Spring 2017 Spotlight


Peer Support in Early Intervention in Psychosis 

The last decade has seen a significant growth in peer involvement and leadership in youth mental health.  While few states have dedicated youth peer specialist training programs, many transition aged youth (TAY) and young adult service organizations directly train and employ young adults as support workers.  In early intervention for psychosis services, peer involvement has become an important component.  Given the large emphasis early intervention services place on helping young people remain active and engaged in their communities, peer involvement offers a unique support for social and interpersonal engagement.  The EIP would like to highlight the importance of peer involvement and leadership in early intervention settings and offer resources on planning, employing, and incorporating a peer support specialist into an early intervention team. 
       

Peer Engagement and Leadership: An Interview with Dr. Nev Jones
 

Dr. Nev Jones is a mental health services researcher, peer advocate, and policy consultant.  Much of her recent work has revolved around systems-level policy and program development for early intervention in psychosis, including increased peer engagement and leadership and greater attention to barriers clients face in educational and employment settings.  Dr. Jones is considered one of the leading researchers on peer involvement in early intervention in psychosis, and the nation's expert on implementing peer specialists within mental health settings. The EIP outreach and education team had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Jones about peer engagement and leadership in an early intervention setting, who shared important considerations for implementation based on past successes and barriers experienced. 

Dr. Jones began her work in peer support during her graduate school career under the mentorship of Dr. Patrick Corrigan.  Dr. Jones noted that it was during this time she founded the Chicago Hearing Voices, a community-based program designed to change cultural attitudes about hearing voices and psychosis, and as such, in parallel to her research, was running and facilitating multiple peer support groups.  Dr. Jones explained that towards the end of her doctoral program she became interested in peer support within early intervention in psychosis specifically and has continued to pursue this interest throughout her career.  

Dr. Jones emphasized throughout the interview the importance of having a peer support component in an early intervention setting.  She explained that from a consumer perspective, while the clinicians are nice and fully competent, many consumers felt that "there was a deeper, much more real compassion and concern coming from the peer specialist."  Dr. Jones went on to say that other consumers have spoken about peer support groups and how these groups enable them to meet other young people in the program; in many cases, they actually develop friendships.  Comments from consumers like "they really got it" and "they understood me in a different kind of way from the clinicians" are ones Dr. Jones hears often.

Dr. Jones did acknowledge the challenges of implementing a peer support specialist into an early intervention team, highlighting four main barriers: 1) Most early intervention program models did not originally include a peer support component; 2) There is not a standardized empirically based training for peer support specialists; 3) Supervisors within early intervention settings do not have training on supervising a peer specialist; and 4) It can be difficult to find a young adult peer specialist with personal experience of psychosis specifically.  

Despite these challenges, however, Dr. Jones seemed hopeful in the interview, noting that the field of early intervention is quickly adapting to new models to include peer support, with many efforts being made to create a more standardized training of peer specialists.  Dr. Jones also mentioned her creation of a Google group listserv for peer specialists working in early intervention from around the country.  It provides a forum for peer specialists to talk, share materials, and be connected to the peer workforce.  Dr. Jones concluded the interview with a message of change, "let's change the core model" of early intervention services, so that peer support is viewed as an essential component to early psychosis intervention.

Understanding My Voices: Shared Experiences through Peer Support

From Planning to Peer Support and Evaluation

Dr. Nev Jones created a valuable guide on peer involvement and leadership in early intervention in psychosis services.  The goal of the guide is to provide a wide range of resources for different stakeholders engaged in early intervention for psychosis, including state-level administrators, peer and family advocates, young people, as well as anyone with interest in youth and peer involvement. It also includes information and best practices for peer support and leadership.

The guide includes many concrete examples of innovative individuals, services, and projects, as well as a comprehensive appendix of resources at the end.  The guide covers a broad range of domains in which peers might assume leadership or advisory roles, including program development and planning, direct service delivery, public outreach and engagement, clinician education, and quality improvement and evaluation.
                                     

Click here for the Guide

Effectively Employing Young Adult Peer Providers

The University of Massachusetts Medical School, Systems and Psychosocial Advances Research Center (SPARC), have developed a toolkit specifically for provider organizations that employ or want to employ young adult peer providers.  Topics within the toolkit include supervising young adult peer providers, establishing a supportive organizational culture, preparing and engaging non-peer staff, hiring and training young adult peers, and addressing significant job difficulties.  To access the toolkit click here!

As always, don't forget about Maryland EIP's four services to support individuals, families, and professionals who may encounter early psychosis:

1. Outreach and Education Services – To behavioral health providers, schools, primary care settings, and consumer organizations. For more information or to schedule a presentation to your organization, contact Eryn Bentley.
    
2. Clinical Services – For 12-30-year-olds who present with clinical high risk symptoms that may be predictive of future psychosis, who have early signs of psychosis, or are in the initial stages of psychoses. Services include the Strive for Wellness Clinic, the MPRC First Episode Clinic (FEC), and the Division of Community Psychiatry’s RAISE Connection Program. The Maryland Early Intervention Program Network currently provides services via two Early Intervention Teams: Johns Hopkins Early Psychosis Intervention Clinic (EPIC) & OnTrack Maryland at Family Services, Inc.
    
3. Consultation Services – To providers regarding identification and treatment for individuals that may be experiencing symptoms that may be predictive of future psychosis, who have early signs of psychosis, or are in the initial stages of psychoses.
    
4. Training and Implementation Support Services – Will establish Early Intervention Teams (EITs) throughout the state and create a learning collaborative so that EITs and others providing services to those with early psychosis can collaborate, share resources, and provide support and coordination of service delivery.

All EIP initiatives may be contacted through our toll free number (1-877-277-MEIP) or e-mail (info@MarylandEIP.com). A trained specialist is available to guide you toward the appropriate services. For more information on accessing services offered through the EIP, visit www.MarylandEIP.com.