Part One: Q&A with Chadwick
We invited Chadwick, Peer Support Specialist with the Grand Rapids team, to share his perspective on the role of peer support in the context of Specialty Care for psychosis, what sets peer support apart from friendships and clinical relationships, and what drew him personally to do this work. To read more about how Chadwick works with participants, make sure to check out our part two discussion HERE.
Q. How would you define individual peer support in the context of Specialty Care programs for psychosis?
Peer Support Specialists work alongside clinical team members to support participants in reaching their goals and next steps, no matter how big or small. Peer support offers participants in our specialty care programs the chance to interact with someone who has relatable life experiences. The approach is based on the idea of mutual support, with the goal of learning together rather than teaching or helping. Peer support creates space for understanding that your experiences are real and valid, and allows them to be processed and handled with empathy, hope, and care.
Your relationship with a peer support specialist is not the same as a friendship. Rather, talking with a peer can sometimes make it easier to talk about things that might feel stressful or scary to talk about with friends. We have a shared understanding that in a general sense, “I’ve been where you’re at before,” and can relate to what you’re going through. Working with someone who’s ‘been there’ offers hope – a light at the end of the tunnel at a time when it might be hard for you to see for yourself.
Q. How would you describe the difference between the peer specialist’s role on the team versus a therapist’s?
Peer support is based on the notion that you already have knowledge and answers inside of yourself, and for many of us, what you’ve gone through makes it hard to look at that. A peer can create a safe space to rediscover what you already know in a way, and what was potentially lost because you weren’t getting the support that you needed before. This is distinct from the therapist’s role, which in part is teaching something that you may not know anything about. That teaching can unlock new perspectives, new ways of looking at things, and support inner work that the person can do outside of therapy. Both peer support and therapy can involve aspects of building comfort with each other, but peer support can involve more mutual discussion of life experiences.
Just like all of the other parts of the program we offer, peer support is optional, and I may see participants more or less regularly depending on their interests and what the individual has identified with the team as what would be most helpful at a certain time. For example, if someone is really overwhelmed and needs the structure of a therapeutic relationship, I will take a step back so they can spend more time engaging in therapy, or whatever service they feel is the most needed at the time. But if something comes up that is well-suited for peer support, my colleagues will remind them that they can connect with me to process or work on something.
Our therapists sometimes use a therapy called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis (CBT-p). It relies on a very structured process to help an individual identify how certain thoughts were connected to certain behaviors and emotional states. This can be a really powerful part of the healing process in terms of learning empowering tools to reduce stress or deal with difficult emotions.
But if the person wants to talk more about the experience of what they went through – for example, about how their body felt totally different from normal, how there were many factors going on at once that contributed to their experience of psychosis – then that can be more well-suited to something that a peer can understand and discuss. These experiences are just common enough that we know they happen to other people, but rare enough that it feels like no one can understand. Being able to sit with someone else who understands can be very healing.
Q. What kinds of settings do you work in with participants?
The setting depends on what an individual would benefit from and their comfort level. So I can, of course, meet in the office, if that’s where people feel safe, or that’s easiest for them. But I’m also happy to meet in the community, often at coffee shops, libraries, or the park. I always suggest that we meet wherever the person feels comfortable opening up and having a conversation.
Sometimes meeting out of the office also leads into activities in which the person can feel more involved in the community and connected to others. For example, I’ve gone bowling, grocery shopping, practiced taking bus routes, and taken a yoga class with participants. Part of restoring hope is remembering that you still belong in the community.
Q. What do your first interactions with individuals typically look like?
My first meeting with someone is ideally during the assessment process, before they’ve joined the Specialty Care program. Sometimes this meeting happens at the hospital, but not always — it just depends on where they are. My goal is to be present to offer a peer perspective on the program, and also support the person as they share about their experiences, just to be sure they are a good fit for the program.
The next meeting is typically the intake meeting, where the person is enrolling in the program. I’m there to remind them of all the different kinds of services that are available, and what the frequency of each one might look like. I try to get a good sense of the person’s interest and capacity to engage in services, and offer advice for how to integrate these into their lives.
If I have not been able to meet the person through these first meetings with the program, then I will usually try to get an introduction to them through a team member they have gotten comfortable with.
Once the person is enrolled, I try to encourage an initial meeting with me, so we can talk about peer support in more detail, discuss when we might want to meet again, and the things we might want to work on together. More than anything, I want them to at least know that I’m here for them anytime that they want to talk about things that other people might not understand easily. At this point, I emphasize that, as a peer supporter, I’m going to be their advocate, no matter what. For example, if they’d like help talking to the prescriber about their medication preferences, even if we’re not regularly engaging, I make sure they know that they can call on me to join them.
Q. What led you to want to become a peer specialist?
Before panic attacks, racing thoughts, and my first hospitalization, I was already in a PhD program studying communication, and I had a Master’s degree. My goal was to become a professor – to do research, teach, and help people build better relationships. But when my mental health challenges progressively worsened to include voices and other abnormal experiences, that path felt like it had disappeared.
One therapist I connected with really made a difference. They worked from a strengths-based approach and reminded me that I had a deep sense of empathy for others – and that, since I’d already made it through grad school once, maybe I could consider a path in therapy. That idea planted a seed. It gave me a little bit of hope, but I wasn’t ready to commit to more graduate school without knowing whether the mental health field was really the right fit for me.
Then, during one of my hospitalizations, I had a conversation with an occupational and recreational therapist. They mentioned peer support as an option – something I could pursue without needing another degree. That really stuck with me. It felt like a bridge – an opportunity to step into the mental health world, to see what programs are like from the inside, and to reconnect with a sense of purpose by helping others.
Today, I feel more fulfilled with this than I think I ever would have been if I had become a communications professor. I still think I would have enjoyed helping people in that role, but I feel like the work is more important here.
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To read more about how Chadwick works with program participants, please check out our follow up conversation HERE
About Chadwick:
I grew up in West Michigan and came back to be around friends and family for a more supported mental health recovery. I have a B.A. in Communication from Michigan State and an M.A. in Communication Studies from the University of Georgia. I have past experience teaching a variety of communication classes and also worked as an online tutor when I was struggling to feel able to work. I have been a peer support specialist for over a year and feel very grateful to have found the role and the co-workers that I work with now. In my free time, I like to try new foods, spend time with friends, and one of my recovery goals is to find more ways to enjoy nature.