Resource Library

This issue brief offers valuable information to State Mental Health Authorities (SMHA) about the benefits of peer support and inclusion of the peer workforce throughout the behavioral health continuum. The document highlights current standards and best practices for including peer support workers as an essential component of services delivery for mental and co-occurring disorders, like substance use disorder (SUD).

A year after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Martha Barbone (CPS) reflects on the impact of the pandemic and how peer specialists are uniquely positioned to serve the needs of the community during a time of increased isolation, mental health symptoms, substance use challenges, food shortanges, housing instability, and more.

Highlights of this article:

• Many, like the authors, have benefitted considerably from Twelve Step recovery.
• However, others have suffered and died from stigma and policies within Twelve Step communities.
• Twelve Step programs must further accept harm reduction as well as medication and other pathways to recovery.
• While providers and Twelve Step members can make incremental change, large-scale cultural and structural change is necessary.

We hosted the authors of this article on our podcast! Check out the episode on our Recovery Talk Podcast page.

Utilizando datos de la Encuesta del Pulso de los Hogares del Censo de EE. UU., HelpAdvisor.com identificó los estados con las mayores disparidades entre adultos blancos e hispanos en cuanto a necesidades de salud mental no atendidas. Los recursos que aparecen a continuación están diseñados para ayudar a los hispanoamericanos que necesitan servicios de salud mental.

(Using federal data from the U.S. Census Bureau, we found 3.8 million Hispanic Americans aren't getting the mental health care services they need. Our report explores the issue, including expert public health analysis and local Spanish-language resources to help serve Latino Americans.)

LEARN about Recovery is a model used to assess community readiness, needs, and assets related to recovery support services. LEARN about Recovery is a useful model for those organizations looking to implement recovery support services in new jurisdictions and can also be used as a check-in on the progress of the recovery community in a region.

This toolkit provides resources that can be used in preparation for implementation of recovery support services as well as ongoing evaluation of systems change efforts.

During COVID-19, the lived experience and unique skill sets of peer support workers have been critical in supporting outreach and recovery to the most vulnerable. Register to watch the recording of National Council for Mental Wellbeing's second Office Hour session focused on peer support workers, Leveraging Peer Support Skills in COVID-19. Continuing the conversation from their previous peer support session, participants share how they’re engaging and supporting individuals and how we can support and advocate for you and your peer support team to safely engage in the COVID-19 response.

Peer recovery support services (PRSS) are increasingly being employed in a range of clinical settings to assist individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) and co-occurring psychological disorders. PRSS are peer-driven mentoring, education, and support ministrations delivered by individuals who, because of their own experience with SUD and SUD recovery, are experientially qualified to support peers currently experiencing SUD and associated problems. This systematic review characterizes the existing experimental, quasi-experimental, single- and multi-group prospective and retrospective, and cross-sectional research on PRSS.

This guide aims to support harm reduction organizations operating in virtual environments and summarizes some of the strategies that harm reduction organizations have developed and found to be effective at maintaining connection while doing harm reduction work virtually.

Court-mandated treatments imply a dual role for therapy providers not only of caring for, but also of having control over, involuntary clients. The impact of legal coercion on the therapeutic relationship and feelings of stigma is widely regarded as negative and detrimental for treatment outcomes. This point of view stands in contrast to advocates of the perspective that involuntary treatment can ameliorate social functioning and thus promote a better quality of life.

The purpose of this toolkit is to provide information, helpful tips and examples of how integrated care settings can best hire, train, integrate and retain Health-Trained Peer Support Specialists onto multi-disciplinary teams for the benefit of individuals who have co-occurring and behavioral health and healthcare issues. This toolkit was developed by the California Association of Social Rehabilitation Agencies with support from the Integrated Behavioral Health Project and funding from the California Mental Health Services Authority’s (CalMHSA) Statewide Stigma and Discrimination Reduction Initiative.

The objectives of this powerpoint include:

- Recognizing skin and soft tissue infections in people who inject drugs

- Educate individuals about risk factors and risk groups for Hepatitis C and HOV

- Describe prevention interventions for HCV and HIV including effective addiction treatment, behavioral risk reduction, and antiviral agents.

- Discuss how treatment regimens for both HCV and HIV are highly effective in patients with OUD and can be safely used with opiod agonist therapy.

The purpose of this half-day, introductory training is to provide HIV clinicians (including, but not limited to physicians, dentists, nurses, and other allied medical staff, therapists and social workers, and counselors, specialists, and case managers) with an overview of medical marijuana, its use among individuals living with HIV, and strategies on how to work with HIV patients who are using medical marijuana.

Medical Marijuana_Fact Sheet

Medical Marijuana_Reference List

Medical Marijuana_Trainer Guide