On March 1, 2022, President Biden announced his administration’s strategy to address our national mental health crisis, outlined in the 2022 Presidential Unity Agenda. This national mental health strategy seeks to strengthen system capacity, connect more Americans to care, and create a continuum of support –transforming our health and social services infrastructure to address mental health holistically and equitably.

I recently submitted a public comment to SAMHSA’s Office of Recovery regarding their National Model Standards for Peer Support Certification. Below is the text of my comment.

Body

I am very grateful for this standard and think it's great how it is worded. In my lived experience I have met many peers who have either been homebound, isolated in domestic violence, trafficking, or lack of transportation, who could not access peer support. Anyone can get a cell phone at this point in time, that comes with some mobile data. Having Peer Support Accessible through chat, forums, and direct text will save lives.

Training

There needs to be different modes of training offered. In person doesn't cut it. Rural areas need Peer Support just as much as urban centers. You don't have to have virtual trainings over Zoom! Hire tech and design professionals to help with. There are self-paced asynch courses that already exist for peer support. I would like to do the one with CASAT Learning and have it count towards my training. In person is not an option for me.

Examinations

Examinations are great. As it is stated that plan seems great. I have no issues with the stated terms of this section. Please consider the possibility of published works on the topic, especially research projects, as a viable means of recertification hours. My preference is towards homogenized standards across states, so that certifications can be honored if the specialist moves to another state.

Formal Education

Please be aware that nonverbal communication type disorders in adults exist and there is very little support for these individuals. Do not let this be seen as a lack of fluency in language. Also allow testing in multiple means to demonstrate literacy and fluency in native language. These individuals deserve to be able to find peer support specialists like themselves and get help when needed.

Work Experience

Disability populations face high levels of unemployment and barriers to accessing jobs. Creating virtual opportunities such as chat respondant, content moderation, and tech support can transform and change lives for the better.

Background checks

Not my domain. Looks great. Consider background checks but offer people opportunities to reintegrate into society and get out of the prison pipeline. There is a very valuable space for people with criminal histories in peer support. That said, I should be able to request getting in touch with a specialist that does not have a record of domestic violence if I am a survivor of DV, for example.

Recovery

Not all recovery is substance related. Or sometimes, recovery isn't primarily related to substances. With IDD and disabled adults there may be independent living and vocational rehabilitation, where they have to learn basic skillsets on how to live self-reliantly. Please strive to see recovery as more holistic than just sobriety. That is in line with the policy mandates from the Biden Administration.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility

Please help that Wisconsin system make it to North Carolina, please. It really is an uncomfortable and bad experience when I get misgendered at a peer support center, generally by the peers. Please have backdoor approaches to getting peer support that don't involve showing up at a center. Please encourage systems of sharing complaints and reporting problems at peer centers. For every peer support center, or online hub, please have at least one equity specialist of multiple margin identities.

Ethics

Please ensure that Ethical guidelines and standards are not only coached to Specialists, but also to Peers as well. If you got to put up ruleboards, do it. I think it is healthy and responsible to ask these standards of peers receiving specialist support, as well as specialists.

Costs and fees

This has been a barrier for me, and with accessibility barriers of training, I have been booted off the wait list. I would really appreciate reparative action to make right of some of the wrongs I have had to go through having my time wasted to be told there are no virtual training opportunities in my state. My email is applechipkitchen@gmail.com and my name is April Cyr. I'm in school to do fullstack design and development for the web and looking for paid experiences to help others.

Peer Supervision

Since I am pushing in other points to consider what Peer Support Trainings and Practice can look like virtually, Supervision is no different. There are softwares that have existed for over a decade that can enable this. I like citing MyFamilyWizard which is used in high conflict custody arrangements for easy monitoring of chat histories and emails, containing timestamps and relevant metadata.