The peer model: the critical role of ethics in efficacy

Because of their proven efficacy and the influx of funding for peer services, peers with lived experience are increasingly being hired in multiple settings for a wide variety of roles. However, there are also great challenges, given that the majority of employment systems have established operational paradigms at odds with the recovery-oriented environments peers are most effective in, leading to poor outcomes when peers aren't supported properly. This workshop will describe the characteristics and qualities of the peer role and the status of the current peer workforce, sharing examples of credentialing, certification, and associated codes of ethics. Some of the many challenges peers face in the workforce and within the current paradigm of systems they are placed within including discrimination, secondary and tertiary trauma, burnout, unfair policies governing individual's recovery status, peer drift, supervision by those who don't understand the role, and the lack of recovery orientation will be explored. Lastly, using the research of William White, SAMHSA, the Peer Recovery Center of Excellence, and others, we will arrive at a framework of suggested policies, procedures and ethical guidelines and considerations, for the hiring, training, supervision and retention of peers within systems of all types.