Consider A Peer Support Program To Support Your Practice

Custom design & implementation and management services

“Peer support is a helping relationship between consumers / survivors that promotes respect, trust and warmth and empowers individuals to make changes and decisions to enhance their lives.”

“When it comes to community health, connectivity is crucial.”**

• Experience in common
• Sharing equal status
• Giving and receiving
• Knowing from experience

Peer support is powerful for both the volunteer who gives it, and a potential patient who receives it. I design, implement and direct patient peer support around specific treatments, especially “minority” treatments that are recent arrivals, gaining traction with physicians and patients.

Often, early adopters have insufficient budgets for expansive web advertising and marketing. A peer support program utilizes patients on a strictly voluntary basis, so start-up and maintenance costs reflect the design and production of program materials (a volunteer handbook) and my time to recruit and train volunteers, direct and nourish the program. Once the program is launched, it may be turned over to internal staff to run.

The program mission is to build a team of volunteers committed to

• Respect confidentiality
• Foster patient-centered choices
• Share personal treatment experience
• Support patients considering that treatment
• Refer them back to their MDs as appropriate

NOTE: Contact with interested patients is for purposes of support and sharing only. No effort to influence a decision, or statement that may be construed as sales or marketing, is permitted. Such influence will be grounds for terminating Program involvement. In addition, communication with interested patients may not contain any information that may be construed as medical advice. Patients must consult their own physicians for clinical advice and questions.

The volunteers also constitute a “talent pool” and contribute testimonials, blog entries, serve as media interview guests, co-present with a doctor at a patient event, etc.

Peer support is an asset to your practice, a rewarding experience for volunteers, and a gift to those who receive it.

* http://www.schizophrenia.com/pdfs/psmanual.pdf

** PeerNetBC, 2012-01-25 21:01:45 adminpeernet