Peer Mentor, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

Since the early 1990s, we have seen a proliferation of programs that utilize peer support services to enhance engagement and benefits from treatment services among persons with severe mental illness. In contrast, the idea of adding forensic peer staff to existing mental health agencies and programs can be met with fear and skepticism.

This webinar will explore the role of forensic peer specialists in re-entry services and supports for persons with histories of mental illness and criminal justice involvement. The importance of people’s experience of stigma and discrimination accruing to both mental illness and incarceration will be addressed. The presenters will examine outcomes from interventions delivered by peers compared to the same interventions offered by non-peers. The webinar will provide an evidence-based list of the active ingredients for effective peer support and describe a model for forensic peer support that features the concept of “citizenship” or sense of community belonging as an integral component.

cultural competence, culture, mental health services research, participatory research.