同侪支援专家:提供多重复原途径的关键连结

Lindsay Brown, certified peer recovery support specialist, uses her life experience to coach individuals in recovery.

As a certified peer recovery support specialist (CPRSS), Lindsay Brown has become a role model for many. The lead recovery coach at Boise’s Center for Behavioral Health, 她帮助患有物质使用障碍或精神健康诊断的个人制定策略，以减少对自己的伤害，过上更健康的生活. Sometimes this support manifests as a conversation about goals or priorities; sometimes it entails accompanying a peer to the gym to complete a work-out routine; often it means listening to somebody’s story or sharing her own.

“多年来，我和很多人一起工作，他们告诉我，‘我想做你做的事.’ And I think that’s great,” says Brown. “但我喜欢提醒人们:如果你要做这种工作, you have to be on top of your own recovery 24/7.”

Brown is in long-term recovery herself. 他曾两次因服药过量而幸存，自3月25日以来一直保持清醒, 2017, she knows firsthand what it’s like to live, breathe and face daily life with a substance use disorder. 这些知识促使她成为一名认证的同伴支持专家, 接受过药物使用和/或同时发生的精神健康障碍方面的经验，支持他人开始康复的人.

“作为一个物质使用障碍患者，分享你所经历的事情会带来很多内疚和羞耻,” Brown says. “To talk to somebody else who really gets it, who has been where you’ve been, 他们也接受过培训，可以利用他们的故事来帮助你——这会让世界变得不同.”

Peer Support Specialists: A Mile Marker on the Road to Recovery

寻求进入长期康复的个人并不是唯一从同伴康复支持服务中受益的人. 康复的成功在于在正确的时间、正确的地点获得正确的帮助, 但对许多人来说，这也取决于医疗团队个人成员之间可获得的护理的连续性.

“与我一起工作的许多人都能够摆脱他们的成瘾循环, only to get into another cycle—that of treatment,” Brown says.

对许多人来说，药物使用复发在恢复过程中起着重要作用. Consequently, 对于希望实施行为改变的个人来说，多次接受相同的治疗方案并不罕见. 因为同伴康复支持专家也在长期康复中, 这通常意味着他们已经访问了他们正在帮助他们的同龄人连接的资源和服务. At the same time, 他们和咨询师一样是个人医疗团队的一部分, therapists, physicians and case managers. 接受康复服务的知识与提供专家康复支持所需的知识和培训相结合，使同伴康复专家处于一个独特的位置，可以弥合个人需求(如医疗)时形成的护理差距, therapy, counseling, personal care, 和健康的社会互动)分配给多个专业人士, across disciplines.

“Certified peer supports are trained professionals,” Brown says. “我们的帮助方式不同于咨询师、医生和病例管理人员, but we’re here to help support that team, too.”

In 2021, 布朗加入了ECHO爱达荷州物质使用障碍咨询技术系列的专家小组, a free, 虚拟教育平台，专为爱达荷州的医疗团队与物质使用障碍患者一起工作而设计.

Tackling Substance Use Disorders as a Team

物质使用障碍的咨询技术系列为医疗保健专业人员提供了一个论坛，可以与爱达荷州的其他专家联系，以一种支持的方式学习最佳实践, collaborative and interdisciplinary. 布朗是一名专家小组成员，同时也是一名有执照的临床专业咨询师, 一个病例管理小组协调员一个精神病学和成瘾医学研究员.

“For people starting out in their recovery, peer supports are an invaluable resource,” says Sara Bennett, LCPC, CADC, 刘易斯顿滨河康复中心的执行董事和ECHO系列的小组成员. “当你可以告诉一个正在康复中的人，你知道那是什么感觉，因为你曾经经历过, that builds trust, which builds a relationship, which builds a community. That community includes healthcare team members like myself; Lindsay’s role is critical because of how quickly she can build trust and advocate for a person in recovery."

在ECHO爱达荷州，布朗为全州的观众做了演讲，主题包括“Person-Centered Language Strategies” and “The Role of Peer Recovery Support Specialists in Recovery.”

“我看到做这项工作的最大障碍是所有不同的护理人员在康复过程中的合作,” Brown says. “但我认为ECHO是医疗团队成员相互学习的独特平台. It’s literally peer support.”

抓住布朗在ECHO爱达荷州的物质使用障碍咨询技术系列, first and third Thursdays, 11 a.m. to noon Pacific time; noon to 1 p.m. Mountain time.

Written by Sam Steffen and Lindsay Lodis, ECHO Idaho.
Photos courtesy of Lindsay Brown.
Published February 2022.

At the time of this article's publication, 林赛·布朗是博伊西行为健康中心的认证同伴支持专家和首席康复教练. She has since left that organization.