Spotlight on Georgia’s Nationally Recognized Peer Support Program Self-help and Peer Support are becoming more recognized in the mental health system as an

integral part of a long lasting recovery process. Self-help and Peer Support provide

consumers with an opportunity to share and learn coping skills that help them to progress and grow in their recovery. It is an alliance of individuals who have a commonality of living with a mental illness. Peer Support has been defined as a form of social network therapy in which stigmatized persons interact with each other, and gain feelings of self-acceptance and strive to be valued members of a community Schubert & Borkman, 1991.

The National Mental Health Association (NMHA) believes that Peer Support is a unique and essential element of recovery-oriented mental health systems. Peer Support programs

provide an opportunity for consumers to direct their own recovery and advocacy process, and to teach one another the skills that are necessary to lead meaningful lives in the community. NMHA urges Mental Health Associations, mental health service provider organizations, and other advocates to make Peer Support an integral part of mental health service delivery. These urgencies are also to insure that consumers are involved at multiple levels of planning and implementation of Peer Support services, including senior management positions in service programs.

Peer Support services have demonstrated effective outcomes, such as reduced isolation and increased empathic responses to consumers. The final report of the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health stated that Peer Support serves as an important resource in the recovery of individuals with mental health problems. The report also encourages the promotion of consumer-run organizations and consumers who work as providers; studies show that consumer-run services and consumer providers can broaden access to Peer Support, engage more individuals in traditional mental health services, and serve as a resource in the recovery of people with a psychiatric diagnosis.” The report goes on to describe how persons with psychiatric disabilities, because of their experiences, bring different attitudes, motivations and insights to mental health services. The provision of mental health support services by persons who have experienced mental illnesses is the epitome of empathy, empowerment, and ultimately, recovery

There are three different approaches in which Peer Support is used for those with severe mental illness: (1) Mutual Support Groups – voluntary, informal, often drop-in, groups led by peers, for a specific condition or life transition, (2) Consumer-run Services - peers as paid employees of a program that cultivate a consistent and regular interaction with peers, (3)

Georgia Mental Health Gap Analysis

- 18 -

Employment of Consumers as mental health providers within clinical and rehabilitative settings (Davidson, et al, 1999).

A natural outgrowth of the 1999 Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health has been the realization of the value of Peer-to-Peer support in the acquisition of real recovery. With the Surgeon General’s Report backing the effectiveness of Peer Support, Georgia was able to demonstrate to the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services, and the state Medicaid authority, that Peer Support was a vital component to the recovery process of the mental health system for all consumers. This resulted in the state of Georgia being the first in the nation to receive approval to bill Medicaid for Peer Support services. For the first time in history, consumers provided recovery-based services to their peers while billing Medicaid. Peer Support services are now viewed as part of the array of services necessary for a

culturally competent, recovery-based, mental health system. Peer Support services are equal partners to quality clinical care. Consumer leaders, partnered with the state of Georgia, to design the program guidelines for this new innovative service. Two major components that guided the program were that the consumers receiving this service should be in charge of the design of their own program, and persons who have lived the experience of having a mental illness must provide the service.

Consumers providing Peer Support needed training. Therefore, the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network (GMHCN) applied for a federal grant and partnered with the Department of Human Resources Office of Consumer Relations and Recovery (OCRR) to provide a statewide training and certification. In December of 2001 approximately 35 current and former mental health consumers completed their training and examination to become

Georgia's first class of Certified Peer Specialists (CPSs). Today approximately 250 Certified Peer Specialists (CPS’) have served approximately 3,300 consumers across Georgia. CPS’ provide hope, and role model the possibility of recovery to every consumer they serve. As paid employees of public and private providers, CPS’ neatly transition ownership of Peer Supports, into the hands of the consumers, seeking services in Peer Support programs. Initial data shows that, Peer Support services in Georgia, improve the consumer outcomes at a 50% cost reduction of traditional mental health services.

"The increasing proliferation of peer support services and the evolution of the recovery movement may represent the brightest stars in the future of mental health treatment systems. The lived experience of people with mental illnesses

is having a major impact on the shape of contemporary mental health services." - Emerging New Practices in Organized Peer Support, National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD), 2003

Georgia Mental Health Gap Analysis

- 19 -

As a result of Georgia’s success in Peer Support, the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) is currently developing a Peer Support Services Resource Guide, also called a Tool Kit. It will include a manual for other states, with detailed instructions needed to design, plan, implement, and manage, Medicaid-funded Peer Support services. It will also examine approaches for the training and certification of a peer workforce for service delivery. Additionally, the tool kit includes a fact sheet on the important aspects of a Peer Support program, and a Peer Support Services Guide, for consumers and advocates. The resource guide highlights the experience of Georgia, which initiated a Peer Support program in 1999 that is financed by state, federal, and private revenues. Georgia has also been recognized internationally for its innovative Peer Support Program. Representatives from New Zealand, United Kingdom, and Canada have sent representatives to view the program. Additionally, the Medical College of Georgia is looking at hiring a CPS to work with, and train interns, on recovery and Peer Supports. It is becoming recognized that CPS’ are needed at all levels of the mental health system, and the importance of providing hope to all consumers, at the onset of their illness. While Georgia has made great strides in the

implementation of this program within the community, use of Consumer Peer Specialists vary in the state hospital settings. In other states, Peer Specialists are utilized to orient consumers with the community mental health system and integration into the community. However in Georgia, they are used primarily for transportation and to review complaints and could possibly be utilized in a greater capacity.