Online Program

Oral

The support of individual self-determination is critical to building the hope, self-efficacy, skills and knowledge required to manage complex life challenges. Health Care Reform offers multiple opportunities to finance holistic and strength- based services to assist people experiencing mental health challenges. This symposium will present four research-based, innovative service delivery strategies that have received national attention because they position the user of mental health services as their own locus-of-change. SELF-DIRECTION is a model for financing services and supports in which the individual manages a flexible behavioral health service dollar budget with support from a peer who is trained in person-centered planning. PEER-RUN CRISIS RESPITES are designed to serve as alternatives to traditional acute and inpatient psychiatric emergency services, offering short-term 24-hour residential peer support to individuals experiencing self-defined crises. EARLY INTERVENTION IN FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOSIS (EIP) is a set of wraparound supports that is in the early stages of implementation in the United States. PEER_RUN ORGANIZATIONS are formal entities that promote personal empowerment, wellness and recovery through self-advocacy and mutual support with peers. The coordination of Peer-run organizations with behavioral health providers will be addressed. The presenters will describe these service delivery models along with their conceptual frameworks, hypothesized outcomes and findings from national studies. Presentations will address strategies to engage people with ‘lived experience;’ peer support workers as practitioners in service delivery; and the strategy of including service users in the development of outcome measures. The alignment of each approach with the priorities and initiatives of the Affordable Care Act will be explained.

Session Objectives: Define four practices that support wellness and resilience self-direction; peer-run crisis respites; Early intervention in First Episode Psychosis (EIP); and coordination of peer-run organizations with behavioral health providers. Describe the health and recovery outcomes (measured and hypothesized) associated with each approach. Discuss the relationship of each of the approaches to current health reform initiatives.

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)