not disclose their mental health status in the workplace. In this study, the benefits of peer support jobs, compared to non-peer support jobs, include longer job tenure, availability of employee benefits, and higher job satisfaction.

This chapter provides an overview of what can be done in the future to address the prevention and control of mental and behavioral disorders. It begins with a description of what has come before, examining progress and pitfalls. This is followed by a discussion of the evolution needed to bring about Winslow's vision of mental health care as an integral part of the public health. It examines the growing role of such factors as the social determinants of health; attention to the full spectrum of mental health and illness from prevention through recovery across the life span; the importance of resilience in preventing behavioral problems; the still evolving key role of consumers in treatment and recovery; and the policy changes needed to embrace mental health as an intrinsic part of the public health.

This Open Forum describes the National Survey of Peer-Run Organizations, which was conducted in 2012 to gather information about peer-run organizations and programs, organizational operations, policy perspectives, and service systems. A total of 895 entities were identified and contacted as potential peer-run organizations. Information was obtained for 715 (80%) entities, and 380 of the 715 responding entities met the criteria for a peer-run organization.

The paper describes how peer interviewers were recruited, hired, trained, and supervised. The authors discuss some benefits and challenges associated with the approach. Peer interviewer benefits and challenges: the shared lived experience between the peer interviewers and study participants contributed to increased comfort and a high response rate overall. The study opened up professional opportunities for peers, but inconsistent work hours were a challenge and resulted in turnover and difficulty filling vacant positions. The lead evaluator and supervisors worked closely with peer interviewers to ensure conflict of interest was mitigated to reduce bias.

This paper describes data collection methods and demonstrates how participatory strategies to involve people with psychiatric histories intersected with Internet research to achieve study aims. People with psychiatric histories were involved in designing and implementing a web-based survey to collect data on peer-run organizations' operations and views on national policy. Participatory approaches were used throughout design, data collection analysis, and dissemination. The extensive involvement of people with psychiatric histories in project design and implementation were important strategies that contributed to this study's success.

The recovery movement has evolved from a more radical view in the early days, to participatory involvement in systems, to returning to alternative models of care that are more independent. Now as more peer specialists work in systems, there is an increased emphasis on non-medical alternatives and the cycle continues. Regardless, recovery, self-determination, choice, etc. are always at the centre. This paper notes the interesting cycles of recovery-orientation and how they spin around the values/tenets of the movement’s early roots.

Two research companies, Live & Learn Inc. and Human Services Research Institute, worked with HOPE (Helping Our Peers Emerge) staff to conduct an evaluation to understand and report the impact of the HOPE program on participants, in addition to Whole Person Pilot-required data. HOPE is a peer-run program in San Mateo, California. HOPE supports Peer Participants in transition from psychiatric hospitalization to community integration through Peer Mentoring, Family Partnership, and Supportive Employment Coordination. It was created as a Whole Person Pilot program under California's Medicaid Section 1115 waiver.

Every two years beginning in 2010, Live & Learn staff and partners have conducted a Peer Respites Essential Features (PREF) survey. All peer respites in the U.S. are invited to participate. Since the first survey in 2010, the number has grown substantially, as reflected in our Peer Respite Directory. This effort creates nationwide, longitudinal data that documents trends in organizational development and program policy so that communities and states can learn from each other as the number of peer respites grows nationwide. Results from the 2018 PREF Survey examine changes in peer respite operations, funding, staffing, and guest experience between 2014-2018. In 2018, the results are reported in two separate reports.

The first peer respites arose around 2000, said Laysha Ostrow, CEO of Live & Learn, which conducts behavioral health research. The approach seems to be expanding. Live & Learn counts 33 peer respites today in the U.S., up from 19 six years ago. All are overseen and staffed by people with histories of psychiatric disorders.

Erika Miranda-Bartlett, Outreach Specialist with Live & Learn, Inc., discusses what brought her to the Certified Peer Specialist Career Outcomes Study and what it means to her.

2014 panel discussion about peer respites at the California Institute for Behavioral Health Solutions

A 2016 presentation to the Milwaukee Mental Health Task Force about peer-run respites.

In this webinar, presenter Morgan Pelot will discuss the research on the effectiveness of peer respites and the evidence supporting them. Presenter Sae Kim will discuss a practical application of this literature at the Monarch House, a peer respite in Wisconsin. Sae will also cover how peer respites are responding to COVID-19 and how these crisis services are valuable during this time of quarantine.

The Guidebook for Peer Support Program Self-Evaluation: Practical Steps and Tools can be used to document program operations and outcomes, and to build evidence for the efficacy of peer support programs. In a world of limited resources, conducting evaluations can be a challenge. We created this guidebook in response to frequent requests from peer-run organizations for practical, low-cost, or no-cost tools they could use to evaluate their programs. We have included recommendations on best practices in self-evaluation and data monitoring based on techniques used by other peer support organizations and in the world of program evaluation. It provides basic, practical guidance on developing a logic model, identifying outcomes, selecting measures/ indicators, collecting and analyzing data, and reporting findings.

Peer-run organizations provided a range of supports and educational and advocacy activities and varied in their capacity and resources. Some variation was explained by the degree of consumer control. These organizations seemed to be operating consistently with evidence on peer-run models. The reach of peer-run organizations, and the need for in-depth research, continues to grow.

Peer respites are voluntary, short-term residential programs designed to support individuals experiencing or at risk of a psychiatric crisis. These programs posit that for many mental health services users, traditional psychiatric emergency department and inpatient hospital services are undesirable and avoidable when less coercive or intrusive community-based supports are available. Intended to provide a safe and homelike environment, peer respites are usually situated in residential neighborhoods. These programs are starting to spread across the United States, yet there is very little rigorous research on whether they are being implemented consistently across sites and which processes and outcomes may lead to benefits for persons experiencing psychiatric crises and for overburdened mental health systems. This Open Forum outlines implementation and research issues that peer respites face.

This study sought to understand whether knowledge of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was associated with willingness of mental health peer-run organizations to become Medicaid providers. Through the 2012 National Survey of Peer-Run Organizations, organizational directors reported their organization's willingness to accept Medicaid reimbursement and knowledge about the ACA. Organizations had both ideological and practical concerns about Medicaid reimbursement. Concerns about Medicaid reimbursement can potentially be addressed through alternative financing mechanisms that should be able to meet the needs of peer-run organizations.

This study examined peer-run organizations’ attitudes towards collaborating in health homes. Data were drawn from the 2012 National Survey of Peer-Run Organizations. Multinomial logistic regression modeled the association between organizational willingness to participate in a health home and salient factors. Current efforts, planned efforts to encourage physical healthcare, and staff size were associated with willingness to collaborate in health homes. Some organizations were concerned about power dynamics with potential medical collaborators. Relationships with medical providers, staffing capacity, and concerns about coercion should be considered when integrating peer-run organizations and health homes.

Peer respites strengthen self-reliance and social connectedness and offer a viable alternative to traditional crisis services for some people some of the time. The results suggest potential “key ingredients” for peer respites, including a homelike environment, voluntary and self-determined supports, and peer support staff who possess the capacity for developing healing and genuine connections with guests while also promoting shared responsibility and self-reliance. Future research should further develop this theory of change and establish peer respite fidelity criteria based on program elements that seem to contribute to positive outcomes.

This research study developed a measure to look at service users’ experience of IPS. The IPSCC scale was found to address three underlying factors: Connection, Risk, and Communication. It had acceptable measurement properties commonly used in scale development, and the results fit with theories of peer support. It can also be used in research studies on other forms of peer support. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

Lack of comprehensive medical care coverage and mental health symptoms were associated with increased odds of perceived difficulties in accessing medical care; personal empowerment was negatively associated with perceived difficulties attributed to stigma; education was positively associated. The findings highlight unmet need for medical care in this population and the need to recognize stigma as a barrier medical care. Interventions to empower patients and educate medical providers about wellness for people with serious mental illness could help to reduce barriers.

This study examined the relationship between the culturally determined beliefs and expectations of four ERD groups (African Americans, Latinos, Portuguese-speakers, and Haitians, total N = 160) and the technical quality of treatment for depression provided in four “culturally-specific” primary care clinics. Using data from the Experiences of Care and Health Outcomes survey, chart reviews and focus groups, the study addressed a set of questions related to the psychometric properties of perceived care measures and the technical quality of care. The groups differed in preferred cultural elements except all preferred inclusion of religion. They did not differ in overall perceived quality.

This study uses survey data from certified peer specialists (CPS) who were currently employed in any type of job, providing peer support services or not. Using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and Areas of Worklife Survey (AWS), along with other measures of personal and job characteristics, relationships of predictors variables to burnout measures were described in unadjusted and adjusted linear regression models. Scores on each of the averaged burnout measures differed significantly between those employed in peer services jobs and those in other job types, with those in peer services jobs reporting lower exhaustion, cynicism, and higher professional efficacy.

This study of over 680 certified peer specialists (CPS) in four states found that those who are unemployed are more likely to be receiving Social Security disability benefits, be veterans, use outpatient counseling or therapy, and not disclose their mental health status in the workplace. In this study, the benefits of peer support jobs, compared to non-peer support jobs, include longer job tenure, availability of employee benefits, and higher job satisfaction.

The Self Employment Starts with You (SESY) study used qualitative and survey data to examine self-employment as a strategy to improve career options for individuals with a psychiatric disability. The goal was to understand the experience of current business owners, and provide useful information to aspiring business owners.

The Self Employment Starts with You (SESY) study used qualitative and survey data to examine self-employment as a strategy to improve career options for individuals with a psychiatric disability. The goal was to understand the experience of current business owners, and provide useful information to aspiring business owners.

The Self Employment Starts with You (SESY) study used qualitative and survey data to examine self-employment as a strategy to improve career options for individuals with a psychiatric disability. The goal was to understand the experience of current business owners, and provide useful information to aspiring business owners.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, convened the hearing as one of several framed around the pending reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.

The following interview is part of a “future of mental health” interview series that will be running for 100+ days. This series presents different points of view about what helps a person in distress. I’ve aimed to be ecumenical and included many points of view different from my own. I hope you enjoy it. As with every service and resource in the mental health field, please do your due diligence. If you’d like to learn more about these philosophies, services, and organizations mentioned, follow the links provided.

Social work research must more consistently link case and cause, iteratively developing processes for bringing micro-, mezzo-, and macrostreams of information together. We further argue that meaningful engagement with the initiative requires social work scholars and practitioners to actively scale up practice and research inquiry. We detail two key strategies for employing a scaled-up social work practice and research ethos: (a) employing a critical economic lens and (b) engaging with diverse publics.

This pre-post study examined mental health service utilization and cost before and after participating in self-direction. Findings from this modest pre-post examination of self-direction suggest that mental health self-direction can result in more person-driven, individualized services without increasing costs.

This Open Forum describes the National Survey of Peer-Run Organizations, which was conducted in 2012 to gather information about peer-run organizations and programs, organizational operations, policy perspectives, and service systems. A total of 895 entities were identified and contacted as potential peer-run organizations. Information was obtained for 715 (80%) entities, and 380 of the 715 responding entities met the criteria for a peer-run organization.

The paper describes how peer interviewers were recruited, hired, trained, and supervised. The authors discuss some benefits and challenges associated with the approach. Peer interviewer benefits and challenges: the shared lived experience between the peer interviewers and study participants contributed to increased comfort and a high response rate overall. The study opened up professional opportunities for peers, but inconsistent work hours were a challenge and resulted in turnover and difficulty filling vacant positions. The lead evaluator and supervisors worked closely with peer interviewers to ensure conflict of interest was mitigated to reduce bias.

This paper describes data collection methods and demonstrates how participatory strategies to involve people with psychiatric histories intersected with Internet research to achieve study aims. People with psychiatric histories were involved in designing and implementing a web-based survey to collect data on peer-run organizations' operations and views on national policy. Participatory approaches were used throughout design, data collection analysis, and dissemination. The extensive involvement of people with psychiatric histories in project design and implementation were important strategies that contributed to this study's success.

This study sought to identify risk factors for child protective services (CPS) involvement among parents with serious mental illnesses. Compared with parents without CPS contact, parents with a CPS contact were more likely to be nonwhite and to be less educated. They were also more likely to have less attachment-related social support, more parenting-related needs in numerous areas, and more substance use–related issues and to have experienced adverse childhood and traumatic events. One-quarter of the parents with CPS contact reported not having a mental disorder diagnosis at the time of the first contact, and those in the CPS group were less likely to have taken medications at the time of the first contact than were parents who did not have a CPS contact.

Lack of comprehensive medical care coverage and mental health symptoms were associated with increased odds of perceived difficulties in accessing medical care; personal empowerment was negatively associated with perceived difficulties attributed to stigma; education was positively associated. The findings highlight unmet need for medical care in this population and the need to recognize stigma as a barrier medical care. Interventions to empower patients and educate medical providers about wellness for people with serious mental illness could help to reduce barriers.

This study examined the relationship between the culturally determined beliefs and expectations of four ERD groups (African Americans, Latinos, Portuguese-speakers, and Haitians, total N = 160) and the technical quality of treatment for depression provided in four “culturally-specific” primary care clinics. Using data from the Experiences of Care and Health Outcomes survey, chart reviews and focus groups, the study addressed a set of questions related to the psychometric properties of perceived care measures and the technical quality of care. The groups differed in preferred cultural elements except all preferred inclusion of religion. They did not differ in overall perceived quality.

Two research companies, Live & Learn Inc. and Human Services Research Institute, worked with HOPE (Helping Our Peers Emerge) staff to conduct an evaluation to understand and report the impact of the HOPE program on participants, in addition to Whole Person Pilot-required data. HOPE is a peer-run program in San Mateo, California. HOPE supports Peer Participants in transition from psychiatric hospitalization to community integration through Peer Mentoring, Family Partnership, and Supportive Employment Coordination. It was created as a Whole Person Pilot program under California's Medicaid Section 1115 waiver.

Mad In America’s Peter Simons interviews Laysha Ostrow about her mental health research and consulting company, the inclusion of peer specialists in mental health care, and her personal experience with the mental health system.

Every two years beginning in 2010, Live & Learn staff and partners have conducted a Peer Respites Essential Features (PREF) survey. All peer respites in the U.S. are invited to participate. Since the first survey in 2010, the number has grown substantially, as reflected in our Peer Respite Directory. This effort creates nationwide, longitudinal data that documents trends in organizational development and program policy so that communities and states can learn from each other as the number of peer respites grows nationwide. Results from the 2018 PREF Survey examine changes in peer respite operations, funding, staffing, and guest experience between 2014-2018. In 2018, the results are reported in two separate reports.

Erika Miranda-Bartlett, Outreach Specialist with Live & Learn, Inc., discusses what brought her to the Certified Peer Specialist Career Outcomes Study and what it means to her.

A 2016 presentation to the Milwaukee Mental Health Task Force about peer-run respites.

A 2017 presentation to the California Association of Social Rehabilitation Agencies about results of the Self-Employment Starts with You survey.

In this presentation for the Doors to Wellbeing Technical Assistance Center, we discuss service user-research, which is a type of CBPR in mental health in which individuals with professional research qualifications and lived experience are project leaders or co-leaders. It explicitly uses lived experience in research work. Despite the continued development of service user-research internationally, service user research in the USA continues to encounter significant barrie

In this webinar, presenter Morgan Pelot will discuss the research on the effectiveness of peer respites and the evidence supporting them. Presenter Sae Kim will discuss a practical application of this literature at the Monarch House, a peer respite in Wisconsin. Sae will also cover how peer respites are responding to COVID-19 and how these crisis services are valuable during this time of quarantine.

U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Full Committee hearing in 2014 on access to higher education for students with disabilities.

The Guidebook for Peer Support Program Self-Evaluation: Practical Steps and Tools can be used to document program operations and outcomes, and to build evidence for the efficacy of peer support programs. In a world of limited resources, conducting evaluations can be a challenge. We created this guidebook in response to frequent requests from peer-run organizations for practical, low-cost, or no-cost tools they could use to evaluate their programs. We have included recommendations on best practices in self-evaluation and data monitoring based on techniques used by other peer support organizations and in the world of program evaluation. It provides basic, practical guidance on developing a logic model, identifying outcomes, selecting measures/ indicators, collecting and analyzing data, and reporting findings.

Peer-run organizations provided a range of supports and educational and advocacy activities and varied in their capacity and resources. Some variation was explained by the degree of consumer control. These organizations seemed to be operating consistently with evidence on peer-run models. The reach of peer-run organizations, and the need for in-depth research, continues to grow.