VISN 1 NEW ENGLAND MIRECC EDUCATION

PEER SUPPORT

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New England MIRECC Peer Education Center

Contacts: Patricia Sweeney, Psy.D., CPRP (Patricia.Sweeney@va.gov) and Mark Parker, BA, Certified Peer Specialist (Mark.Parker2@va.gov)

As the VA health care system began hiring Peer Support Technicians and, more recently, Peer Support Specialists, many questions arose regarding the peers’ roles, responsibilities, and types of training they require for their roles in VA. In 2008, the VISN 1 New England MIRECC developed the New England MIRECC Peer Education Center which offers free ongoing training opportunities for Veterans who want to become peer support providers as well as Veterans who are providing peer support services in the VA health care system as volunteers, Without Compensation Employees, VA-employed Peer Support Technicians, or VA-employed Peer Support Specialists.

The goals of the training sessions are to enhance peer support providers’ knowledge and further development of skills that will aid them in their roles within the VA health care system. The mission and purposes of this center are consistent with VA’s goal of ensuring that training needs for VA peer support providers are being met. The center’s practice of clinical staff and peer support providers partnering in the planning and facilitation of trainings can serve as a role model for similar partnerships between clinical staff and peer support providers in health care service delivery in the VA system. In furtherance of this modeling, the center’s co-directors are a clinical psychologist and a VA-employed Peer Support Technician who is a Veteran and has a key leadership role in all of the center’s operations.

The New England MIRECC Peer Education Center has offerings in both an Introductory Track and a Continuing Education Track to serve the needs of current and future VA peer support providers. The training offerings cover a variety of topics, and each session is structured to promote knowledge acquisition and skill enhancement related to mandatory competencies expected of VA peer support providers. Experiential activities are often included to allow participants to practice applicable skills and receive feedback. Continuing education credits are awarded for every face-to-face training for peer support providers.

Here is a sample of some of the training offerings from the center that include downloadable materials:

Confidentiality & Peer Support Services: 
This seminar focuses on discussing strategies to maintain confidentiality, why maintaining confidentiality is important in peer support relationships, limitations of confidentiality, and guidelines for what to do in challenging situations where an issue of confidentiality is at stake.

Confidentiality & Peer Support Services PowerPoint Presentation

Confidentiality & Peer Support Services Vignettes for Group Discussion

Disengaging from Peer Support Relationships: 
This seminar discusses the necessity and value of ending peer support relationships and also discusses when and how to engage in the ending process.

Disengaging from Peer Support Relationships PowerPoint Presentation

Part I of Group Facilitation Skills Training Series: 
This workshop focuses on tips and guidelines for planning peer support groups and being a successful group facilitator. Participants have opportunities to practice their group facilitation skills and obtain feedback.

Part I of Group Facilitation Skills Training PowerPoint Presentation

Part I of Group Facilitation Skills Training Role Play Activities

Part I of Group Facilitation Skills Training Practice Exercise

Part I of Group Facilitation Skills Training Practice Exercise Feedback Sheet

Part II of Group Facilitation Skills Training Series—Dealing with Challenges in Groups: 
This workshop focuses on how to manage crises and disruptions in peer support groups and be a successful group facilitator. Participants have opportunities to practice their group facilitation skills and obtain feedback.

Part II of Group Facilitation Skills Training PowerPoint Presentation

Part II of Group Facilitation Skills Training Role Play Activities

Part II of Group Facilitation Skills Training Practice Exercise

Part II of Group Facilitation Skills Training Practice Exercise Feedback Sheet

Making Effective Use of Your Recovery Story in Peer Support Relationships: 
This seminar explores the importance of self-disclosure when providing peer support services to Veterans. The seminar addresses how a peer support provider’s personal recovery story can be an effective and powerful tool in instilling hope in others as they follow their own path of recovery, but also how it might become a potential barrier if not used effectively with the right goals in mind. Participants look critically at the differences between illness and recovery stories, and they learn the benefits and potential risks associated with sharing either an illness story or recovery story when providing peer support services. Participants also learn the essential components of an effective recovery story, and how a recovery story may be used in direct peer support work with Veterans as well as how it could be used when speaking to members of VA health care staff in different settings and/or when speaking to community groups.

Making Effective Use of Your Recovery Story PowerPoint Presentation

Making Effective Use of Your Recovery Story Session Activity #1

Making Effective Use of Your Recovery Story Session Activity #2

Making Effective Use of Your Recovery Story Session Activity #3

Navigating Boundaries in Peer Support Services: 
This seminar discusses the importance of maintaining appropriate interpersonal boundaries and what boundaries look like when peer support providers interact with Veteran consumers, fellow peer support providers, and VA clinical staff members.

Navigating Boundaries in Peer Support Services PowerPoint Presentation

Navigating Boundaries in Peer Support Services Vignettes for Group Discussion

Peer Support Provider Self-Care: 
Walking the Tightrope Between Helping Others & Maintaining Your Own Wellness: This seminar focuses on the dangers of compassion fatigue and burnout in caregiver roles and the importance of including a regular routine of self-care activities that enhance one’s wellness and sense of well-being when working as a peer support provider.

Peer Support Provider Self-Care Presentation Handout

Peer Support Provider Self-Care Session Activities

Psychosocial Rehabilitation & Peer Support: 
This seminar presents an overview of psychosocial rehabilitation principles and values. Discussion focuses on how peer support services fit with the mission of psychosocial rehabilitation and recovery and why peer support providers are important to the role of recovery.

PSR and Peer Support PowerPoint Presentation

PSR and Peer Support Vignettes for Group Discussion

Understanding Mental Health Symptoms from a Recovery Perspective: 
In this seminar, participants learn about medical model approaches and psychosocial rehabilitation approaches to addressing mental health conditions. They also learn about recovery-oriented interventions they can use as VA peer support providers to assist Veterans with mental health issues.

Understanding Mental Health Symptoms from a Recovery Perspective PowerPoint Presentation

Understanding Mental Health Symptoms from a Recovery Perspective Vignettes for Group Discussion

UMHS Key Words: Provider Education; Vet/Caregiver Education; Recovery

Vet-to-Vet Program

Contact: Patricia Sweeney, Psy.D., CPRP (Patricia.Sweeney@va.gov)

Vet-to-Vet is a voluntary peer support group model that was developed by Moe Armstrong, a Veteran and well-recognized leader in the national peer support movement. The Vet-to-Vet groups are facilitated by trained peer educators, and the groups operate in VA hospitals, community outpatient centers, shelters, and other community sites across the United States. Vet-to-Vet has an educational focus, and the groups follow a read-and-discuss format with recommended reading materials related to recovery. The six topic areas for reading and discussion include: Disability Awareness; Disability Pride; Recovery Workshop; Writers’ Meeting; Wellness; and Mental Illness Anonymous. In addition to collaborating in the development of the original Vet-to-Vet materials and studying the program, the VISN 1 MIRECC continues to provide ongoing consultation and basic administrative support for the monthly national Vet-to-Vet teleconference.

The following Vet-to-Vet materials may be downloaded directly from this website:

Vet-to-Vet Training Manual

Vet-to-Vet Facilitator Manual

Mental Illness Anonymous

UMHS Key Words: Provider Education; Vet/Caregiver Education; Recovery