Top 5 Mistakes by Clinicians: #2. Not Taking the Initiative to Address Practical Issues Related to Pay, Opportunity for Advancement, and Recognition/ Respect
For many professional groups, practical issues like pay, benefits, and advancement, are often influenced by the professional organization representing that group (e.g. social workers have the National Association of Social Workers to advocate for them) as well as the organized efforts of other employees in that profession. Most professions have a long history in clinical settings and so practical issues have been negotiated over many years.
Peer Support Specialists are the new kids on the block, with many organizations hiring their first Peers in the past 10 years. They are not clinicians and most do not have a professional organization that advocates for their profession on a national or local level. Many healthcare administrators who are responsible for practical issues like pay and advancement, have limited understanding of Peer Support Specialist roles and professional issues. The result is that many Peer Support Specialists are paid a wage that is below any of their clinical co-workers – a wage that is not sustainable. They also have few, if any opportunities for professional advancement that allow them to continue to work as a Peer over years. In a range of other practical ways, they do not receive the recognition and respect that other professions receive in terms of awards and professional recognition.
The predictable result is that many Peer Support Specialists do not stay in their jobs, leaving the field for opportunities for better pay and promotion.
The Veterans Healthcare Administration is an exception. The VA set salaries for fully credentialled Peers with experience at the GS-9 level, which range from $53K to $68K per year for base pay. With locality pay, Peers working in hi-cost places like Chicago can make between $69K and $90K per year.
The VA has also made sincere attempts to create opportunities for advancement, knowing that this will allow the VA to retain many of its most talented and experienced Peer Support Specialists. The VA created both “Leader” and “Supervisory” Peer positions that involve managerial roles. For those positions, base pay can go as high as $63K to $83K/year. For Supervisory Peers working in areas like Chicago, that translates to salaries in the $83k to $106K range.
Many other organizations have not invested financially and organizationally in these positions, offering salaries that are not sustainable with no room to move up. Salaries in some states are approaching the VA’s and are above minimum wage, while others have lagged. Most Peer Support Specialists are internally motivated to use their experience to help others --- but they need and deserve good salaries and opportunities for advancement.
Given the fact that Peers do limited national professional organization supports advocating for them, and often have few positions in any single organization, it is important that clinicians and administrators recognize that the community of Peer Support Specialists is unlikely to be able to successfully address these practical issues alone – they will need partners who advocate for, and with them. Administrators need to recognize the value that Peers bring to clinical work, and take the initiative to help advance reimbursement and advancement opportunities. They should look for opportunities like professional awards and other incentives, and extend those to Peer Support Specialists. They should look for opportunities to spotlight the work of Peer Support Specialists and for opportunities for Peers to talk about their work with top administrators.
The clinical setting benefits greatly from the work of Peer Support Specialists. That is our incentive to proactively work to ensure that practical supports for their work are sufficiently in place to sustain their work for the future.