Peers Partnering with Clinicians: Employment Services

For some people, rebuilding their work life is key to their recovery.  For many, the journey to find work that they can do successfully and that they feel is rewarding is long and challenging.

 There are several common barriers to their success.  (1) Many people are hesitant to try to return to work.  They may have had negative experiences of failure or conflict at work.  They may not have worked for a long time.  (2) Work can have negative side effects – stress, contact with difficult people or tasks. (3) Even without side effects, work can be difficult – benefits can take a while to accrue in terms of getting to know and trust coworkers, building a sense of competence and confidence in the work, getting into rewarding roles with good pay.  Because of side effects or other factors, steady progress on recovering a work life can be difficult.

 Peer Support Specialists can play a key role in partnership with employment services.  They can be a concrete model of success.  They can help their clients see the potential benefits of employment.  We all tend to think of these benefits first in terms of pay and benefits, but the rewards are often much broader and include daily activity, social connection, sense of meaning and achievement, and a sense of identity.  Peer Support Specialists can also ask questions about the experience of going back to work, navigating a range of issues such as disclosure, accommodations, disability income, etc.  They can also encourage clients to continue to collaborate with vocational staff over time, and avoid dropping out.  Finally, they can encourage clients to remain patient and persistent ---both very important in the effort to return to work.

I have seen vocational programs use Peer Support Specialists strategically and successfully. 

 One program had all new clients meet with the Peer Support Specialist first before they met with any other staff.  The Peer Support Specialist was there to encourage hope… “If I can go back to work successfully, so can you!”.  They talked with each client about the benefits of working and how much they were surprised by how it improved the quality of their life.

 A second program had Peer Support Specialists helping clients with their job searches.  The process of looking for, and applying for jobs, takes a lot of work and can at times be discouraging.  There are often small conversations that create an opportunity for the Peer Support Specialist to encourage hope and share recovery stories from the life of that peer, but also from other clients that had given permission to share their success with new clients.  The Peer Specialist became a “story teller” who shared experiences that framed the job search for every client in a way that kept them going.

 Another program had a weekly job club that was co-led by a Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist and a Peer Support Specialist.  The Peer Support Specialist was able to build mutual support more quickly in the group and to encourage open discussion of struggles and successes.

What Peer Support Specialists can and can’t do:

1.     They can talk about their own experience with work and vocational services.

2.     They can talk about the value employment can play in recovery.

3.     They can encourage clients to talk to providers about how work impacts them and what they need in order to continue to pursue work over time.

4.     They can accompany clients in the process of resuming work.  This might include practicing interviews with them, accompanying them to work sites, to put in applications or interviews, etc.

5.     They can talk with clients about challenges the client is experiencing in working with vocational clinicians.

6.     They can bring any peer support skills or strategies to the vocational program to help improve recovery outcomes.

7.     They can’t provide vocational services that are specific to vocational rehabilitation counselors.

8.     They can’t make recommendations about specific services based on training that they do not have.

9.      They can’t contradict the guidance of trained vocational specialists.

KEY WORDS: Peer Support Specialist, Vocational Services, Employment Services, Recovery, Peer Support, Peer Support Training, Peer Support Certification, Peer Support Jobs