Measuring What Matters in Peer Support: Using Competencies and Fidelity to Strengthen the Workforce

• By: Megan Evans, PhD Kristine Irizarry, MBA Sai Snigdha Talluri, PhD, CRC, LPC Graziela Reis, MPH, BS Chyrell D. Bellamy, PhD, MSW Yale School of Medicine
• April 21st, 2026
• behavioral health research, core competencies, fidelity measurement, peer fidelity, peer support, peer support measure, peer workforce development, recovery-oriented care, Spring 2026 Issue, supervision, training
• 187    0

Introduction: The Next Phase of Peer Support Development Peer support, a cornerstone of recovery-oriented behavioral healthcare, is a rapidly expanding service model nationally. Delivered by individuals with lived experience of mental health challenges, substance use, trauma, or disability, peer...

Implementing and Sustaining Peer Support: The Recovery Workforce Learning Collaborative (RWLC)

• By: Maria E. Restrepo-Toro, BSN, MS Chyrell D. Bellamy, PhD, MSW Graziela Reis, MPH, BS Sai Snigdha Talluri, PhD, CRC, LPC Megan Evans, PhD Yale School of Medicine
• April 21st, 2026
• appreciative inquiry, learning collaborative, lived experience, organizational readiness, peer support, recovery supports, recovery-oriented care, Spring 2026 Issue, systems change, workforce development
• 187    0

The integration of peer recovery support specialists represents a significant shift in behavioral health systems. Peers offer unique perspectives and authenticity that strengthen recovery-oriented systems of care (Davidson et al., 2021). Drawing on lived experience, they bring insights that support...

The Impact of Childhood Separation: Parallels Between Children of Parents with Mental Illness and Children of Incarcerated Parents

• By: Cheri A. Bragg Acker, BA, MSW Paul Acker Chyrell D. Bellamy, PhD, MSW Yale School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry
• July 18th, 2025
• child welfare, childhood trauma, family separation, foster care, grief, parental incarceration, parental mental illness, Summer 2025 Issue, systemic bias, trauma-informed care
• 3550    0

Family separation is a traumatic experience for children, regardless of the cause. When separation occurs due to parental mental illness or incarceration, children face unique psychological and systemic challenges that are often overlooked. Both groups experience disenfranchised grief, attachment...