[NYAPRS Enews] ACMHA Releases Peer Services Toolkit to Advance, Implement Peer-run BH Services

[Harvey Rosenthal]

NYAPRS Note: Our ACMHA Peer Leaders Interest Group is very pleased to share this Peer Services Toolkit which is the result of numerous discussions amongst our members and research by primary author Patrick Hendry that were funded by a grant from Optum.
It's our hope both peer service leaders, states and new payers alike will use these materials to advance the presence of integrity-level peer support across the nation The Toolkit will be the subject of an upcoming ACMHA webinar and also a presentation at the March 24-5 Annual Summit in St. Louis (https://acmha.org/summit).

ACMHA Releases Peer Services Toolkit to Aid Efforts to Advance
and Implement Peer-run Behavioral Health Services
January 19, 2015

Peer-run services that promote wellness and recovery from mental health and addiction-related conditions have emerged as an essential key element in new designs aimed at improving health care outcomes and qualities. Accordingly, ACMHA: The College for Behavioral Health Leadership is proud to announce the release of a comprehensive toolkit for increasing the role of peer support in behavioral health.  The Peer Services Toolkit: A Guide to Advancing and Implementing Peer-run Behavioral Health Services<https://www.acmha.org/images/uploads/files/Peer-Services_Toolkit_2014.pdf> looks at the nature of peer support, its origins, essential elements, core values, training and certification, outcomes,  providing services within peer-run and traditional agencies, state-level advocacy for peer support services, working with managed care companies, and much more.

Thanks to a grant from Optum, more than 25 peer-run service leaders participated in a daylong special seminar at the 2014 ACMHA Summit that was designed and convened by members of the ACMHA Peer Leaders Interest Group (PLIG). The toolkit is based on those discussions and the efforts that followed.

This easily accessible document will aid providers and funders in understanding the unique benefits of peer support and assist them in contracting for these services. It also offers peer-run organizations valuable insight into the essential preparations needed to contract with managed care and other funders. The toolkit provides an in-depth look at the certification process and its importance in expanding peer services throughout the public behavioral health system and into private practice.

The toolkit includes a comprehensive list of reference materials and links to related documents. A living document, the toolkit will continue to be enhanced over the years. The peer workforce is on the edge of tremendous growth as peers learn new ways to provide their unique and powerful support to people moving into and maintaining recovery.

Please feel free to share/distribute this information. More information about the College and its work is available at www.acmha.org<http://www.acmha.org>.
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