Peer Support Services are when people with shared common experiences or challenges provide each other with emotional, social or practical help. SIMHC is pleased to be able to offer three types of Peer Support Services:
- Mental Health Peer Support Services: The mental health peer support program provides support services for all patients with a serious mental illness who are seeking additional support in their recovery. Peer support specialists use their recovery story to instill hope and assist clients in reaching and maintaining their personal recovery goals. In addition, a peer support specialist can serve as an advocate, provide information, help access community resources, and model competency in recovery and wellness. This program is available to anyone with a serious mental illness seeking a peer mentor to help guide them in maintaining a healthy recovery program.
- Peer Recovery Support Services: The peer recovery program provides recovery support services for all patients with a substance use disorder who are actively working on recovery. Peer recovery specialists help patients identify and build on strengths, set goals and access the appropriate health care and community resources. The peer recovery specialists serve as role models for self-care and help empower others by sharing their own lived experience. This program is available to anyone in recovery that would like to receive additional support in strengthening their support network.
- Family Peer Support Services: The family peer support program provides support services to families with a child experiencing emotional, behavioral or mental health needs. Family support specialists draw from their own experience as a parent or primary caregiver of a child with a mental health diagnosis. The family peer support specialist has current knowledge of the mental health system and recognizes the issues families face when raising a child involved in this system. The family peer specialist provides a variety of services to families. These include sharing expertise by providing information, teaching coping skills, providing emotional support, and helping parents become advocates. This program is available to any parent/caregiver providing the care to a child with a mental health diagnosis seeking additional support navigating the child serving systems.
- Promise Center: The Promise Center is a drop-in center for adults ages 18 and above who have a mental illness and enjoy socializing with other like individuals. The Promise Center is a non – clinical place to receive support and be involved in age – appropriate structured and unstructured activities and learning experiences regardless of how mental illness is impacting their lives. It is a resource to utilize in recovery when the individual has the say in what happens and for how long. The Promise Center is a peer – run center. It is not a crisis center or a treatment center, it is a place to develop and use social skills, learning about the community and work towards personal recovery.