Shifting roles: peer harm reduction work at Regent Park Community Health Centre
Summary
This report highlights the success in broadening the range of opportunities for its peer workers and offer some thoughts for future program development.
Key Findings
This article explains some of the benefits and challenges for engaging peer workers at Regent Park Community Health Centre in Downtown Toronto. It goes over the two peer program models they draw from when developing roles for peer workers (the peer participation model and the employment development model) and details the benefits and challenges to each, as well as which aspects of each model are most well-suited to different peers. Some challenges in establishing peer programs are brought up, as well as potential strategies for mitigating them.
Key findings related to emerging/promising principles for engaging PWLLE:
- Peer work falls along a continuum from a “peer participation model” to an “employment development model”
- Drug users are the primary agents for reducing the harms of drug use
- Peer work encourages peers and clients alike to improve and take control of their individual health
- Consistency in managing boundaries between peer workers and clients
- Peer work can lead to greater stability which can lead to increased responsibilities/skills which leads to further increased stability
- If employing peer workers, support must be provided
- Peer workers are essential components of a harm reduction model
Key findings related to emerging/promising practices for engaging PWLLE:
- Equal opportunity for all peers who wish to participate
- Flexibility in tasks, training, compensation to accommodate peers at any point of their journey
- Ample opportunity for on-the-job training and skill development
- Ensuring non-peer workers are modelling appropriate boundary-setting so peer workers can follow that example
- Working collaboratively and creatively to respond to needs of peer workers
- If employing peer workers, support must be provided
- Peer programs must be tailored to specific needs of community and organization
- Peer work is most effective when combining skills/experience of peer workers and non-peer workers
Key finding on policy:
- Multiple tiers of peer work opportunities for multiple levels of stability, experience, and needs
- Peers must be included when developing peer programs or initiatives
Key Findings Related to Implementation Approaches:
- Range of support offered for peers has expanded: supervision, mentorship, education, employment counselling, other forms of support are all available
- Peer workers have non-peer workers to rely on for questions, training, supervision, and assistance
- The biggest challenge with peer programs is a lack of funding leading to a lack of adequate support and opportunities for workers
Other Resource Materials (i.e. images, frameworks, tables…):
Figure 1: RPCHC Peer Program Roles and the Continuum of Peer Work