PCRP Session 3: Peer Specialist Roles in PCRP-Aligning with Peer Ethics & Values 5/15/24 [Video]

The Person-Centered Recovery Planning (PCRP) Consultation Corner is a 6-month learning series featuring a monthly webinar on the “FAQs” of PCRP; offering practical tools and resources to support quality PCRP at the level of both individual service delivery and organizational systems change; and providing follow-up “office hours” through smaller-group technical assistance for webinar participants who wish to take a “deeper dive” on a given topic.

The topic of webinar session 3 was “Peer Specialist Roles in PCRP-Aligning with Peer Ethics & Values.”

We know that in person-centered recovery planning (PCRP), the person receiving services makes decisions and takes ownership of their plan for recovery. This can be a new and uncomfortable role for people initially, for a variety of reasons. Peer supporters join with individuals to discover and advocate for what they want and need. This does not mean that the peer provider will always agree with people’s choices — however, it’s ALWAYS their ethical responsibility to support individuals in their unique recovery journey as that individual defines it.

This 90-min webinar highlighted the mutually beneficial relationship between PCRP and peer support, as well as how staff at clinical provider organizations can intentionally enhance this connection. Participants were also invited to explore tensions that arise when peer professionals work to maintain their never-directive, non-clinical stance while immersed in an environment that is heavily defined by clinical professionals, processes and services.

At the end of the session, participants were able to:

Describe a “must do” and a “must not do” related to the role of peer support in PCRP,
Name one way that professional peer support ethics supports a person-centered approach, and
Identify two resources to support and promote peer provider role clarity in PCRP.