Strengthening and connecting the colorado peer support workforce - the colorado mental wellness network (cmwn) seeks to further develop the state's infrastructure for serving adult coloradans with…

Strengthening and connecting the colorado peer support workforce - the colorado mental wellness network (cmwn) seeks to further develop the state's infrastructure for serving adult coloradans with serious mental illness (SMI). By offering high quality trainings, continuing education and networking opportunities through statewide meetings and regional guilds, and consulting services, cmwn will elevate and enhance the sustainability of the peer support workforce, ensuring adult coloradans with SMI and CO-occurring conditions have access to quality peer support services for years to come. Between 2017-2018, 21.5% of adult coloradans reported having a mental illness of any kind, surpassing the U.S. Average of 19%. In 2018, colorado's suicide rate per 100,000 individuals was 21.8%, the seventh highest rate in the nation. Notably, of coloradans with a SMI during 2017-2018, 29.2% reported not receiving needed mental health treatment (kaiser family foundation, 2020), with many citing stigma as a key barrier to care (colorado health access survey, 2019). While this project broadly targets all adult coloradans with a SMI and CO-occurring conditions, cmwn has integrated quota measures into the proposed outcomes to ensure rural communities, which are disproportionately impacted by a lack of behavioral health providers and tend to perpetuate cultural stigmatization of mental health conditions, regarding seeking help as a point of shame or weakness antithetical to traditional western values of self-reliance and rugged individualism, are adequately reached by infrastructure developments. As the state's trailblazing leader in the peer support movement, cmwn is uniquely positioned to build infrastructure for supporting and professionalizing the rapid proliferation of peer support programs in communities statewide. Cmwn seeks $95,000/year for three years to implement infrastructure development strategies including (1) providing high-quality training to peer support specialists (PSS) and PSS supervisors, (2) creating regional guilds for PSS, (3) hosting quarterly statewide meetings for the entire peer support workforce, and (4) providing professional consulting services to peer support programs through the state. The goals of the proposed activities are to: * increase the number of PSS and PSS supervisors who receive high-quality, standardized training, prioritizing individuals serving rural communities and individuals already employed. * enhance the connectivity of the peer support workforce, including opportunities for individuals in similar regions across the state to discuss place-specific issues they share. * increase continued education offerings to the peer support workforce beyond baseline training. * formalize processes by which peer support programs and organizations can solicit and receive consulting services from cmwn to launch programs or improve their existing operations. Over the course of the three-year grant, measurable outcomes include training 80 PSS/year, totaling 240 PSS, training 20 PSS supervisors/year, totaling 60 PSS supervisors, and hosting 25 participants at each quarterly statewide meeting, totaling 100 people/year and 300 people total. With the additions of the listening tour, regional guilds, and standardized consulting services, cmwn expects to reach many organizations and agencies across the state and serve a grand total of 3,600 individuals over the lifetime of the grant.