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The Peer Advocate: Role Model, Listener, and Problem Solver for Older Adults
Peer Advocates have changed the way that we practice behavioral healthcare at Service Program for Older People (SPOP) – and have changed the lives of the older adults we treat. SPOP is a community-based behavioral health provider for older adults (55+) based in New York City. We serve...
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Integrating Peer Professionals in Complex Behavioral Health Systems
NYC Health + Hospitals, the nation’s largest municipal health care system and New York City’s largest behavioral health provider, serves individuals with complex behavioral health and social needs including homelessness, justice involvement, and chronic medical conditions. In this landscape,...
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Peer Support in Practice: Workplace Strategies and Professional Development
The field of peer support is quickly gaining prominence and visibility across the domains of behavioral health and substance use services. Georgia was the first state to provide Medicaid-billable mental health peer services in 1999 - it was not until 2012 that Medicaid billing was authorized for...
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Bridging Families and Systems: Family Peer Support in Children’s Mental Health Services
As soon as one learns that they are going to be a parent, the planning and preparation begins. It is a new journey. A journey that does not necessarily come with a handbook of how-tos, sure there are books, resources, literature etc. that can ‘guide’ you but there really isn’t a one tell all...
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Peer Services in Behavioral Health: New York State Leading the Way
Individuals with lived experience with mental illness have a unique perspective that can play a crucial role in helping others on the path to recovery. A key facet of reaching and forming bonds with individuals seeking support is the strong connection peer support workers offer. We have made...
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Supporting Peer Mentoring as a Bridge to Campus Belonging
Across colleges and universities, students are experiencing increasing mental health challenges while simultaneously navigating the social, academic, and developmental demands of campus life. For many students, the transition to college represents their first time living independently, managing...
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Strengthening Behavioral Health Through Peer Services: Advancing Recovery Across the Continuum of Care
Recovery from addiction is often strengthened through connection with others who have lived experience. Across New York State, peer professionals - individuals with lived recovery experience - are playing an increasingly important role in behavioral health services. Through strategic policy...
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Meeting Crisis With Connection: The Power of Peer Specialists on Mobile Crisis Teams
Over the past several years, New York City has increasingly shifted toward community-based responses to behavioral health crises. In the past, individuals experiencing psychiatric emergencies were often limited to hospital emergency departments or interactions with law enforcement. While those...
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The Value of Being Seen: Acknowledging the Importance of Shared Identities and Lived Experiences
It is a well-known fact that our traditional mental health care system has experienced a strain over the past six years. Not only are there ongoing needs for services across communities, but also an ongoing staffing crisis that impedes the successful delivery of those services. Mental health...
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Beyond Boundaries: Oh, the Places Peer Support Can Go!
Peer support has always been bigger than the box systems tried to paint it in. Long before it was codified, credentialed, or added into service plans, it was ordinary folk reaching for one another—standing in the front, behind and to the side of each other sharing hard-earned wisdom, offering...
