Individual Placement and Support (IPS) and other supported employment programs are enhanced by including Peer Support Specialists. As vocational mentors or coaches, peers offer pre- and post-employment support individually and in groups. While the goal of IPS is to help people find competitive employment immediately, participants benefit from complementary peer services to promote vocational recovery. Peer support is beneficial before, during, and after a job is secured.
Here we offer resources to help Peer Support Specialists offer employment-focused services and supports. We also provide examples from the field.
Training & Supervision for Vocational Peer Specialists
Learn more about the evidence-based model of supported employment called Individual Placement and Support, or IPS.
10-page handbook to guide peer specialists serving on IPS supported employment teams.
9-page guide that includes the benefits of peer specialists on IPS teams, along with their job duties, a snapshot of a typical workday, and a job description.
A Vocational Peer Support Trainer’s Guide with tools, concepts, and lesson plans to offer a training in Vocational Peer Support.
North Carolina's mandated three-hour online supervisor training ensures that supervisors understand and embrace the role of vocational peer specialists.
Connect to your State's peer training and credentialing program.
In Illinois, peer specialists, called Certified Recovery Support Specialists, can earn an employment endorsement.
Pre- and Post-Employment Services Offered by Vocational Peer Specialists
As supported employment participants develop careers, peer specialists offer support and services to instill hope and promote wellness for work. Once participants are employed, peer specialists continue to support them to ensure wellness and success in the workplace. They also help their peers decide whether or not to disclose their mental health needs to employers, and to formulate requests for reasonable accommodations if needed.
Supported employment participants benefit from mental health peer-led wellness and self-direction classes. Classes are offered before, during, and after participants secure competitive employment.
Illinois' peer Employment Recovery Specialists teach health and financial wellness classes for IPS supported employment participants.
Peer specialists help participants complete this worksheet to decide whether and how their employment staff should discuss their mental health needs with employers.
Peer specialists assist people as they explore resources for requesting a reasonable accommodation at work.
As participants decide whether to disclose a criminal justice history to employers, peer specialists can help them to complete this worksheet.
Examples from the Field
North Carolina
Since 2013, North Carolina has mandated that each IPS team include Employment Peer Mentors. There are 36 state-funded IPS teams that employ approximately 75 Employment Peer Mentors. These mentors draw on their lived experience, including their own employment journeys, to offer hope and motivation. They encourage their peers to seek and maintain employment, wellness, and community integration. Employment Peer Mentors do not support an individual caseload. Instead they provide peer support to any IPS client who requests it. Employment Peer Mentors must have a high school diploma or equivalent, been competitively employed, and received or plan to receive the state-approved certified peer specialist training within six months of hire. They also must complete
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a required training on IPS and the supplemental training expected of all staff. An estimated 150 Employment Peer Mentors have been trained in North Carolina since 2013. Tara Alley, from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, suggests that the use of Employment Peer Mentors has enhanced IPS fidelity. Peer contributions include promoting zero exclusion by advocating for referrals by clinical teams, and freeing up time of the Employment Support Professionals by helping clients access needed resources such as interview clothing. Their lived experience helps with participant engagement. It also helps open up conversations about disclosure and how participants can request resources or support from their supervisors in order to be the most effective employees. Peer mentors inspire hope among clients, co-workers, and leadership.
Alabama
Since 2014, Alabama has operated 3 IPS teams that have included 1 FTE Certified Peer Specialist. Peer IPS staff complement all phases of vocational service delivery. They work with Employment Specialists and service users to develop career profiles, and support individuals as they decide what fields they want to work in and at what types of positions. They also assist Employment Specialists and workers in the training process at job sites. Peer staff provide support at meetings between service users and benefits specialists. They also go out with Employment Specialists on employer cold calls, and provide examples of the importance of employment to recovery. Commenting on what makes Alabama’s IPS teams unique, Mike Autrey, Alabama DMH Director of Peer Programs reflects, “without the peers on the team, it’s just another program.” Peer staff also reach
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out to service users and providers to market the availability of IPS services. This involves discussing with service users where they stand in considering employment. By sharing their personal vocational recovery stories, they give potential IPS clients a realistic preview of what the program involves. They also play an important part in IPS retention by meeting with people who are thinking of withdrawing from IPS about ways that services and supports could better meet their needs. They also contact clients who have lost touch with the team to try to re-engage them in services.
Oregon
Formed in 2013, The Oregon Supported Employment Peer Collaborative (OSEPC) promotes employing peer specialists on IPS teams as one strategy for linking the peer empowerment movement with IPS principles and practices. OSEPC is a component of the Oregon Supported Employment Center for Excellence (OSECE) through a partnership between OSECE and the peer-led Mental Health Association of Oregon. OSEPC offers monthly training and technical assistance calls for IPS peer staff, as well as training and technical assistance for statewide mental health agencies planning to employ peer specialists on IPS teams. Training topics include how to effectively tell one's own story, the key importance of benefits counseling, Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) for Work, and supportive skills such as empathy and encouragement. Joan Keenen, one of
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the coordinators of OSEPC, believes that peers enhance IPS in many ways, including by teaching recovery and wellness classes, discussing disclosure decisions, and introducing clients to anti-stigma programs like Coming Out Proud. To effectively integrate peers as valued IPS team members, Keenen emphasizes incorporating a recovery-orientation in an agency's mission, leadership, staff, and throughout all agency activities. A recovery-oriented culture creates a message of hope, wellness, zero exclusion, and the value of work. To realize this culture, a defined peer role is critical, along with peer-specific supervision and ongoing training and support.
Massachusettes
Supported by the Boston University Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, vocational peer support (VPS) is an approach for supporting people with lived experience of mental illness as they explore, pursue, and achieve vocational recovery. VPS includes helping people consider what type of work they prefer, career development goals, and additional schooling when relevant. VPS peers draw on their lived experience of vocational recovery, rather than functioning as IPS Employment Specialists or other supported employment staff. VPS peers work in any setting, including vocational, residential, or outpatient clinic programs. They are not solely focused on competitive employment, but aim to help people consider a wide array of vocational experiences, such as work, school, volunteering, or other meaningful vocational activity.
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Peers master VPS through a 10-module training program that conveys knowledge, skills, tools, and strategies. Trainees learn about the value of sharing their vocational recovery stories. while strengthening the belief that employment is possible. VPS is an advanced specialization that supplements core peer support competencies with employment support skills. Printed training materials and an implementation guide are available, as are expert trainers in the model.
Illinois
Thresholds is a large behavioral health agency with over 100 locations in the Chicago metropolitan area. It is a long-time partner of The IPS Employment Center. Thresholds employs a peer Certified Recovery Support Specialist (CRSS) named Sean Johnson. Sean has received IPS training and holds the Illinois employment endorsement. Sean offers both individual and group interventions focused on promoting self-determination in career development, creating a wellness-oriented lifestyle, and community outreach. Having comprehensive knowledge of IPS helps Sean understand the experiences of supported employment participants. It also promotes his collaborative work with Employment Specialists. Sean's supervisor, Roger Dickson, shares that having a CRSS-E on the team has facilitated success for many participants and enhanced
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IPS fidelity. Roger emphasizes the importance of Sean being familiar with everyone served by the IPS team. This helps staff and participants decide whether and how connecting with Sean would be beneficial
Trilogy is a behavioral healthcare agency in Chicago. It has been a long-time learning partner of The IPS Employment Center. Two IPS teams at Trilogy include CRSSs who provide individualized support in collaboration with the Employment Specialists. The CRSSs also lead WRAP for Work classes and Nutrition and Exercise for Wellness and Recovery (NEW-R) groups to help IPS participants improve their emotional and physical wellness as they pursue their vocational aspirations.
Trilogy is a behavioral healthcare agency in Chicago. It has been a long-time learning partner of The IPS Employment Center. Two IPS teams at Trilogy include CRSSs who provide individualized support in collaboration with the Employment Specialists. The CRSSs also lead WRAP for Work classes and Nutrition and Exercise for Wellness and Recovery (NEW-R) groups to help IPS participants improve their emotional and physical wellness as they pursue their vocational aspirations.
Go to the next section of the online toolkit, which highlights Peer Specialists as Employment Specialists
Back to main page on Peer Support & IPS Supported Employment
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