NYC Well being + Hospitals has introduced that greater than 50 individuals with lived expertise in psychological well being or substance use situations have graduated to develop into peer counselors. Of them, 25 of the 38 graduates within the first two lessons have been employed as peer counselors, 17 work inside NYC Well being + Hospitals, and 12 extra college students graduated from this system this month.
Peer counselors can join with historically hard-to-reach sufferers by sharing their lived expertise as a result of friends live proof that restoration is feasible. They’re extremely adept at inspiring hope for these whom they serve.
“Peer providers are a essential a part of the behavioral well being care that we offer to our sufferers,” stated Omar Fattal, MD, MPH, NYC Well being + Hospitals co-deputy chief medical officer and system chief at Behavioral Well being. “We’re proud to proceed our funding within the metropolis’s behavioral well being workforce via our Peer Academy, which trains individuals with lived expertise with psychological well being or substance use problems to develop into licensed peer counselors. NYC Well being + Hospitals is proud to have the most important hospital-based peer workforce within the metropolis, and excited to proceed to develop this beneficial function for New Yorkers.”
NYC Well being + Hospitals at the moment has 86 friends on employees all through the system. This system contains six weeks of classroom coaching; a six-week, full-time, hospital-based internship with rotations within the inpatient psychological well being unit, emergency division, and cell disaster groups; and self-directed hours required for state certification.
Peer Academy employees work with college students to assist them discover and keep employment for as much as six months after commencement. The subsequent session of the Peer Academy will happen within the fall. Functions can be found right here.
“The Peer Academy was totally different from something I’ve skilled,” stated Regina Fambro, CRPA-P, a peer counselor at NYC Well being + Hospitals/North Central Bronx. “I went from dwelling in a world the place I felt nobody understood me to being in a room the place simply 20 individuals can relate to me. That was large for me. We realized via classroom instruction and had been hands-on throughout our internship. We constructed a household amongst ourselves via community-building workouts. We supported one another, but in addition held one another accountable. Our workforce laughed, cried, and danced collectively. The Peer Academy has ready me in my present function as a peer counselor by giving me the braveness to open up and have the ability to assist sufferers I encounter. It elevated the quantity of empathy I already had for individuals. It’s additionally allowed me to be taught acceptable methods to advocate for my sufferers and guarantee they’re handled from their sickness and never their situation, whether or not it’s substance abuse or psychological well being.”
“The Peer Academy gave me this unimaginable alternative to encourage and assist others who’re affected by habit, in order that they don’t should undergo it alone,” stated Jack Chudasama, a pupil within the first cohort of the Peer Academy who’s now a peer counselor at NYC Well being + Hospitals/Elmhurst. “For 30 years, I battled habit, so being a peer counselor is nice for my very own restoration, too. It grounds me and provides me a robust sense of function.”
“For years, I noticed a psychiatrist and a therapist, however once I began working with a peer counselor and going to a peer assist group, I had a breakthrough,” stated Brian Pelzer, who receives providers at NYC Well being + Hospitals/Woodhull. “You’re with different individuals who have related issues, and also you understand there’s nothing to be ashamed of. I reconnected with my household, and I realized strategies that assist me in my day-to-day life. Now I am going to my peer group each week, and it’s part of my restoration.”
An essential a part of the system’s workforce growth efforts, the NYC Well being + Hospitals’ Peer Academy is a complete that trains people with a lived expertise of psychological well being or substance use challenges to develop into peer counselors employed by a hospital system.
Peer counselors are an essential and rising occupation within the behavioral well being area, however the jobs are onerous to fill. Earlier than creation of the Peer Academy in 2022, peer counselors had the best emptiness price of any behavioral well being occupation at NYC Well being + Hospitals. The peer counselor workforce continues to develop, as extra packages and providers increase their use of peer providers and the emptiness price stays excessive.
The self-directed studying and classroom hours wanted for state certifications to develop into a Licensed Peer Specialist for psychological well being and a Licensed Restoration Peer Advocate for substance abuse are a part of the Peer Academy program. It contains greater than 20 hours of on-line workshops, 168 hours of classroom coaching, and 168 hours at a hospital-based internship.
An rising variety of the scholars are former NYC Heath + Hospital sufferers who had been referred by clinicians all through the system and are in restoration, but have restricted work histories. There may be large curiosity in taking part in this system as a result of it’s a job that gives which means and function. The work can also be enticing as a result of it’s a unionized metropolis job, with built-in profession ladders and ample alternative to develop professionally at a big group.
