Statewide/Initiatives > Peer Specialist Services

Pennsylvania Medicaid Funded Peer Support Services
In November 2004, the Pennsylvania Recovery Workgroup generated the following definition of recovery to guide service system transformation in this state:

"Recovery is a self-determined and holistic journey that people undertake to heal and grow. Recovery is facilitated by relationships and environments that provide hope, empowerment, choices and opportunities that promote people reaching their full potential as individuals and community members."

In 2005, the Pennsylvania Office of Mental Health Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) gave full endorsement to the definition and committed to transforming our own mental health system which included the development of services that facilitate and support recovery. Peer Specialist Services have been defined in Pennsylvania as one of these services.

Pennsylvania Peer Specialist Initiative - An Overview

 

Defining Peer Support
Peer support is a system of giving and receiving help founded on key principles of respect, shared responsibility, and mutual agreement of what is helpful. Peer support is not based on psychiatric models and diagnostic criteria. It is about understanding another’s situation empathically through the shared experience of emotional and psychological pain. When people find affiliation with others whom they feel are “like” them, they feel a connection. This connection, or affiliation, is a deep, holistic understanding based on mutual experience where people are able to “be” with each other without the constraints of traditional (expert/patient) relationships. Further, as trust in the relationship builds, both people are able to respectfully challenge each other when they find themselves re-enacting old roles. This allows members of the peer community to try out new behaviors with one another and move beyond previously held self-concepts built on disability, diagnosis, and trauma worldview.

 

Initiatives

Older Adult Peer Support Services
In February 2007, the Pennsylvania Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) received approval to include Peer Support Services under the state’s Medicaid State Plan. In 2008 OMHSAS received a one-ear federal grant to develop an older adult peer specialist training curriculum.

Persons aged 65 years and older represent the fastest growing age group in the United States. However, older adults are less likely to seek treatment from mental health professionals due to stigma. Older adults with behavioral health disorders who do not receive treatment are at increased risk of hospitalization, reduced physical functioning, and mortality. It is the goal of this grant to train peer specialists to more effectively work with older adults. The training to be offered under this initiative is listed below.

Older Adult Competent: The first curriculum will be a 4-7 hour one-day training session and will cover at least several areas required for competency certification (e.g. normal aging, co-occurring illness in older adults, and working with older adults.) This training will cover basic skill sets that all peer specialists should acquire in order to work with older adults. The one-day Older Adult Competency training will be provided in four locations of the state during June 2008 for a total of 80 individuals.

Older Adult Enhanced: The second curriculum will be a more intensive three-day training designed for Peer Specialists age 50+ who have expressed interest in working with older adults. The three-day curriculum may include: depression, anxiety, substance abuse, stages of change, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, trauma, and cultural and ethnic perspectives and their relationship to recovery. The three-day Older Adult Enhanced Training will be piloted in Harrisburg July 14 – 16 for 20 Certified Peer Specialists.

Training Applications are available from the "Older Adult What's New?" page.

Older Adult Resource Documents

 

Resources