IS YOUR ORGANIZATION READY? As much as it is critical to pair the right peer or mentor with the right mentee as Tony has shared, assessing if your organization is ready is an equally important step in peer program development or enhancement. If an organization is not prepared to support a peer program, the likelihood of success deminishes. Therefore, organizations should conduct an assessment of both their capacity to build a peer program and their ability to sustain the program. This means that an organization needs to value the concept of peer support in order to provide the necessary resources for that program. Resources might include: the accessibility and support of key organization decision-makers; the use of available dollars; management structure; peer support; and focused efforts on creating a multidisciplinary care team. Each phase of this process needs to include those decision makers and stakeholders who have a vested interest in the program. It is ideal for one or two point people to emerge as the champions or leaders of the process of assessment to determine the information to be gathered, analyze results, and share and act upon the results. Table 3: Organizational Readiness on page 13 provides a phase-based breakdown of considerations that may help organize your actions and guide your organization through its assessment. The information captured from the organizational assessment will also support the development of a Peer-led Support Program Plan. See Appendix B: Sample Peer-led Support Program Plan, pages 39 and 40.
Special Considerations If your organization is ready to employ SMEs it is important to remember that some PWH may be receiving social benefits which could be impacted by taking a salaried job. Before recruiting PWH to serve as SME, gather the necessary information from the Social Security Administration or the State’s Human Resources Department on how a salaried position could impact a candidate’s benefits, such as Supplemental Social Security income (SSI) or Social Security Disability insurance (SSDI), Medicaid, housing subsidies, or food and nutritional benefits (e.g., SNAP, WIC). Taking on a paid position could reduce those benefits for candidates in these situations. However, creative minds are able to find different ways that will not conflict with government benefits, think about: hourly positions instead of a salary, provide contract work, allowances, stipends and/or honorariums. Offering such information upfront will facilitate the hiring process, making it more efficient and transparent. Additionally, encourage candidates to seek out this information independently to ensure their understanding. These important steps will help you support staff retention for the care team as well as the agency overall.
12
