Peer-Led Projects:
Assessing the priorities of recovery communities across Massachusetts.
The COE partners with Peer Consultants (PCs), who are individuals with lived experience of mental health and/or substance misuse challenges. PCs are community leaders affiliated with Massachusetts recovery learning centers, and they consistently inform our research by giving voice to the priorities of community members. Together, we work to assess unmet needs and implement projects, including quality improvement initiatives, across the Commonwealth.
The main goal of this project was to identify care concerns among those in recovery from mental health or substance misuse challenges.
Our PCs designed and piloted a semi-structured interview guide for listening groups, which included questions related to lived experience and topics of interest. A total of 18 listening groups were held with diverse participants across the state of Massachusetts.
5 main themes emerged from these listening groups: 1) Reducing stigma, 2) Improving care access, 3) Providing wholistic care, 4) Including peers in research, and 5) Strengthening the quality of providers.
Guided by these original listening groups, our PCs have gone on to develop and implement the Parents in Recovery Video Project as well as the Cultural Access, Inclusivity, and Racial Equity (CAIRE) Project.
METHODS
PCs designed and piloted a semi-structured interview guide for listening groups, which included questions related to lived experience and topics of interest.
A total of 18 listening groups were facilitated with 159 participants, and were held among recovery communities spanning the state of Massachusetts. Historically underrepresented groups were recruited to participate, including: Latinx, African Americans, LGBTQ+, homeless persons, students/young adults, and deaf and hard of hearing community members.
RESULTS
A total of 18 listening groups were facilitated among 159 participants, with two conducted in Spanish and one conducted in American Sign Language. The median age of participants was 48.0 years (IQR: 33.5-59.0), and the majority of respondents self-identified as White (57%), female (57%), and non-Hispanic (63%). Approximately 20% of participants distinguished themselves as Certified Peer Specialists.
Listening groups were audio-recorded and transcribed, and those conducted in Spanish were translated through consensus by two native Spanish speakers. A diverse coding team that included a PC, a research fellow, and a clinical research coordinator used rapid analysis coding to consolidate findings and identify themes within and across listening groups.
The themes that emerged after coding were 1) Reduce stigma from family members, providers, and community, 2) Improve access to services and research results, 3) Provide holistic care that accounts for the entire person, 4) Include peers in the development and implementation of research projects and the recovery process, and 5) Strengthen the quality of providers and improve training in effective and person-centered approaches.
These findings were shared back to MA recovery communities, and are the guiding priorities for the new research projects that PCs design and implement.
Guided by findings from the listening groups and PCs’ interests, the Parents in Recovery Video was created to promote the importance of the parenting role, reduce stigma, and lessen feelings of isolation among parents with mental health and substance use challenges. After our initial video, due to high demand, we filmed a second video featuring the adult children of parents in recovery.
We are actively working to integrate the video in interactive trainings and among different groups, including parents, child mental health providers, adult mental health providers, families, and DMH-affiliated groups.
CAIRE is a quality-improvement project to help the Southeast Recovery Learning Community (SERLC) become more culturally diverse and have a more vibrant and engaged presence of BIPOC and other minoritized individuals in the communities it serves. We are working on implementing this project at the SERLC sites of Brockton, Hyannis, Fall River, and Quincy.
A community needs assessment was conducted with the leadership of various SERLC centers, and a six priorities and implementation strategies emerged from these assessments. The main objectives focus on reaching minority groups, underrepresented populations, hiring more diverse staff, increasing social events and community engagement, and improving the SERLC spaces.
Coming soon – check back in mid-July 2024
Coming soon – check back in mid-July 2024
COE PROJECT STAFF
Anne Whitman, PhD, CPS
SENIOR PEER CONSULTANT
Paul Alves, CARC, NCPRSS, MAPGS
PEER CONSULTANT
Valeria Chambers, CPS, EdM, CAS
PEER CONSULTANT
Stan Langston
PEER CONSULTANT
Sharina Jones
PEER CONSULTANT
Ryan Markely, BA, CPS
PEER CONSULTANT
Jacqueline Martinez, FPS, CPS
PEER CONSULTANT
Cynthia Piltch, PhD
PEER CONSULTANT
Sandra Whitney-Sarles, MS, CPS, COAPS
PEER CONSULTANT
Corinne Cather, PhD
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Derri Shtasel, MD, MPH
CO-INVESTIGATOR
Katherine Kritikos, MPH
PROGRAM MANAGER
Lisa LeFeber, BA
CLINICAL RESEARCH
COORDINATOR
Julia London, BA
CLINICAL RESEARCH COORDINATOR
Hannah Skiest, BA
CLINICAL RESEARCH
COORDINATOR
Additional Collaborators
Diana Arntz, PhD; Jonathan Burke, JD; Cheryl Foo, PhD; Scott Francis, CPS; Reverend Norma Heath; Beth Starck, BA.
Funding
Funding for these projects was provided by the MGH COE/Massachusetts Department of Mental Health.