By Jay Culkin, MA, YPA-C, NYCPS-P, Youth Training Coordinator for Families Together New York State

As peers one of the biggest things that we tend to focus on is inspiring hope in the individuals that we serve. We think about how we want those individuals to reach their goals, and we want them to live without the stigma while they’re reaching their goals and climbing out of the negative situations that they have found themselves in. Those that have taken roles as peer specialists or peer advocates were able to overcome so many challenges and have the privilege of modeling this as our career. Those who obtained the credentials and certifications that they need in order to do peer work have clearly demonstrated that they are able to handle professional responsibilities and support those that we serve. 

So why is it difficult for some clinical professionals to believe that lived experience professionals are just as capable of maintaining professionalism and succeeding as any other professional? 

People with lived experience can come from many different walks of life. Therefore, it’s not rare for people who have lived experience in the systems that we serve to have bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, and years of work experience that could even be clinical. 

Even though I was involved in the mental health system as a youth and as an adult, I was easily able to get through college because that was one of my strengths. Formal education was one of my strengths. I had also held a lot of different jobs that gave me a myriad of work experience. At the agency where I had first become a formal peer worker, I started off as a non-peer human services professional providing casework and care management services. I often received compliments about my work ethic and dedication while I was in non-peer roles. However, once I completed the peer credentials that I currently hold, I found that people in the same agency were treating me a little bit differently than they had treated me before. I had found that in a workplace where I was highly valued and capable, I was now seen as incapable and unnecessary. 

Ways To Uplift Peers Coming from Non-Peer Roles:

1. Provide information, training, and resources about stigma.

Make it a point to discuss stigma with all staff. Include direct care, clinical, medical, peer, and other relevant staff. Include a 5-minute peer moment during team or department meetings where bite-sized information about peer work is shared.  Have peer staff put together a share-out presentation or panel among themselves regarding stigma, where peer staff can list their achievements and successes in their lives.  

2. Advocate for your peer staff by educating non peer staff

Integrate conversations in your regular supervision meetings with non-peer staff. Have staff include a few hours of peer-related training into their yearly training requirements. Continuously remind staff of the value of each unique peers’ experience. 

3. Encourage lived-experienced professionals to put their degrees and credentials in their titles whenever they do any kind of work. 

Encourage peers to include their credentials. This can include YPA-P, FPA-P, and NYCPS-P. As peer professionals keep working in their field, they receive higher levels of that credential such as YPA-C, FPA-C, changing from provisional (NYCPS-P) to standard certification (NYCPS). Non-peer credentials and degrees can be included as well. No credential should be considered meaningless. Peers can include associate’s degrees, professional degrees, nursing degrees, etc. Encourage peers to display whatever credential they have with pride. Celebrate when another peer achieves any credential and normalize this. Don’t forget though… not every peer measures credentials or non-peer experiences as success and that is okay! 

4. Discuss role clarity as a team, including non-peer workers in the conversation 

A misconception about the value of a peer role is that everyone has a little bit of lived experience. Adverse childhood experiences, stressors, etc can be common among people who work in the human services field, including direct care, clinical, and supervisory staff. The fundamental difference is that a peer’s role specifically utilizes their lived experience. There is a certain level of vulnerability and a separate code of ethics for peers. People in non-peer roles, whether having lived experience in the systems or not, are not using their lived experience in their roles. If a non-peer staff member is interested in obtaining a peer credential and doing lived experience-based work, they are welcome to apply for a credential.

5. Mentorship, leadership, or affinity roles to uplift other peers 

Provide opportunities for more formally educated or highly experienced peers to be put in mentor or peer roles where they can share their success with their peer coworkers and colleagues. For example, a peer who noticed another peer started a business or non-profit might realize it is possible for them to succeed with their goals rather than fall victim to stigma. Or a peer with a bachelor’s degree may help a peer who has always wanted an associate’s degree to navigate being a college student as a peer. Creating these opportunities for spreading hope and inspiration for the peer workforce at large will allow for an environment of camaraderie and community. 

In Summary… 

At the end of the day the most important thing to remember is that if a peer has been awarded one of the peer credentials needed to be hired for a job and they are performing their job duties, they have equal value as a peer. It is important to remind peers, staff, clinicians, and all stakeholders in the agencies we work for of this fact. It is also important to note that we can, and should,  celebrate the diversity of experiences that peers come to the workforce with. 

About the Author: Jay Culkin is a professionally credentialed Youth Peer Advocate (YPA-C) who has been working in human services since 2015. Jay is also a NY Certified Peer Specialist (NYCPS-P). He received a BA in Sociology in 2018 from Stony Brook University and received a Master’s Degree in Social & Public Policy with an Advanced Certificate in Child & Family Advocacy in 2023 from Empire State University. He was the first of a pilot project at SCO Family of Services, a well-known child and family services non-profit from the NYC metropolitan area, to have seasoned YPAs mentoring newer YPAs. The purpose of mentoring was to help newer YPAs practice boundaries, communication, assertiveness, and other useful skills as lived experience professionals. Jay has spent most of his time as a YPA advocating for transgender youth and providing information to staff about quality LGBTQ+ care in mental health settings using examples from his own lived experience. He has been working to raise awareness of neurodiversity and the specific needs of neurodivergent individuals in school settings and the workplace environment. Jay has a passion for literacy, poetry, and the English Language Arts. As part of his passion Jay has previously volunteered as a tutor for Literacy Suffolk Inc., is currently volunteering as a docent for the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association and has been assisting with running a local Open Mic Night event called A Box of Chocolates. Jay is a born and raised Long Islander living with his wife and pet bunny, Onion.