Advocacy & Rights
Knowing your rights and needs and being able to communicate them clearly to others.
*hint* having the confidence and self-awareness to make your own choices.
What is self-advocacy
A process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential
What is recovery?
This public health strategy focuses on reducing the negative consequences of substance use when abstinence isn't immediately possible
What is harm reduction?
Language that focuses on a person's abilities, talents, and inherent value rather than their diagnoses or deficits
A peer you are supporting cancels two appointments in a row and stops responding to calls. What is your next step?
Acknowledge the cancellations, document your attempts to reach out, and try to re-establish contact by leaving a kind, non-judgmental message or sending a follow-up email.
Advocating alongside peers as partners by sharing knowledge and skills is what type of advocacy?
What is peer-advocacy
What is a key foundational element that requires one to "put themselves in another persons shoes"?
Empathy
The PSS demonstrates this core skill when they rephrase what a consumer has shared to ensure clarity, e.g., "What I'm hearing you say is...is that correct?"
What is reflective listening?
Using words that uplift rather than diminish a person, such as "an individual with a mental health condition" instead of "the mentally ill"
What is recovery language / person-first language?
During a peer session, the individual you are supporting mentions having thoughts of suicide. How do you respond?
Assess the risk, listen without judgment, ask directly if they have a plan, do not keep a plan for suicide a secret, and link them to crisis support or a suicide prevention lifeline.
What law ensures the privacy and security of a consumer's health information?
What is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
The peer led curriculum, Wellness Recovery Action Plan has a widely known acronym (letter abbreviation). What is the acronym?
What is WRAP?
What are the 5 steps to supporting the peer way?
1. Reflect
2. Relate
3. Validate
4. Permission question
5. Open-ended question
Setting aside personal biases and refraining from criticism to create a safe atmosphere where individuals feel accepted
What is non-judgment?
A peer asks you for advice on which medication they should take for their anxiety. How do you respond?
Explain that as a peer specialist, you cannot give medical advice or recommendations, and encourage them to speak with their doctor or a qualified professional.
This federal law prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in public life and employment.
What is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?
A structured self-management and recovery system developed by peers for peers to help manage mental health challenges and identify triggers
What is a Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP)?
This concept encompasses health across eight dimensions, including emotional, physical, financial, social, environmental, intellectual, occupational, and spiritual aspects
Wellness
What type of statement is this: People with mental health challenges are violent, are unable to care for themselves, or don't get better.
What is a stereotype or misconception
You are in a group session and another group member makes a stigmatizing comment about someone with an addiction. How do you address this?
Use the opportunity as a "teachable moment" to gently correct the language, focus on the person, and reinforce the use of recovery language in the group.
This landmark Supreme Court decision affirmed the right of people with disabilities to live and receive services in integrated, community-based settings rather than institutions
What is the Olmstead Decision?
The key principle of peer support that emphasizes a non-hierarchical, reciprocal relationship built on common ground
Mutuality
Individuals often go through these 5 stages of change in their recovery journey.
What are Precontemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, and Maintenance?
Often stigmatized as "trading one addiction for another," this evidence-based recovery method uses FDA-approved medications to stabilize brain chemistry and is legally recognized as a state of sobriety.
What is Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT)?
A peer discloses to you that they used drugs last night, even though their goal is abstinence. How do you respond?
Acknowledge their honesty, remind them that recovery is a process with potential setbacks, do not shame them, and refocus on their goals and coping strategies (harm reduction approach).