|
|
|
|
R3 Video Tutorials
MOUD Clinic Focus Group Findings
CAPP Highlights: Ohio Council Member
Peer Support Specialist Data Registry: New Survey Available
Additional Resources |
|
|---|
|
|
|
|---|
|
|
Resources for Recovery Research (R3) Video Tutorials |
|
|---|
|
Members of the STARS team have created a library of 14 videos to help members grow their understanding of the field of recovery research. The tutorials focus on the context for recovery research, recovery measurement and research priorities, conducting recovery research, and presenting and applying research findings.
Access the R3 library: https://the-orcca.com/resources-for-recovery-research-r3
|
|
|---|
|
The STARS MOUD Clinic Research Exchange
|
|
|---|
|
The STARS Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) Clinic Research Exchange is a practice-based research network that aims to advance research on behavioral interventions and other support services that can facilitate treatment and recovery among individuals with OUD. The Exchange is comprised of clinics in Central Appalachia that provide MOUD/medication-assisted treatment (MAT), including opioid treatment programs (OTPs) and office-based opioid/addiction treatment (OBOT/OBAT) programs.
To date, the MOUD Clinic Research Exchange has welcomed 34 clinics that are participating in focus groups, survey recruitment, lunch and learns, and partner initiatives.
|
|
|---|
|
The STARS team held two focus groups with MOUD Clinic Research Exchange members to explore how they may use peer recovery support services and what factors impact how these services are provided. Preliminary findings are described below. As a next step, the STARS team will use the findings to guide an online survey aimed at learning more about these services within MOUD clinics across Central Appalachia.
- Overall, there was variation across clinics in how, if at all, peer recovery support services are delivered. Examples included onsite services, offsite services, and virtual services.
- Clinics described the engagement of peer recovery support specialists in an array of services, ranging from connection to resources to transportation support to outreach and advocacy.
- A primary challenge mentioned was inadequate funding or reimbursement for peer recovery support services. Clinics with these services reported using various funding sources, such as state and federal grants and paying out-of-pocket.
- Clinics expressed strong support for and recognized the value of including peer recovery support services in the delivery of MOUD services.
|
|
|---|
|
"As part of the treatment team, we really try to support our peer support professionals by affirming their ability to share their experience, strength, and hope. We really love to embrace the peer support specialists’ ability to be not only the motivator, but the ally, the truth teller. I like to call them resource brokers because they help extend our hands out to the community. They get to be monitors, and advocates, and they really get to be an integral and important part of the whole treatment team of medical and of clinical." - Clinic Staff |
|
CAPP Highlights:
Ohio Council Member |
|
|---|
|
|
In this issue, we feature the perspective of CAPP's Ohio council member, Vanessa Escamilla, CPRS, freelance PRS Training Facilitator and independent contractor for the Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services PRS Certification program. |
|
|
|
|
What have been some of the most rewarding aspects of your work in peer recovery support?
It's been very rewarding in many ways working as a peer recovery supporter (PRS). Learning that I'm not alone when it comes to my substance use disorder and mental health diagnosis has given me hope. I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders and the dark journey I thought I would always be on has turned into a future and career. It has been such a great learning experience going from working as a PRS outreach worker, to being on our quick response team providing direct services in many settings, to finally finding my passion and becoming a PRS training facilitator. It has been awesome and I never thought something like this would ever happen to me. Learning that there are multiple pathways to recover has been a huge part of what's helped me stay on my recovery journey. Being able to explore and discover my true self and what I love has helped me mentally, physically, and spiritually. I love everything about peer support and what it means to be a peer supporter. So, I would say I'm definitely happy peer recovery support has come into my life and even just helping one person find their own way is rewarding in itself.
What are some of the looming challenges for peer recovery support services (PRSS) and/or the work that you are doing right now?
Some of the challenges I've had along the way include seeing the many accidental overdose deaths and how it can sometimes feel like I'm wondering if I'm actually making a difference. Seeing so many lives lost has definitely taken its toll on me. I've also experienced burnout a time or two within the last 5 years since I've been certified, and I think I'm not alone when I say a peer supporter will put too many things on their plate. For whatever reason, we feel we need to prove ourselves and trying to show our worth has been hard, too. Just because a PRS can do so many different things doesn't mean we should do them all at once! It has been hard for me to set boundaries and say no to tasks sometimes. Even though I learned the hard way, I have definitely learned, and my challenges have led me to try to help and train the next certified PRS not to go through the same things I have.
In your experience, what are some factors in Ohio specifically that are supporting or limiting peer recovery support services?
I think Ohio has been great about PRS services in the urban areas and larger cities, with peer-run organizations, centers, and plenty of resources for people. However, in the rural areas, I feel like we are still trying to catch up to the concept and more data needs to be collected to show just how important PRS services are. I feel PRS are constantly being asked by employers to become clinical, like a Chemical Dependency Counselor Assistant (CDCA), and that makes the PRS position feel inferior or less than in this field. Whereas I know that peer support is evidence-based and is the glue that helps participants stick to their recovery path.
How might the CAPP Advisory Council help to address any challenges?
I think the CAPP Advisory Council has already been trying to address these challenges by noticing them, building up our registry membership, and doing our best to collect comprehensive baseline data that will help establish the evidence base for peer support.
What do you hope the CAPP will accomplish this coming year?
It's my hope for CAPP that we can continue to grow our membership and that it can help Ohio be more involved in great things. The CAPP gives us a platform, including trainings, to collect important information about PRSS.
What is one thing you’ve enjoyed so far serving on the CAPP Advisory Council?
I think the best thing that I've enjoyed so far about being on the CAPP Advisory Council has been getting to know more good people actually exist out there, and that there are folks that truly do care about us peer supporters. I've enjoyed communicating with and getting to know a variety of research investigators, leaders, professionals, and other peers from different states who truly believe in peer support. That they all want to understand what PRS need in order to help other peers has been a great feeling for me, too.
|
|
|---|
|
Peer Specialists are Invited to Join the Registry!
For more information, please visit:
The CAPP Peer Support Specialist (PSS) Data Registry is an opportunity to learn more about the roles and activities of Peer Support Specialists (PSS) in Central Appalachia, including PSS working with patients/clients utilizing Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD). To date, the registry has enrolled 300 PSS through the baseline survey.
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
|
Perception of Stress Survey Now Available |
|
|---|
|
Members of the PRSS Data Registry are invited to complete a new survey focused on perception of stress. Each participant will be entered into a lottery drawing for a $200 cash incentive.
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
|---|
|
| |
|
We are excited to advertise new East Tennessee State University (ETSU) faculty positions in the departments of psychology, social work, counseling, and nursing. This faculty cohort will teach and train students to become integrated behavioral health providers and conduct scholarly research on integrated behavioral health. The goal of this cohort is to strengthen Northeast Tennessee’s behavioral health workforce. Please share these positions with your network and visit the below links for more information on each position.
|
|
|---|
|
2025 NIDA Diversity Scholars Network (NDSN) |
|
|---|
|
The NIDA Office of Research Training, Diversity, and Disparities (ORTDD) is excited to share that the 2025 NIDA Diversity Scholars Network (NDSN) program is now accepting applications! NIDA is seeking applications from individuals from diverse backgrounds, including those from underrepresented groups, who are interested in conducting substance use and addiction research. The NDSN is a grant-writing program aimed at enhancing the funding success of early-stage investigators. The program consists of three workshops and culminates in a mock review meeting experience. Please share this opportunity with anyone you think might be interested.
The deadline to apply is January 31, 2025. A Pre-Application Webinar, along with FAQs and other important information about the program, can be found on the NDSN website. |
|
|---|
|
JCOIN Rapid Innovation Grant Call is Opening Soon |
|
|---|
|
The JCOIN Rapid Innovation Grant (J-RIG) program is a rapid funding mechanism to support small research grants to study newly emerging policies, practices, or interventions that address prevention and treatment of addiction in criminal legal settings. Applications should focus on substances associated with overdose and overdose mortality. Projects should have direct relevance to individuals who are involved in the criminal legal system but need not take place within criminal legal settings. J-RIG is intended to facilitate short-term projects that are not compatible with traditional National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding mechanisms for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to, time sensitivity or pilot data collection.
The next Call for Proposals will be released on January 5, 2025. More information:
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
|
|
Please contact us if you have recently published work you'd like to share with the STARS network related to Peer Recovery Support Services, Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD), and similar topics.
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
|---|
|
|
Looking for a collaborator? |
|
|---|
|
|
|
|
|---|
|
|
| |
|
|
