Description: 

Peer-delivered services are mental health services provided by individuals, called peer support specialists, who have a lived experience of mental illness or substance use challenges. Peer support specialists leverage their success in the recovery process to help others experiencing similar situations and are an integral part of the recovery model.

This session aims to provide an overview of the historical roots of recovery-oriented care and the human rights movement that led to the emergence of peer-delivered services. Opportunities for collaboration between occupational therapists and peer support specialists are highlighted through clinical vignettes, with a focus on the community mental health setting.

Objectives:

At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Appreciate the historical roots of recovery-oriented care and peer-delivered services.
2. Define peer support within the context of the recovery model.
3. Describe the benefits of peer support as a way of enhancing or complementing mental health service delivery.
4. Identify actionable opportunities for occupational therapy practitioners to collaborate with and support the peer workforce.

Presented by:

Danielle R. Losonci, MS, OTR/L

Danielle is a proud alumna who has returned to the School of Health Sciences of Touro College to serve as an Assistant Professor in the Occupational Therapy program. Danielle is passionate about providing recovery-oriented and trauma-informed occupational therapy services and establishing new opportunities for occupational therapy provision in community mental health settings. As a collaborator with a Long Island peer-run recovery center, she facilitates group programming and works to establish student volunteer and fieldwork opportunities. She is an advocate for peer-delivered services and is actively incorporating this model into practice as an educator, mentor to fieldwork students, and clinician.