Graduates of the MHA Peer Counseling Program offered through Department of Corrections
Mental Health Association of Delaware is contracted by the State of Delaware to train individuals as peer counselors. The counselors work with others who may be dealing with mental health issues, substance abuse or both and the program provides the training they need to become nationally certified.
“A lot of times individuals with substance use disorder really do have mental health challenges that they may not have ever known,” Karen DiNardo, Director of Peer Counseling at MHA said. “So those individuals who have now become successful in their own recovery, and we believe that recovery is possible, their job is primarily to share their lived experience with individuals who are just now wanting to deal with their own recovery.”
In order to become a peer counselor, an individual must have at least a GED, but DiNardo explained that those who have completed the program are from a wide range of backgrounds.
“We have people with GEDS. People with high school diplomas. We have college degrees, master’s degrees, we have law degrees. You know, these are all individuals that have had to go through recovery and have been successful for at least two years, meaning no relapses. They have had no hospitalizations, so on and so forth, and they’re hired because of their success,” DiNardo said. “So, we pay them to be who they are. And they get a credential, which is the national credential, and it really affords this group of individuals which are really so much more than you would even think, the opportunity to work in a rewarding, a tough, but rewarding job and a profession. We have individuals that have been incarcerated before, I mean, there are certain charges, that if someone were in jail or got arrested because you sexually assaulted someone, pedophilia, you can’t work as a peer. But maybe if you were distributing drugs or had a DUI.”
DiNardo explained that many peer counselors also understand the clinical side of recovery. They have utilized the services available and are able to guide the client through the process. Because the peer counselor has been through similar circumstances, they are also able to communicate effectively, provide advocacy services and help someone get the help they need.
“In order to be certified, they have to work at least 500 hours on the job doing peer work, and then they have to come see us at the Mental Health Association and take a course equivalent between 46 to 52 hours, “DiNardo said. “I say it’s between that amount because if they take it in person, it might be a little bit longer. Or they could take a hybrid of online, independent work and virtual zoom call meeting that we have available. So, after they successfully complete the training requirements, and they have their hours, then they get in touch with the certification board and sit for an exam.”
Someone who is interested in becoming a peer counselor can go to the MHA online registration system and see what courses are available. The trainings are free, but DiNardo recommends that someone who is interested take the peer information course first. Someone can be hired without certification, but once they are hired, they can take the training after two months on the job.
“We do offer full- and part-time options as different providers have different options. There are times they have part time needs that they look to hire. There are full time positions with benefits available, so it’s just any of the providers that are associated with Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health (DCM). They are required to have peer services,” DiNardo said. “Every one of the providers have different levels of programs. There’s an ACT team, which deals with serious and persistent mental illness. So, they might try to see what is their background, how are they, how were they doing in their position, and then try to allocate assistance. They can swap experiences or the ability to and match them with services and stuff. But any peer should be able to help anyone be it with substance use disorder, or mental illness challenges.”
One of the ways that MHA has been growing their peer counseling service is through a Delaware Department of Corrections (DOC) program. Correctional officers and administrative staff were trained in the program, and they identify individuals who have been successful in their incarceration to train to be peer counselors. This provides them with a career when they return to the community.
“The true benefit of working with the peer specialist for the client is you have someone sitting across from you that knows exactly what you’re going through. I mean, the easiest way for me to explain it is I grew up Catholic, and we were told that we met with priests before we get married, but the priest has never been married,” DiNardo said. “So for someone who’s gone through withdrawal, who’s relapsed multiple, multiple times, who lost everything, who’s been admitted to the hospital, due to bipolar disorder, all of those things, so they can say, “Yeah, I’ve walked in your shoes.” So, nothing beats that type of experience. They have a proven record of success.”
DiNardo explained that to be a peer counselor, the individual must have at least two years in recovery that is uninterrupted. If they dealt with mental health, they could not have been hospitalized in those two years.
“Because this job is hard. And every time you think your life is the worst, you meet someone that has it 100 times worse than you have, so we need we also need to know what they’re doing to keep them successful,” DiNardo said. “Are they following the 12-step program? Do they go to therapy, those types of things. Now, we realize that there are a lot of different ways people recover and maintain taking care of themselves. So the interview process is a lot different than most job interviews.”
Esther Hofnecht Curtis, Development Manager of Growth & Education at MHA, stated that they recently held their first graduation in the DOC program with five individuals receiving certification. Anthony Jackson, Courtney “Jonesy” Jones, Luis Charriez, James Wright and Robert “Ferg” Ferguson began training as peers while incarcerated, completing the 500 plus hours necessary to sit for the national examination. Hofnecht Curtis explained that all five of them have been released and now hold jobs, some as peer counselors and others in family businesses.
“I would say the other benefit of peer support is that there’s a lot of stigma with mental health and addiction issues,” DiNardo said. “And when you have the opportunity to work with a peer, it breaks down that stigma a bit because you have someone who has a very similar life to you, and they’ve been able to figure it out. It’s not only helping the individual, it is breaking down the barriers of stigma.”
Healthcare providers are also limited on how much they can do, according to Hofnecht Curtis.
“I’ve worked for hospital systems, and they have an entire standard of care and boundaries where they cannot go legally. And so, peers can kind of complement that circumstance and can actually provide the support or opposition, in a practice, in a treatment facility, those kinds of things. So that they can do some of the work that that physician can’t do, but kind of like a branch,” Hofnecht Curtis said. “The other thing is having somebody that speaks the lingo that can help somebody navigate any kind of healthcare situation, without feeling like they’re going in alone and being judged. I think that’s another element of it. So there’s a lot of little pieces that like it’s hard to describe, it really becomes like a support system for everybody involved not just the person that’s being, you know, guided right for everyone involved.”
New Castle County currently has a mental health court where individuals who have been arrested due to their addiction or mental health issues are provided guidelines that, if followed, could keep them out of jail, get them into recovery and possibly avoid charges completely. MHA has peer counselors who work directly with the mental health court to assist those individuals. There are plans to expand the courts into Kent and Sussex Counties as well. Hofnecht Curtis also explained that there is still a stigma related to mental health, especially in specific cultures.
“In certain cultures, it’s more it’s more of an issue to talk about mental health. And so we see all different a huge variety of people from different backgrounds and everybody has that little element in common,” Hofnecht Curtis said. “With the peer speaking about it, maybe someone else will be comfortable speaking about it.”
The program through MHA has been in place since 2010 but has grown significantly over the past few years.
“MHA was the first to hire peers. So, we have definitely had a great opportunity since we’ve worked with several providers as they brought peers into the workforce,” DiNardo said. “So it’s really gone a long way. And our next big hope is for private insurance to utilize peers and pay and reimburse for their services. And that will make it all blow up. The great thing about that, is we teach peers to recognize that everybody’s different, and we need when we’re working with them. We need to be person centered.”
Anyone interested in becoming a peer counselor can search for available trainings by visiting https://mha-in-de.corsizio.com/ .
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