STAYING FAITHFUL TO THE PEER ROLE: PEER DRIFT

Mission creep is a danger for all organizations and jobs. Peer drift is specific to Peer Support Specialists and has some specific risk factors. Consider the following summary of differences between the roles of clinicians and Peer Support Specialists:

  What Drives Peer Drift. We are all susceptible to the conscious and unconscious influence of those we spend time with. Peer Support Specialists typically spend their days working with clinicians and on teams organized and led by clinicians. Many Peer Support Specialists also have supervisors who are clinicians. The result is that daily communication often takes the form of “clinician-speak,” using terms and strategies that reflect the clinical world. By osmosis, a clinical mindset starts to develop in Peer Support Specialists, who subtly feel drawn to begin acting and thinking like a clinician. If we add to that the unique vulnerability that Peers feel and that results from their routine sharing of their own personal experiences with illness and recovery, it is not surprising that Peer Support Specialists start to move toward a “safer” clinician stance. Many clinician team members don’t understand the role of Peer Support Specialists and so do not recognize when peer drift is occurring and may even reward it.

 What Peer Drift Looks Like. Peer drift takes a few predictable forms that you want to be watchful for:

·       The Peer increases behaviors that are common to a clinician’s roles—providing supports that are considered “treatment,” talking about diagnosis and clinician interventions.

 ·       The Peer reduces behaviors that are unique to their own role—less self-disclosure with clients and less discussion of the experience of illness, treatment, and recovery.

 ·       The Peer provides services that increasingly look like the services that clinicians provide. The team or program may even assign clinician tasks to the Peer, such as conducting clinical intake interviews.

 ·       The Peer starts to feel more attachment to the perspective and interests of the clinicians than the of clients. The Peer starts to adopt the clinicians’ values.

 ·       The Peer starts to behave as though the rules that govern clinicians also apply to them. Some rules do apply, but many do not.

 ·       Peers begin to lose the “peer perspective.” They stop advocating for clients. They stop giving feedback to clinicians and clinical programs from the perspective of the experience of the client.

 Strategies for Preventing Peer Drift. Over the course of your career as a Peer, you will want to keep sustained focus on preventing peer drift. Be vigilant, and work with other Peers to keep this a priority. Consider the following strategies:

 1.      Use a personal daily check-in routine to remind yourself of your top agenda and to identify any corrections needed. I start each workday with a three-minute check-in about what my overall goals are and review any evidence that I may be getting offtrack.

 2.      Keep an ongoing open discussion with other Peers. Use the power of peer influence by ensuring that you are meeting regularly with other Peers to discuss the work and the role. This is the perfect setting to have recurring discussions about peer drift. If your organization does not have a regular meeting of Peers, ask to create one.

 3.      Encourage open discussion with clinicians and supervisors about your role as a Peer and how it is different from the clinician role.

 4.      Keep a close eye on your competing motives and their impact on your behavior. Routinely ask yourself about how you are doing your work and what motives those efforts reflect.

 5.      Talk openly about the need to have work evaluations and awards clearly tied to the Peer Support Specialist role. If necessary, work with your supervisor to make this happen.

 6.      Consider getting involved with national, state, and local Peer Support Specialist associations. These contacts will strengthen your identification with your profession. Consider using this involvement to enhance local and national efforts to protect and promote the special role of Peer Support Specialists.

 Your role as a Peer Support Specialist is often not particularly clear to many of your coworkers. It is relatively new and still evolving, so it is not going to be easy for you or your coworkers to always recognize when your work has moved in an unfortunate direction. If you allow your work and your role to become a victim of mission creep, it is a disservice to your clients, your profession, and yourself. Recognize that mission creep is a serious danger—one that is worth fighting over the course of your career.