Recovery Opportunity Center

                      

 

1) Description of the classroom training program:

 

The Peer Employment Training is an 80-hour class aimed at preparing individuals diagnosed with serious mental illness to develop skills needed to obtain competitive employment in the field of Peer Support. This training is an excellent opportunity for people with psychiatric experiences to take charge of their own recovery and then give back to their community by helping other individuals do the same. The Peer Employment Training recognizes that there is no better person to inspire hope in an individual new to mental health recovery than someone who has “walked the same path” as that individual.  The Peer Support Specialist credential is I.T.E., “I’m the Evidence.”

 

2) Competencies, content, modules covered in curriculum:

 

The Recovery Innovations PET curriculum is published in a copyrighted 227-page book Peer Employment Training Workbook, 2001, revised 2004 and 2007.

 

Content of the Training

 

Part I: Personal Development; Knowing Yourself

• Recovery
• The Power of Peer Support
• Developing Self Esteem And Managing Self Talk
• Community, Culture, and Environment
• Meaning and Purpose
• Emotional Intelligence

 

Part II: Turning Point; Preparing Yourself for Work

• Telling Your Personal Story
• Employment as a Path to Recovery
• Ethics Training
• Job Fair

 

 

Part III: Skill Development

• Communication Skills
• Conflict Resolution
• Recovery from Trauma and Developing Resilience
• Recovery from Substance Abuse
• Being with People in Challenging Situations
• Peer Support in Action; Partnering with Professionals
• Graduation

 

The classroom training is divided into 3 thematic sections as described above. It was devised in this manner to inspire a process of self-transformation, employment readiness, and skill-building that effectively prepares students to do Peer Support work.

 

Part 1: In order to be successful in their jobs, Peer Support Specialists need to be excellent role models of “recovery.” Peer Support employees need to be self-aware and stay continually in a process of developing their own recovery foundation. When Peer Support Specialists show that they are continually learning about themselves, strengthening their recovery, and living full lives, this inspires people who receive services to say, “If my Peer Support Specialist can do it, so can I.” Therefore, Part 1 of the classroom training focuses on awareness of self as well as awareness of recovery and peer support principles. . It asks students to think about their own lives in light of the recovery principles we study and to challenge themselves to consider options for adding new strength and dimension to their own recovery process. It asks students to…

 

• look at their own self-esteem, cultural awareness, emotional intelligence, and sense of meaning and purpose in life.
• challenge themselves to increase strengths in these areas so they can be excellent role models.
• learn ways to inspire peers to increase strengths in these areas.

 

Part 1 also contains an introductory module that orients students peer support principles and the work roles of Peer Support Specialists. This module asks students to look at the gifts they already have from their own recovery experiences and to start understanding the ways these can be translated and developed into important vocational skills.

 

Part 2: It is important for Peer Support Specialists to know how to connect with the people they serve in a way that promotes mutuality and self-transformation. It is also important for Peer Support Specialist to be excellent employees. Therefore, Part 2 of the classroom training is about “Turning Points” and “Preparing for Work.”

 

Part 2 starts off with a module about “Telling Your Story.” This covers the diversity of ways that Peer Support Specialists can share parts of their personal stories of recovery in the course of their work. This module challenges students to re-envision their story from a strengths perspective and learn to tell it as the story of a hero. It challenges students to take charge of the further development of their life story, to move beyond limiting “narrative frames” and step into new ways of being in the world. The main goal of peer support is to inspire self-transformation and self-empowerment in people who receive services so that they can lead more enriching, self-sufficient lives. Peer Support Specialists need to model this in the way they share their stories with the people they serve. Students learn how to make wise choices about what they share on the job so that it is always in the service of the people they are assisting. Students each share 10 minutes of their personal story in class to get practice sharing in a skillful, hope-inspiring way.

 

Part 2 continues with a module on “Employment as a Means of Recovery,” which focuses on “How to Be a Great Employee.” This module asks students to consider the role shifting that is required as they transition from being primarily a “consumer” of psychiatric services to being a “peer provider” of services. It emphasizes the fact that Peer Support work is not sheltered work – it is a real job with real expectations. This module discusses ways that students can “stay in shape” to make their best contributions at work and serve as “evidence” to others (people served as well as other mental health professionals) that people with lived experience of recovery can responsibly “make a difference” in the mental health system. 

 

Part 2 also involves a module on Peer Support Ethics and a Job Fair that orients students to the kinds of peer support jobs available in the community.

 

Part 3: In order to be successful in employment, Peer Support Specialists need to have specific skills and opportunities to practice them. Therefore, Part 3 of the classroom training focuses on the development of skills in the following areas:

 

• Communication Skills
• Conflict Resolution
• Recovery from Trauma and Developing Resilience
• Recovery from Substance Abuse
• Being with People in Challenging Situations
• Peer Support in Action; Partnering with Professionals

 

This portion of the training starts out with modules that cover basic communication skills that inspire self-empowerment and conflict resolution skills. Students practice role plays that give them opportunities to apply these skills in peer support interactions. Students continue to utilize these skills throughout the rest of the training in the context of specific topics that are relevant to peer support work:

 

• How to support people who are recovering from trauma.
• How to support people who are recovering from challenges with substance abuse.
• How to support people who are experiencing specific psychiatric challenges, such as suicidal feelings, hearing voices, self-harm, and anxiety/panic attacks.

 

Students study basic concepts about how to support people having the experiences described above and read personal narratives of people who have found ways to recover from these experiences. Students practice role plays and participate in other skill-building activities that prepare them to be skillfully supportive in the jobs they will be pursuing. At the conclusion of Part 3, students who reach all graduation requirements participate in a graduation ceremony that is attended by family, friends, mental health service providers, and other members of the local community.  Excellent guest speakers are arranged. Students give inspiring speeches about their journey of recovery, their experience in class, and their goals for the future as they pursue Peer Support jobs. This ceremony is recognized by Value Options and RIAZ as an important educational event for its employees because of the evidence of recovery that graduates exhibit. Both companies provide training credit for employees who attend.

 

Students who complete the classroom training component of the program receive a provisional Certificate of Completion at the ceremony. Their next step is to start their internships. For students who opt to work on getting employed immediately (within seven business days of graduation ceremony), their next step is to get busy with job interviews! Any immediate job seekers who are not hired within seven business days of graduation will start their internship process after this seven-day period is over. The internship process and immediate job placement option are described in Item 1.0 of this document.

 

Once all program requirements are met, participants will receive their official Certificates of Completion. Those not hired immediately after classroom training or during their period of internship will have the option of continuing to work with RIAZ Employment Coordinators on Job Placement. These processes are also described in Item 1.0 of this document.