This information brief provides an example of how one state has implemented and supported the Peer Support Specialist role for youth with serious mental health conditions. The brief covers aspects of training, coaching, supervision, role definition and financing; and describes a series of challenges and solutions

Research and Training Center for Pathways to Positive Futures

Youth and Family Training Institute

English

PDXScholar (Portland State University)

Portland State University PDXScholar Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations School of Social Work 2013 Implementing the Peer Support Specialist Role: Youth Peer Support in Wraparound Research and Training Center for Pathways to Positive Futures Youth and Family Training Institute Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/socwork_fac  Part of the Social Work Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits you. Citation Details Research and Training Center for Pathways to Positive Futures and Youth and Family Training Institute. (2013). Implementing the Peer Support Specialist Role: Youth Peer Support in Wraparound. Portland, OR: Research and Training Center for Pathways to Positive Futures, Portland State University. This Report is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. For more information, please contact pdxscholar@pdx.edu. This information brief provides an example of how one state has implemented and supported the Peer Support Specialist role for youth with serious mental health conditions. The brief covers aspects of training, coaching, supervision, role definition and financing; and describes a series of challenges and solutions.Implementing the Peer Support Specialist Role: Youth Peer Support in Wraparound1The Youth and Family Training Institute (YFTI) was created in 2007 to bring the High Fidelity Wraparound (HFW) Planning Process to Penn-sylvania. YFTI is funded by the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Community Care Behavioral Health and the University of Pitts-burgh/Department of Psychiatry of Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. YFTI is respon-sible for training, coaching, credentialing and continuous quality improvement of the HFW process for county contracted agencies who support the HFW workforce. The training, coaching, credentialing and continuous quality improvement is provided by YFTI at no cost to the HFW workforce. Counties that elect to implement the HFW process for youth and families currently provide start up funding for the agencies. HFW in Pennsylvania is funded by Medicaid using the Joint Planning Teams, which are administrative activities of the Be-havioral Health Managed Care Organizations. The population of focus is 8-18 year olds and their families who have complex behavioral challenges; involvement in multiple systems, such as juvenile justice, child welfare, mental health, addiction services and education; and risk of placement, or current placement in, out-of-home facilities.Overview of the ProgramYoung people who were involved in the process of developing the Youth and Family Training Institute participated in a discussion regarding staffing. At that time, staffing for HFW consisted of a Coach, a Facilitator and a Family Support Partner. When the youth heard about the role of the Family Support Partner they wanted something similar for themselves and other youth – someone to support them, advocate with them, help them find their voices, and help them connect to others. As a result, youth were part of the development of the original role of Youth Support Partner (YSP). Over the next few years, YFTI, along with early HFW implementer counties and workforce members, developed the training around skills essential for a YSP within the PA model. YSPs are now working in all but one of the HFW implementer counties! Youth Support Partners are coached and su-pervised by the agency in which they are hired. YFTI has recently hired a Youth Support Partner Specialist to assist in coaching, training and credentialing the HFW workforce within the county provider agencies. In addition, the Youth Support Partner Specialist has quarterly check in calls with the YSPs to discuss strengths within the work, issues, concerns or suggestions. This call also allows for coaching support if needed. YFTI provides ongoing learning in several for-mats, including webcasts, online trainings and yearly HFW Workforce Day.Youth Support Partners offer a range of support to youth. Similar to the Family Support Partner, the YSPs meet youth to engage them in the HFW process, gather information from the youth about their strengths and challenges, prepare them for team meetings and help them connect with other youth and with natural and commu-nity supports. The YSP supports youth in finding and expressing their voice and sharing their ex-periences. In preparing for team meetings, the youth and the YSP will discuss what to expect, who should be there and how the meeting will work. At times the YSP may speak for youth or co-present with them until the youth are ready to do it on their own. In situations where youth may feel outnumbered or be reluctant to speak about their needs, the YSP is there to add an-other youth voice and advocate on their behalf. “[Youth Support Partners] help youth to think through what they want to say and practice what they want to say and help them find their voice so that they can share it in a meaning-ful way. It’s surprising how many kids actually want to share their voices, they don’t want to just sit there silently. They want to be able to communicate what they need, but they don’t think anybody would want to listen. The youth support partners help them see that others do want to listen and are ready – and they will support them if people aren’t listening, too. So, it’s an added voice to support and strengthen the voice the youth have. Not every kid wants to do it, not every kid is ready for that. But, many of them respond. It’s amazing. Amaz-ing. It’s one of the strongest elements of this model: the peer support.” The goal is to help the youth develop their own abilities to advocate effectively for themselves, both in meetings and in the community. The YSP will also work with the youth and help them find community resources that they may have been unaware of beforehand or discon-nected from in the past. The YSP can accom-pany the youth as they navigate the community and various service systems, leading to confi-2Development of the YSP Role in PennsylvaniaRole of Youth Support PartnersFor many YSPs, this is their first work experience. Qualifications for this position call for personal experience in systems and being the general age of a young adult. The stress of a first job, along with that of lived experience within the system, may need to be addressed. The YSPs may par-ticipate in creating their own wellness plan so that their teams are aware of times when they may need more support. This, as well as other activities, has decreased turnover within the role, as has meeting with the team members and discussing ways to support and assist YSPs in succeeding in the workplace.The program is still relatively new, but success-ful. A question that is now coming up is what to do when a YSP ages out of the role. The agen-cies are looking at ways to support YSPs and help them move into other positions as they grow older. The Institute is exploring ways to award college credit for the trainings the YSPs participate in and to offer sustainable compen-sation. The experience and skills the YSPs gain are transferable to other jobs.Another challenge is that some candidates for the YSP have a criminal history. Because the HFW teams work with youth who also have juvenile justice histories, youth with justice in-volvement are especially needed. Current agen-cy policies may prohibit hiring these youth due to mandatory background checks. The Institute is currently working with various counties and the state to address this issue. Though many agencies and providers have in-tegrated YSPs, the generational aspect still re-quires flexibility. Youth Support Partners are usually aged between 18 and 26 years old. dence in doing so independently. Youth Support Partners work to introduce the youth to others that can assist during the transition from youth to adult services. However, this does not mean that the YSP severs connections with the youth once they reach a certain age. As the Director of the Institute states:“There’s a lot of check-in that happens after people transition out of the process. If the youth wants it, the YSP can, and does, check in by texting or by phone. You know, catch up, check in. You’re not just ‘done’ with the pro-cess unless you choose to be.”Youth Support Partners are also looking for youth that may benefit from and be interested in leadership development. The Youth Support Partner Specialist and the Youth Involvement Specialists within the PA System of Care Part-nership are developing training around this top-ic so that youth can become leaders at the local and state level as well. Most importantly, perhaps, is the role model-ing that goes on during these times. The YSPs learn to share their personal stories in a positive manner that demonstrates how to successfully navigate systems, work on recovery, and effec-tively advocate for and communicate needs. The youth are able to see the YSP as someone who shares experiences with them, is a similar age, and is working to advocate for their suc-cess. Success becomes less of an abstract no-tion and much more tangible with a YSP. Youth may be exiting from residential programs where many daily activities were done for them, such as making a doctor’s appointment. This basic skill can seem overwhelming to youth who are moving between services and possibly living situations, especially if they have never done it before. A YSP can work with the youth on gain-ing this skill, having experienced similar issues, without the youth fearing embarrassment.3Challenges4Project funded by National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research, United States Department of Education, and the Center for Mental Health Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, United States Department of Health and Human Services (NIDRR grant H133B090019).Agencies have embraced the YSP position due to the valuable insight and unique skill set YSPs bring to the team. These positions are seen as integral to the success of the HFW team meet-ings as well as the success of the youth transi-tioning.“When we first started, our ratio was for ev-ery one hundred families, you had one coach, eight facilitators, four family support partners and two youth support partners. We quickly learned that youth support partners are in de-mand, so as soon as people found out what they could do and what their role was on the team, we had to up the ratio to be equal to the family support partner. It’s been a wonderful addition. I can’t imagine trying to do this pro-cess without it.”Thanks to the Youth and Family Training Institute for providing information about their program for this peer support case study.ConclusionAcknowledgmentFunded bywww.pathwaysrtc.pdx.eduResearch and Training Center for Pathways to Positive Futures and Youth and Family Training Institute. (2013). Implementing the Peer Support Specialist Role: Youth Peer Support in Wraparound. Portland, OR: Research and Training Center for Pathways to Positive Futures, Portland State University.Suggested CitationYoung people are gaining experience in a pro-fessional role that takes time to develop, and their colleagues must adjust to this learning curve. Time management, professional dress, and professional communication are skills that are learned on the job and with the assistance of all team members.

Implementing the Peer Support Specialist Role: Youth Peer Support in Wraparound

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Implementing the Peer Support Specialist Role: Youth Peer Support in Wraparound

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