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.
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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.
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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.
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2014 panel discussion about peer respites at the California Institute for Behavioral Health Solutions
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A 2016 presentation to the Milwaukee Mental Health Task Force about peer-run respites.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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