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Events

Latest Past Events

Peer Supervisors: The Importance of Peer Recovery Support Specialists Supervising Peer Recovery Support Specialists

Description: In this community of practice, we’ll discuss the importance of having PRSS in supervisory positions and the research-backed benefits this leads to. We’ll also explore several examples of state training programs for peer supervisors and discuss relevant advocacy in order to address systemic barriers to peer supervision. Facilitator: Annie Powell

Program Evaluation & Research Learning Exchange: Data Visualization

Data can tell a story and inform decision-making for an organization and its stakeholders. But how do you tell the story and use the information you’ve now gathered? In this session, we’ll discuss different tools and ways to visualize your data in order to communicate to your intended audience. Please Note: This has been rescheduled […]

CANCELED: Peer Recovery Support Specialists: Yours, Mine, or the System’s; Who gets to Own Our Lived Experience?

Description: In this community of practice, we’ll discuss the impact of sharing our lived experiences, particularly those that we share through an intersectional lens. We’ll talk about strategies to avoid systemic co-optation of our lived experiences. We’ll also discuss ways to identify our own boundaries in order to avoid exploitation. Facilitator: Mx. Yaffa Update: This […]

Event Series

As the country continues to battle the overdose epidemic, there has been an increased acceptance and understanding of the value of lived experience and the benefit of peer recovery support services in addressing this crisis. Yet, lost in this conversation, are the unique experiences and recovery journeys of Black people. As overdoses within the Black community continue to increase, it is critically important that we better understand the tools and resources necessary to fully support Black people on their recovery journeys.

This two-part interactive moderated panel discussion series will take a broad look at what recovery and recovery supports look like for Black people in the context of trauma and racism in the US, how the drug war and historical mistreatment of Black communities’ shape perceptions of recovery and envision an optimal future state of equity and diverse leadership in recovery.

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The PR CoE is hosting monthly learning exchanges for staff from recovery organizations and peers who are interested in learning more about evaluation planning and implementation, assessment, and research engagement. The goal of these sessions is to create space for shared learning, networking, and growth. Sessions will consist of presentations from folks doing this work every day and discussions amongst participants. Join us in better understanding evaluation and research for peer recovery!

 

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The Association for Recovery Schools (ARS), in partnership with the Peer Recovery Center of Excellence, present this webinar series. This series, developed by the ARS Committee for Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI), will focus on the topics below within the context of secondary education, with a particular focus on recovery high schools. Each webinar will feature a subject matter expert as well as the co-chairs of the JEDI committee; Ahmed Hosni and Morgan Thompson.

Please Note: Webinar 3 will now be facilitated by Dr. Adriana Villavicencio

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Connecting peers, recovery support services, and state agencies is crucial to fostering long-term recovery in our communities. Join us as we explore the use of peers in non-traditional settings and tools to help state agencies and other funders use funds more strategically to build recovery-rich communities.

By attending this webinar, the attendees will be able to:

  • Describe a new framework of thinking about organizations and service delivery through the lens of recovery.
  • Learn how State administrators can use the Recovery Consciousness and Integration Continuum (RCIC) framework as a tool to balance their recovery services portfolios.
  • Examine what resources might be necessary to create a robust recovery-oriented system of care.
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Join us for this interactive, 8-session series where we’ll explore tools your whole team can use to navigate challenges, make informed decisions, and improve organizational processes. While strategic planning provides the vision for where your organization is headed, strategic thinking tools are necessary for responding to unanticipated opportunities and barriers.

We will learn about and practice using empathy maps, tools for values alignment, environmental scans, SWOT/SOAR analysis, decisional balance, and more.

In each session we will introduce a tool (or two!), discuss how the tool will benefit your team, and draft a plan for putting the tool into action.

Facilitators:

  • Mat Roosa
  • Kris Kelly

Please register once for all 8 sessions! Reminders will be sent, but please save all the sessions to your calendars (saving available from your confirmation email).

One-hour sessions each Wednesday at 1:00 Eastern.
(12pm Central / 11am Mountain / 10am Pacific)

  • February 21
  • February 28
  • March 6
  • March 13
  • March 20
  • March 27
  • April 3
  • April 10

Register once for all 8 sessions! Reminders will be sent, but please save all the sessions to your calendars (available from your confirmation email).

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The purpose of this learning collaborative is to provide peer recovery support specialist employers in a variety of settings with the opportunity to learn more about how their policies and procedures, organizational structures, partners, and systems in which they’re embedded play a role in retaining their PRSS staff. Historically, workforce retention has been focused on building workplaces that support wellness, centered on burnout and compassion fatigue. However, there has been a large gap regarding the role that employers and systems play in contributing to staff turnover and PRSS leaving the profession. Through engagement in small and large group sessions, as well as organization-specific TA, employers will be able to work with uniquely qualified experts from diverse professional backgrounds to build tools and skills to reshape their understanding of the peer ethos and adjust organizational policy in order to better retain their PRSS staff.

This series will focus on 5 employer / organization types: Peer run respites, RCOs, substance use treatment agencies, certified community behavioral health clinics, and community-based organizations or programs. We anticipate working with a cohort of 15 organizations from around the country. Please be aware that this learning collaborative is open to teams of 2 - 4 people per organization and is intended for those in management roles such as directors.

We will host 6 sessions and 1 kickoff meeting in addition to monthly organization / program-specific TA that participants will receive from their facilitators. Each participating organization is required to meet with their assigned facilitator at least once per month and is required to attend all of the plenary sessions. Please keep this in mind when applying as we are looking for organizations that can maintain this commitment throughout the learning collaborative.

Session Dates: 2nd Tuesday of the month:  12-2pm Eastern / 11am - 1pm Central / 10am - 12pm Mountain / 9 - 11am Pacific

  • February 13th
  • March 12th
  • April 9th
  • May 14th
  • June 11th
  • July 9th

Link to Apply (Deadline December 15th): https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YXPGCDB.
For any additional questions please contact Tim Saubers, at tim.saubers@austin.utexas.edu.

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The Peer Recovery Center of Excellence, in partnership with Communities for Recovery, is hosting monthly virtual networking sessions to gather recovery community stakeholders interested in addressing communication access challenges and developing solutions.

Communication access means providing assistance to all who need it, including individuals who are Deaf or have hearing loss, are blind or have low vision, or people who have limited English proficiency (LEP). Effective communication access ensures an equal opportunity to participate in, and enjoy the benefits of, a service, program, or activity. At this time, the virtual networking sessions will focus on communication access related to hearing loss or deafness with the PRS workforce.

Participants of these sessions might be: Deaf or Hard of Hearing (DHH) Peer Recovery Specialists, other professionals serving the DHH recovery community, and leaders interested in building the infrastructure and support for the DHH Peer Recovery Specialist workforce.

The virtual networking sessions are a space for attendees to discuss what is working and to identify potential solutions to the communication access barriers the DHH PRS workforce faces.

Learning Objectives:

  • Nurture networking within the DHH Peer Recovery Specialist workforce and other recovery community stakeholders
  • Explore strengths and identify barriers for the DHH PRS workforce
  • Discover strategies for developing communication access plans

November 2023 - August 2024 (3rd Monday of each month)

1-2p ET (12p CT/11a MT/10a PT)

Register once for all 10 sessions! Reminders will be sent, but please save all the sessions to your calendars (available from your confirmation email). Also, note that January's session has been moved to Jan. 22nd, as Jan. 15th is MLK Jr. Day.

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In 2021, the Peer Recovery Center of Excellence conducted an extensive national needs assessment regarding capacity building needs for Recovery Community Organizations (RCOs). The study found that a common barrier to sustainability is the absence of solid organizational infrastructure, often driven by a lack of funding and understaffing.

This learning series focuses on key tools and resources RCOs, RCCs, and other peer-run organizations need to develop a solid foundation from which to grow.

Series Learning Objectives:

  • Offer practical skills and foundational elements needed to run, operate, and grow a healthy nonprofit organization
  • Educate nonprofit leaders on the importance and elements of building proper infrastructure
  • Build community and share resources among RCO, RCC, and peer-run nonprofit leaders

Each topic will have two consecutive sessions. In order to participate in the second session, attendance at the first is required.

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Join the PR CoE in collaboration with the Clinical Training Center for Sexual and Reproductive Health (CTC-SRH) for their Clinician Café.

The Clinician Café is a virtual platform with curated resources including podcasts, research articles, resources, and two 'Tea and Talk' Zoom discussions. This self-guided platform is open for the week of October 23 - October 30, and will explore existing and emerging sexual and reproductive healthcare services while applying a harm reduction lens within the Title X setting and in the surrounding communities.

Registration will grant you access to the whole event including:

  • Monday, October 23 - What is Reproductive Harm Reduction? featuring Joelle Puccio at 11a - 12:30p CT.
  • Tuesday, October 24 - It Just Makes Sense: Coordination Between Harm Reduction Services and Title X Grantees featuring Sharon Hesseltine at 12 - 1p CT.
  • Thursday, October 26 - Q&A: Connections and Conversations featuring Morgan Brinker, Kamila Alexander, and Kasey Edwards at 2 - 3:30p CT.

Find out more about this event here.

 

 

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Unsure about research, evaluation, data collection, and how it relates to your daily workflows? TRx Development Solutions is providing a 3-session series for peers and organizations with peer recovery support services around meaningful research, evaluation, and data collection. This series is designed to assist peers and recovery organizations on how to explore meaningful research, how to engage with research, how to unpack the usefulness of data in day-to-day work, and how to effectively collect and use the data required by SAMHSA.

Session Topics & Dates:

  • July 6th: How to Use Research
  • August 3rd: How to Evaluate
  • August 31st: How to SAMHSA
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The Phoenix Tales Recovery Storytelling workshop is no longer accepting applications. We had a resounding response and the application process is now closed. Please check out our other events for additional opportunities.

Want to transform the way you share your lived experience and significantly deepen your impact? Phoenix Tales Recovery Storytelling is a creative, collaborative, informative, and fun process in which participants cultivate both the craft and advocacy of their storytelling with techniques from Theatre, Recovery Coaching, and the art form of Personal Narrative Storytelling. Participants will craft a personal story of their own about an experience from their past, understand positive recovery messaging in stories, discover a more authentic voice, and reduce internal and external stigma and shame, resulting in a story that is a more effective tool for healing the self and deeper impact for advocacy and social change. Participants leave with the skills to apply these techniques to their storytelling and advocacy work in the future.

Please note, this is a 9.5 hour training that takes place over two days.

Dates (must attend both days):

  • July 13, 2023
  • July 14, 2023

Time: 10:45a - 3:30p ET/9:45a - 2:30p CT/8:45a - 1:30p MT/7:45a - 12:30p PT

This workshop has a maximum capacity of 24 individuals. The first step in the process is an application to attend, which is linked below. You will be notified on Friday, 6/23/23 whether your application has been accepted and if it has, provided a link to register. Because of the limited seats, we ask that you are available for both sessions in full before applying.

 

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The Peer Recovery Center of Excellence, in partnership with Transgender Equity Consulting, is offering a series of workshops for peer recovery support specialists to improve their ability to work with Trans, Gender nonconforming, and Nonbinary (TGNCNB) folks. The primary goal of these workshops is to provide all participants with tools that they can use every day which will better equip them to work with TGNCNB individuals. Additionally, these workshops will frame the information presented in a way that connects the radical history of peer support work to working with and supporting marginalized communities.

Those interested in attending are encouraged to participate in all 3 sessions as they will build off of each other. Participants will receive certificates of attendance for each session they attend and will receive copies of the material presented.

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The Peer Recovery Center of Excellence hosts monthly communities of practice, a type of affinity call, as spaces for peer recovery support specialists and those who supervise them to network, learn, share, practice, and grow together. The goal of these calls is to bring together a variety of diverse perspectives from across the country to share in mutual learning that is centered on topics relevant to the peer workforce.

Peer Recovery Support Specialists (PRSS) and supervisors who attend and participate in these communities of practice will receive a certificate of attendance. Due to the varying ways in which peer recovery support specialist recertification works, it is the responsibility of individual peer recovery support specialists to ensure these communities of practice meet their state’s recertification requirements.

Previous PRSS topics include:

  • Exploring and Understanding Foundational Principles and Values of Harm Reduction
  • Peer Work in Institutional Settings
  • Mandated Reporting
  • Speak Truth to Power: Intersectional Advocacy
  • Exploring Peer Run Respites as Effective Crisis Alternatives
  • Exploring Certification Processes and their Impact on Growing the Workforce
  • Growing as Professionals: Translating Prior Work Experience into Relevant Skills for Success
  • Navigating Ethics and Boundaries as Peer Professionals
  • Community Conversation: Supporting People Navigating Eating Challenges
  • Supporting Pregnant and Parenting People
  • Community Conversation: Harm Reduction

Previous Supervisors of PRSS topics include:

  • Writing and Implementing Policies and Procedures that Support People with Lived Experience
  • Transitioning from a Direct Service Role to a Supervisory Role
  • Peer Workers as Supervisors
  • Building Connecting Using the 5 Critical Functions of Supervision
  • Integrating Peer Support into Housing Services
  • Understanding the Americans with Disabilities Act and its Impact on Supervising Peer Recovery Support Specialists
  • Language Challenges in Mental Health and Substance Use
  • Values-Driven Evaluation: How to Meaningfully Demonstrate the Unique Impact of Peer Recovery Services
  • Community Conversation: Supporting People Navigating Eating Challenges
  • Supervising Veterans Providing Peer Services
  • The Experience of Peers who are Supervised by Non-Peers
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The purpose of this training series is to provide recurring opportunities for peer recovery support specialists from across the country to build foundational skills that are necessary for effective peer support service provision. Each of the 6 topics are being offered again beginning in January in order to accommodate PRSS who are new to the field and those who would like to brush up on their basics. Additionally, these trainings may serve as an option for TA requesters looking to build their skills as PRSS.

In complement to the Communities of Practice, these training sessions will be structured in such a way as to support concrete skill development including group discussion, presentation, facilitated activities, and more. Through this training series we aim to better equip the PRSS workforce with the skills necessary for the effective, professional, and intentional provision of peer support services.

Intended Audience: This training series is for Certified Peer Recovery Support Specialists (PRSS). Participants may register for one or all six trainings in this series!

Participants will receive certificates of participation for each training they have attended. Please remember to enter your name in registration the exact way you would like it to appear on your certificate.

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Did you know that poor processes account for 85% of the problems organizations have in serving customers? The NIATx Change Leader Academy helps organizations answer 5 key questions:

  • What's it like to be our customer (customer is used broadly to include program participants, referral sources, the community)?
  • What are we trying to accomplish?
  • How will we know if a change is an improvement?
  • What changes can we test that may result in an improvement?
  • How can we make the improvements sustainable?

If you are interested in learning more about this process improvement model, register for the NIATx Change Leader Academy. Space is limited and attendance of all four sessions is required to register. Sessions are highly interactive- part of the benefit is learning from your peers.

Target Audience

Recovery Community Organizations, as well as any organization that employs or wants to employ Peer Recovery Support Services

This training is broken into four sessions and attendance is required for each.

More Info

For questions about the Virtual Change Leader Academy, please contact Kris Kelly at kris.kelly@wisc.edu

For questions about registration, please contact Cindy Christy at christyc@umkc.edu

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© Copyright 2024 Peer Recovery CoE - All Rights Reserved

Funding for this initiative was made possible by grant no. 1H79TI083022 from SAMHSA. The views expressed in written conference materials or publications and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

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