TUH-Episcopal Campus is always at the forefront of behavioral healthcare innovations, and we’re especially proud of how we’ve pioneered the integration of Certified Peer Specialists (CPSs) and Certified Recovery Specialists (CRSs) to revolutionize our services. That’s why we were so honored to earn the Peer Culture Transformation Organizational Award from the Peer Culture & Community Inclusion Unit of the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health & Intellectual disability Services.
This award recognizes an organization that supports the growth of peer workers and volunteers with lived experience in mental health and recovery and/or substance use disorder. Winners foster a collaborative environment for peers, partner across organizations, and uphold the values of peer services in all operations and advocacy.
“We’ve had Certified Peer Specialists longer than anyone in Philadelphia,” says LJ Rasi, LSW, Director of Behavioral Health at Episcopal Campus. “When we started the program in 2011, it was such a new idea and there were so few positions like it, even on the national level.”
Today, using Certified Peer Specialists seems intuitive: it makes sense that patients with behavioral health diagnoses would be more receptive to members of their care teams who’d had similar experiences. But almost 15 years ago, not everyone was open to the idea.
“Pretty much immediately, however, we saw how much of an impact our Certified Peer Specialists had on patients,” Rasi explains. “At that point, their biggest naysayers became their biggest supporters.”
Playing a Key Role in Support and Recovery
Episcopal Campus had started out with just two Certified Peer Specialists—one who was a former patient—but hired two more almost immediately, due to the success of the program. In 2018, it further expanded its peer services by integrating Certified Recovery Specialists—who all have at least 18 months in recovery, and use their lived experiences to help patients with substance use disorder—into its Emergency Department and Crisis Response Center.
Today, 16 full-time Certified Recovery Specialists and Certified Peer Specialists work across various care levels and multiple Temple Health campuses, supporting patients from crisis stabilization to long-term recovery and ensuring continuity of care through warm handoffs.
Certified Recovery Specialists also play a crucial role in engaging patients post-hospitalization, especially with the opening of the campus’ new Substance Use Disorder Clinic. Data shows that patients who receive peer follow-ups are significantly more likely to attend their first outpatient appointment: a crucial predictor of sustained recovery.
It’s a lifeline our CRSs are happy to offer because they remember accepting it themselves. “I am the patients we serve,” says Certified Recovery Specialist Will Bullock. “Witnessing a peer in recovery gives people hope.”
Creating Growth and Empowerment Opportunities
“Now, it feels like Peer Specialists are everywhere, and people really know their value,” says Briana Stinson, LCSW, Episcopal Campus’ Director of Therapeutic Programming. “Our peers are so connected to their communities that a lot of the time, they bring future Peer Specialists to us. They refer their support systems: the people they’re going to certification classes with or meeting through groups.”
Episcopal Campus has also created pipelines for future Certified Peer Specialists and Certified Recovery Specialists by partnering with Drexel University to provide internships to students pursuing certifications in peer support. We’ve teamed up with the Pennsylvania Recovery Organization-Achieving Community Together (PRO-ACT) to build additional pathways for recently credentialed Certified Recovery Specialists to gain real-world experience.
Gloria Gonzalez, Director of Substance Use Disorder Engagement, is especially passionate about developing opportunities for career advancement for the Certified Recovery Specialists she works with. “We built a professional ladder where there are two types of CRS positions: CRS I, where you’re providing peer support and recovery planning, and CRS II, where you collaborate with the care teams and identify appropriate levels of care for drug and alcohol treatment and conduct warm handoffs,” she explains. “It’s so important for our Certified Recovery Specialists to be able to use their experience to grow in their careers.”
Having a peer on the unit is also a powerful motivator for patients. “Our Certified Peer Specialists run a lot of our groups, and they really connect with our behavioral health patients,” Stinson says. “The patients are like, ‘Wow, you have lived experience? And you have a job here?’ It’s really empowering for them to see.”
“Here, My Story Helps Others Heal”
Finding out Episcopal Campus had earned the Peer Culture Transformation Organizational Award was “momentous,” Gonzalez says. “It was such a big deal to have our peers recognized for all their hard work. It can be a challenging job: taking their past trauma and transforming it into something that’s having such a positive impact on our patients and community. This was a huge thank-you to them for everything they do.”
“Sometimes, when you’re involved in a program that turns out to be pretty groundbreaking, you don’t realize how far ahead you are until you take a step back to appreciate it,” says Rasi. “This was a moment to reflect on how everyone’s hard work has paid off.”
It’s also an opportunity to focus on expanding both the CPS and CRS programs. “Our goal is to hire more Certified Recovery Specialists and to have them on every unit at Episcopal,” Gonzalez says. “There are Certified Recovery Specialists all over the Health System now—they’re at Main Campus, Jeanes Campus, at outpatient providers, and in the community—and I’m excited to utilize them even more.”
“When we first introduced our Certified Peer Specialists, they were mostly working on the Extended Acute Care units,” Stinson says. “But now, we’ve seen that the need is everywhere: the acute floors, as well as the medical units. We’re starting with trying to expand to offer that peer support to the acute floors on a broader level.”
Reaching more units means changing more patients’ lives, which also has a powerful impact on the peers themselves.“Episcopal Campus didn’t just hire me; they empowered me,” explains longtime Certified Peer Specialist Stephen Marino. “They saw my lived experience not as a liability, but as an asset. Here, my story helps others heal.”