NEW PAN Resources – Embedding Peer-Delivered Services in CBOs document, and Peer Employment Resource Database

Embedding Peer-Delivered Services in CBOs

This piece of work, funded by the PHSA, is valuable for anyone involved in or interested in engaging peers within CBOs, particularly people in leadership roles, program managers, and people who are delivering direct services. The document outlines steps for incorporating the lived and living experiences into operations, and programs and services. For policymakers and funders in health and human services, it outlines the importance of supporting initiatives that prioritize engagement of people with lived/living experience and resources to address their unique needs.

This resource describes how integrating peer-delivered services requires a commitment to principles, practices, and policies that prioritize equity, collaboration, and deep respect. The principles section includes core values for this type of work, describes the necessity of leading with a trauma-informed lens and fostering a “Power With” approach to leadership, building upon the essential tenets of Nothing About Us Without Us and GIPA / MEPA. The practices section is written in a practical format allowing CBOs to use it directly to explore organizational readiness and inform hiring, onboarding, and supervision. By leveraging these insights and opportunities, organizations can strengthen their service delivery models, elevate community engagement, and empower individuals with lived/living experiences to thrive.

The document was written by Jen Cusick (Luminate Wellness) and PAN in collaboration with peers and the Collective Impact Network (CIN). The CIN recognized that CBOs have varying capacities in terms of supporting peer workers, particularly regarding access to budget, accessing resources and education about peer services, and embarked on a project that would address those needs. This project began with knowledge sharing, followed by an extensive literature search to ground this initiative on solid evidence and to address any disconnect between academic literature and the practical needs. This became the complementary resource (see below), released as an online searchable database on the PAN KnowledgeConnect  site, and was foundational to the creation of this document.

Prior to the writing of this resource, PAN created an advisory committee composed of members with lived or living experience of HIV, hepatitis C, or substance use, and who had worked with CBOs. Their deep, practical experience in the field ensured a more accurate interpretation of findings and identification of practice and implementation gaps. The advisory committee provided their guidance and feedback through focus groups and surveys, as well as reviewing the first draft of this resource. The topics and content covered in this document are heavily influenced by their feedback, and their voices are included at every stage of the process.

The goal of this project was to improve employment conditions for peers in CBOs, while elevating their voices and collaborating with them in the development of practices and policies. Please share widely.

Read the report.

 

Peer Employment Resource Database

The primary aim of this searchable database is to serve as a resource for leaders and practitioners at community-based organizations (CBOs), researchers, policymakers, and students deeply involved in or interested in the various aspects of peer engagement and the contextual evidence within the contexts of HIV, hepatitis C, and drug use. Resources seen as most relevant for use in BC include a summary, key findings, and outline practical implications for its implementation, as well as provide a link to the source material. We hope this database not only provides concise and credible information but also provokes further conversation, and the development of inclusive practices and policies. We again want to acknowledge the funding by the PHSA.

Given the complex and evolving challenges in areas like HIV, hepatitis C, and harm reduction, the CIN adopted a unique literature strategy to search, scan, and analyze relevant, contextual, and community-informed knowledge on peer engagement. This resulted in a thorough collection of 120+ peer-reviewed papers, and grey literature including white papers, reports, and other relevant materials. They offer both theoretical and practical insights into effective practices, policies, and principles for peer engagement and employment within CBOs.

CIN members, representing seven organizations, participated in reviewing the full text of key articles (about a third) and extracting data in the form of an annotated bibliography. The selection process prioritized regional knowledge generated from BC and contextual knowledge in the form of reports and white papers from community-based organizations, research, and advocacy groups, with an emphasis on those that were published after 2010. This year, PAN reworked the annotated bibliography into this searchable online database. Lower priority resources were included and listed simply with titles and links.

Please note that the summaries and key findings have been compiled focusing on guiding principles, practices, and policies for engaging people with lived and living experiences in CBOs – to provide an evidence-based foundation for the other resource (described above). As such, they do not offer a comprehensive overview of each article. We recognize that many aspects of these articles are not covered, which is why we added the link to the original article to allow for deeper study.

 

Questions? Contact Simon Goff, Collective Impact Coordinator and Executive Administrator: [email protected]