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Published Online: 27 September 2023

“A Light at the End of the Tunnel”: Experiences With Peer Specialists in the Open Dialogue Model

Abstract

Objective:

The authors examined participants’ experiences with peer specialists in Parachute NYC, a community mental health program of support teams trained in Open Dialogue and intentional peer support.

Methods:

Qualitative interviews were conducted with eight enrollees and 10 network members (enrollees’ family members). All excerpts coded as pertaining to peers were thematically analyzed.

Results:

Experiences with peer specialists were mostly positive. Participants especially valued peers’ relatability and tendency to instill hope and engender empathy among enrollees and network members; peers’ ability to foster community connections was also highly regarded. Generally, enrollees benefited from having peers and other health care professionals on a Parachute team because of their different forms of expertise. Concerns about peer specialists in dialogic care were reported by some network members, who questioned peers’ degree of shared experiences, professionalism, and contributions to team unity.

Conclusions:

Despite generally positive findings, the optimal role for peers within the Open Dialogue model needs further exploration.

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Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Psychiatric Services
Pages: 283 - 286
PubMed: 37752824

History

Received: 13 March 2023
Revision received: 25 May 2023
Accepted: 1 August 2023
Published online: 27 September 2023
Published in print: March 01, 2024

Keywords

  1. Peer support
  2. Open Dialogue
  3. Crisis response
  4. Community mental health services
  5. Community support programs
  6. Family process and therapy

Authors

Details

Phoebe Friesen, Ph.D. [email protected]
Department of Equity, Ethics and Policy and Department of Social Studies of Medicine (Friesen) and Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry (Lynch), McGill University, Montreal; Department of Applied Psychology, New York University, New York City (Wusinich); Center for Home Care Policy and Research, VNS Health, New York City, and Department of Sociology, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina (Russell).
Christina Wusinich, M.S.
Department of Equity, Ethics and Policy and Department of Social Studies of Medicine (Friesen) and Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry (Lynch), McGill University, Montreal; Department of Applied Psychology, New York University, New York City (Wusinich); Center for Home Care Policy and Research, VNS Health, New York City, and Department of Sociology, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina (Russell).
Katherine Lynch, B.A.
Department of Equity, Ethics and Policy and Department of Social Studies of Medicine (Friesen) and Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry (Lynch), McGill University, Montreal; Department of Applied Psychology, New York University, New York City (Wusinich); Center for Home Care Policy and Research, VNS Health, New York City, and Department of Sociology, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina (Russell).
David Russell, Ph.D.
Department of Equity, Ethics and Policy and Department of Social Studies of Medicine (Friesen) and Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry (Lynch), McGill University, Montreal; Department of Applied Psychology, New York University, New York City (Wusinich); Center for Home Care Policy and Research, VNS Health, New York City, and Department of Sociology, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina (Russell).

Notes

Send correspondence to Dr. Friesen ([email protected]).

Competing Interests

The authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.

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