State Program Takes New, Trendsetting Approach to Mental Healthcare
Peer training adds to spectrum of services while saving budget dollars
Who: Certified, trained peer support specialists (CPS). These are people who have achieved success in managing their own mental illnesses – such as depression or schizophrenia – and who have completed a rigorous training program and certification to obtain the tools necessary to support other consumers in their own journeys to recovery. Their role is not interchangeable with traditional licensed healthcare providers; however, CPSs have “been there” themselves. They have a unique insight into mental illness and what makes recovery possible. Georgia is the first state to train and certify peer specialists and the first state to be able to bill Medicaid for peer support. Since the program began in January of 2001, Georgia has certified over 200 peer specialists. The program web site is: http://www.gacps.org/.
What: Among their many activities, CPSs can do things such as:
- Help mental healthcare consumers set personal goals for recovery and map out how to get there;
- Assist consumers in setting up and sustaining self-help support groups;
- Assist consumers in creating Wellness Recovery Action Plans (WRAPs);
- Teach problem-solving techniques to individuals and groups;
- Help consumers develop social skills needed to get and hold jobs, while helping them overcome job-related anxieties;
- Teach people skills in fighting for their rights and destroying stereotypes and stigmas;
- Help people find decent and affordable housing best suited to their needs and where they can have the greatest independence.
Where: The peer support program has been established across Georgia. The DHR Office of Communications can arrange one-on-one interviews and program visits to give you a personal and compelling look at a successful program that has become a model for other states.
When: Interviews and program visits can be arranged at any time. The next certification trainings are scheduled for July 12-15 and 19-22 at the Center for New Beginnings in North Georgia.
Why: The DHR’s Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Diseases (MHDDAD) serves people of all ages who have the most severe mental disabilities and addictions. Until only a few years ago, mental health professionals thought the best they could do for the mentally ill was to stabilize them and reduce their symptoms. In recent years, the state has embraced the belief that people with mental illness can and do recover if they get the right treatment and supports. Since Georgia adopted the rehabilitation option, consumers no longer have to go to a clinic to get services; they can find services outside the clinic, where and when they need it. Certified peer specialists have become a vital tool in promoting recovery for Georgia’s mental health consumers.
How: The CPSs are trained by MHDDAD’s Office of Consumer Relations in the principles of recovery, self-help, and peer support, and how to adapt these principles to Medicaid-billable services. They work as paid employees in the community at peer centers, on community treatment teams and in hospitals across the state.
For more information, contact:
Elizabeth Wilson
404-657-1387
mewilson@dhr.state.ga.us
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