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Upcoming Events
Monthly Guest Speakers
May 1st, 2025
Center of Excellence for Psychosocial and Systemic Research
Capturing the Experience of Certified Peer Specialists in Healthcare Systems in Massachusetts
The Massachusetts General Brigham Hospital’s Center of Excellence for Psychosocial and Systemic Research (COE) aims to enhance the lives of those with mental health challenges through community-based projects. The COE focuses on research, psychoeducation, and addressing healthcare disparities while implementing psychosocial interventions to improve individual and community well-being.
In 2018, the Peer Specialist Team at the COE conducted a psychosocial needs assessment with mental health service users sampled from across Massachusetts. Listening group participants spoke about the benefits of peer support and a central theme that emerged was the clear need for more programs to include Certified Peer Specialist (CPS) services and better access to CPSs across the state.
In response, the COE peer team organized four listening groups with Massachusetts CPSs to identify the challenges faced by peer specialists in various work environments, along with corresponding recommendations, with the goal of improving the working conditions, effectiveness, and satisfaction of CPSs across Massachusetts.
Findings highlighted several areas where CPSs expressed a desire for improvement, categorized into four key topics:
Organizational Culture: The values, beliefs, practices, and behaviors that contribute to the overall success of CPSs in their work settings.
Resource Availability: Whether CPSs felt they had the necessary physical resources to perform their jobs effectively.
Training and Education: Whether, after their initial certification, CPSs felt prepared to fulfill their responsibilities and if they had access to opportunities for further growth through additional training and certification.
Role Definition: Whether CPSs felt empowered to perform their duties as trained, in accordance with the CPS Code of Ethics, and if their non-peer colleagues acknowledged, respected, and understood the peer role.
The COE Peer Specialists will present on this Peer Integration Project, followed by a discussion about the challenges Peer Specialists face, and what subsequent recommendations can aid in the integration of Peer Support Specialists into larger healthcare systems and improve access to their services.
Presenters for this talk from the COE include Valeria Chambers, Ryan Markley, Jacquie Martinez, Anne Whitman, and Sandi Whitney Sarles
Past Guest Speakers
