Peer Support
MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM; CVH AND M SITE
Introduction
• Funding from the Mississauga/Halton LHIN in
2015
• Mental Health inpatient peer support
• Funding allocated as follows as part of a larger
Consumer Survivor Initiative
• Mississauga Site: 2 FTE
• Credit Valley: 1 FTE
Credit Valley Hospital
Mississauga Hospital
Queensway Health Centre
2200 Eglinton Avenue West, Mississauga
100 Queensway West, Mississauga
150 Sherway Drive, Toronto
2
What is Peer Support?
“Peer support is a system of giving and receiving help
founded on key principles of respect, shared
responsibility, and mutual agreement of what is helpful.
Peer support is not based on psychiatric models and
diagnostic criteria.
It is about understanding another’s situation
empathically through the shared experience of
emotional and psychological pain.”
Mead, Hilton, & Curtis, 2001, p. 135
Credit Valley Hospital
Mississauga Hospital
Queensway Health Centre
2200 Eglinton Avenue West, Mississauga
100 Queensway West, Mississauga
150 Sherway Drive, Toronto
3
What is Peer Support?
Empowerment, Choice, Self-Direction,
Strengths, Resilience
• Link people living with a Mental Health Issue
and/or substance use with people who have a
common issue/life experience.
• Share knowledge and experiences, including
some that health care workers do not have.
(Mental Health Commission of Canada, 2010)
Credit Valley Hospital
Mississauga Hospital
Queensway Health Centre
2200 Eglinton Avenue West, Mississauga
100 Queensway West, Mississauga
150 Sherway Drive, Toronto
4
Values and core functions of Peer Workers
• To support persons they work with, and instill
and inspire the following concepts with them:
– Hope that recovery is possible, SelfDetermination, Personal Responsibility, SelfAdvocacy
– Dignity, respect and social inclusion
– Integrity, authenticity and trust
– Connecting with community supports
Credit Valley Hospital
Mississauga Hospital
Queensway Health Centre
2200 Eglinton Avenue West, Mississauga
100 Queensway West, Mississauga
150 Sherway Drive, Toronto
5
Role of peers on our in-patient units
• One to one counselling
• Facilitate and co-facilitate groups from a
recovery framework:
– Signs & Symptom Management
– Understanding Depression
– Anxiety Management
– Goal-Setting
Credit Valley Hospital
Mississauga Hospital
Queensway Health Centre
2200 Eglinton Avenue West, Mississauga
100 Queensway West, Mississauga
150 Sherway Drive, Toronto
6
More Groups
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•
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Wellness Recovery Action Plan® (WRAP®)
5 Key concepts of Mental Health recovery
Coping with Triggers and Early Warning Signs
General evening support group
Discharge planning
Credit Valley Hospital
Mississauga Hospital
Queensway Health Centre
2200 Eglinton Avenue West, Mississauga
100 Queensway West, Mississauga
150 Sherway Drive, Toronto
7
Roles of Peers Cont.
• Co-Facilitate Family Support groups with Social
Workers
– share resources
– emphasize the importance of self-care for families
• Participate in patient-family meetings
Credit Valley Hospital
Mississauga Hospital
Queensway Health Centre
2200 Eglinton Avenue West, Mississauga
100 Queensway West, Mississauga
150 Sherway Drive, Toronto
8
Roles of Peers Cont.
• Collaborate with inter-professional team
throughout the course of the day
• Involved in clinical rounds: provide updates on
client status and recommendations for followup for client discharge
• Take part in the bed meetings with ER &
Mental Health Program
Credit Valley Hospital
Mississauga Hospital
Queensway Health Centre
2200 Eglinton Avenue West, Mississauga
100 Queensway West, Mississauga
150 Sherway Drive, Toronto
9
Roles of Peers Cont.
• Help with program development ,
implementation & ongoing evaluation of
existing programs
• Coordinate with external agencies to
participate in client-centered education
sessions on the unit once per month
• Seek out peer specific education (internally &
externally) ongoing professional development
Credit Valley Hospital
Mississauga Hospital
Queensway Health Centre
2200 Eglinton Avenue West, Mississauga
100 Queensway West, Mississauga
150 Sherway Drive, Toronto
10
Roles of Peers Cont.
• Share information about the value of peer
support with staff, patients, family and
supporters
• Conduct Peer Support Information Seminars
with medical students and nursing students
• Represent monthly at a systems-wide level to
advocate the need for peer support-Paid Peer
Network, Supervisors Paid Peer Network
Credit Valley Hospital
Mississauga Hospital
Queensway Health Centre
2200 Eglinton Avenue West, Mississauga
100 Queensway West, Mississauga
150 Sherway Drive, Toronto
11
What are the benefits of peers on
multi-disciplinary teams?
12
Benefits of having a Peer on the team
• Supports balanced, person-centred approach
• Offers unique perspectives
• Provides equal, empowering, recoveryoriented relationships
• Mutually beneficial
• Model effective recovery strategies and skills
to clients, families and co-workers
Credit Valley Hospital
Mississauga Hospital
Queensway Health Centre
2200 Eglinton Avenue West, Mississauga
100 Queensway West, Mississauga
150 Sherway Drive, Toronto
13
Benefits of having a Peer on the team
• Peer support workers may have faced many
barriers leading to recovery, and as such are
able to share available community resources,
many that other Health care workers do not
have knowledge of.
• Through the use of shared experience, peer
support workers are able to support clients to
change their story from an illness focus to a
recovery and ability focus.
Credit Valley Hospital
Mississauga Hospital
Queensway Health Centre
2200 Eglinton Avenue West, Mississauga
100 Queensway West, Mississauga
150 Sherway Drive, Toronto
14
What patients say:
• “I didn’t realize it at first, but peer support was
the missing link into getting better from my
last hospitalization”. –Patient
• “Going to groups has helped me with my
anxiety being around other people. I look
forward to getting out of the house more,
when I am discharged” –Patient
Credit Valley Hospital
Mississauga Hospital
Queensway Health Centre
2200 Eglinton Avenue West, Mississauga
100 Queensway West, Mississauga
150 Sherway Drive, Toronto
15
What Family members have shared:
• “After meeting you, I have more hope knowing
that my son can get better”.-Parent
• “I am very happy that the hospital has
implemented the Peer Support program. It
wasn't available to my wife on her last visit. I
know it will make a difference this time”.
-Spouse
Credit Valley Hospital
Mississauga Hospital
Queensway Health Centre
2200 Eglinton Avenue West, Mississauga
100 Queensway West, Mississauga
150 Sherway Drive, Toronto
16
What our Fellow Team Members say:
• “Peer Support can help educate patients,
especially those that are confrontational. They
help improve Patient-Doctor relations”.
-Psychiatrist
• “With you sharing your lived experience, you
bring a patients point of view to the team to
help provide better care for the patient”.
-Nurse
Credit Valley Hospital
Mississauga Hospital
Queensway Health Centre
2200 Eglinton Avenue West, Mississauga
100 Queensway West, Mississauga
150 Sherway Drive, Toronto
17
What are fellow Team members say:
• “You bring a different level of comfort, not
only for the patients, but also for the staff” Clinical Team Lead
• “You bring authenticity and a common
understanding that enables you to engage
with patients in a way that doctors can’t. This
can bridge a gap between doctor and patient”.
-Psychiatrist
Credit Valley Hospital
Mississauga Hospital
Queensway Health Centre
2200 Eglinton Avenue West, Mississauga
100 Queensway West, Mississauga
150 Sherway Drive, Toronto
18
Questions?
Credit Valley Hospital
Mississauga Hospital
Queensway Health Centre
2200 Eglinton Avenue West, Mississauga
100 Queensway West, Mississauga
150 Sherway Drive, Toronto
19