HRSA Awards Hirschi Grant
Funds training to increase specialists and provide mental health services
Dr. Melissa Hirschi, assistant professor in Social Work, has received funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HSRA) to fund the Peers Engaging and Empowering Recovery (PEER) Program. Dr. Susan Elswick, School Social Work Certificate Coordinator & associate professor is co-PI on this project.
The Peers Program is a four-year training grant that seeks to expand the number of Certified Peer Recovery Specialists (CPRS) across the state of Tennessee. A CPRS is someone who has self-identified as being in recovery from mental illness, substance abuse, or co-occurring disorders of both mental illness and substance use disorder (TDMHSAS, 2021). These trained CPRS will provide peer recovery services for mental health and/or substance use disorders. The University of Memphis School of Social Work is partnering with the Tennessee Association of Alcohol, Drug & Other Addiction Services (TAADAS) to train individuals from across the state of Tennessee to become certified through the Tennessee Department of Mental Health & Substance Abuse Services. The PEER program understands that peer support services are an essential part of the behavioral health treatment plan and can lead to improved health outcomes for individuals. Integrated models of healthcare include partnerships between behavioral health and primary care and include well-trained paraprofessionals. The PEER program will increase the number of trainees prepared to become peer support specialists in diverse locations, working with diverse populations.
The Tennessee CPRS program has trained 1200 CPRS since it began in 2013. Currently there is a large list of individuals who are waiting to attend the state level CPRS training. The state has identified there is a large need in the community for these trainings, and limited capacity to offer these trainings across the state and support these trainees with completing the necessary requirements for full certification. Many CPRS trainees have to take time off work and travel to participate in the rigorous state level training, and after the training they must find a location to complete their supervision and experience hours before becoming fully certified. This is often a challenge for many participants. The PEER program will support the completion of the certification training and experience requirements through a stipend-based program that will make the training more financially feasible and accessible to participants across the state.
In order for a trainee to become a CPRS, they must complete the required 40-hour training. This training includes modules on recovery, values, communication, stigma, motivational interviewing, cultural responsiveness, problem solving & conflict resolution, ethics & boundaries, trauma-informed care, co-occurring disorders, opioid use and medically assisted treatment, group facilitation, wellness, self-care & stress management, documentation, and supervision. Upon completion of the 40-hour training, individuals must also complete a minimum of 75 hours of supervised training. Support for partnership from agencies across the state of Tennessee that utilize CPRS practitioners has been given and the PEER program is looking forward to building and strengthening additional partnerships with agencies who are willing to have CPRS trainees as part of their organization as well as those who will hire CPRS practitioners upon certification.
In addition to training CPRS clinicians, the PEER program will also focus on developing technology that will assist the CPRS field with monitoring, maintaining, and navigating the certification and experiential process across the state. The university will assist the state with developing supportive technology called the Career Development for Peer Recovery Specialists (CADRE) system. The CADRE system will support the CPRS field by providing a web-based portal that can store CPRS certification data such as training dates, continuing education, certificate of completion, hours of experience in the field, and host a resource for CPRS practitioners to network and find current positions and employment across the state. Because there is no current technology-based system to support CPRS field, many practitioners have difficulty identifying agencies where they can complete their experience hours, and often have difficulty maintaining certification. The university will work closely with the CPRS Tennessee program to develop a web-based software that supports all the needs of the CPRS system. The CADRE system will simplify the process of collecting information from and communicating with agencies, supervisors, and CPRS clinicians involved in the state level CPRS credentialing program by allowing them to access and update information over the internet.
For more information on this program, contact Hirschi at mhirschi@memphis.edu.