The Power of Peers in Suicide Care:
Lived Experience, Science & Technology

Free Webinar | February 24, 2022 | 8:00am PT/ 11:00am ET | 60 Minutes

Scroll Below for Webinar Video and Resources

Webinar Slides

Masica Jordan

Peerfinity Family Peer Support

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Cindy Schaeffer

Parent-to-Parent Family Peer Support

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Ted Ryle

Peer-Powered Transition Supports

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Additional Resources

Jordan Peer Recovery

Recovery Specialist Employability Score

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Peerfinity

Learn More About High-Performance Peer Support

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Webinar: Grief & Loss Centers of America

Culturally Responsive Resources of Support During Your Time of Loss

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About

Services delivered by individuals who have life experiences with health conditions in common with the people they serve offer unique opportunities to foster hope and facilitate change. Emerging data demonstrate not only improvement in health outcomes but also better service outcomes such as more successful transition to outpatient care after discharge from a hospital setting.  

In this 60-minute panel discussion, we will share lessons learned from peer bridging in suicide care, supporting families and young people, and how technology-supported care may help peer bridgers, persons in suicide crises, and their supporters. 

  • Topher Jerome and Daniela Mendez Faria will describe a SAMSHA funded project in WA state, the impact of peer navigator support on patient experience, and their use of Jaspr Health technology platform.
  • Ashley Albert and Ted Ryle will describe their plans for a peer support service in WA state’s juvenile rehabilitation administration, focused on youth stepping down from incarceration and more generally providing community-based support to avoid restrictive settings. 
  • Masica Jordan-Alston and Cindy Schaeffer will describe both practical know-how and summarize the clinical implications from the empirical literature to speak to optimizing family peer support.
Speakers

Ashley Albert

Ashley is currently working on a Washington State funded peer bridgers project that will culturally adapt DBT for youth of color, primarily African American youth. This mobile app has been designed to offer DBT skills combined with peer support that will help Youth exiting long term rehabilitation facilities to have more supportive and less harmful transition. High numbers of suicide ideation and self-harm in African American youth are being reported in King County's Juvenile system. Ashley is also a Project Manager and Peer Bridger for Jaspr Health.

Masica Jordan, LCPC, CPRS, RPS, EdD

Dr. Jordan-Alston is the founder and CEO of Jordan Peer Recovery, a peer-led company dedicated to training and certifying peer support specialists, and the CEO of Peerfinity, a leader in delivering personalized, culturally responsive, tech-enabled peer support to individuals diagnosed with addiction and mental health conditions. Dr. Jordan has assisted over 50 agencies and 3 countries in developing Peer Support programs. She has served as a Subject Matter Expert for several non-profits throughout the United States and internationally in the areas of peer recovery, evidenced-based practices, culturally-responsive interventions, and research and program evaluation. She is currently working with the State of Maryland to implement quality family peer support specialist services to support caregivers and youth in the use of a digital mental health intervention, iKinnect, with substance-involved youth statewide in Maryland. She is also an Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology at Bowie State University, a part of the University System of Maryland and an Historically Black College or University (HBCU).

Daniela Mendez Faria

Daniela is a former Peer Navigator for the Emergency Response for Suicide Prevention program at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle where she provided support to individuals who were undergoing a suicidal crisis based both on her lived experience with mental health, and the use of Jaspr's digital platform. Daniela is currently the Research Operations Manager for Jaspr Health.

Topher Jerome

Topher is the Project Director for Harborview Behavioral Health Institute (BHI) and Lived Experience Advisory Board Chair at Jasper Health. He brings a lifetime of relevant experience to his work. As a Project Director at the BHI, Topher implements and manages a SAMHSA grant funded COVID-19 Emergency Response for Suicide Prevention program for emergency departments and inpatient psychiatric settings in WA State. This program combines post crisis peer support with the use of the Jaspr Health app. Prior to this, Topher spent 12 years developing, implementing and supervising a variety of peer support programs in intensive psychiatric settings. This includes the implementation of Peer Bridger programs in two publicly funded hospital psychiatric programs in Washington State and serving as part of the leadership team for a community behavioral health agency.

Topher Jerome Bio Pic

Ted Ryle, LICSW, MSW, MA

Ted is the Clinical Director for Juvenile Rehabilitation in the Department of Children, Youth & Families for the state of Washington. Ted leads and supports behavioral health services for young people in JR facilities and partnerships with providers who serve young people and families in their communities. As a person in recovery with substantial lived experience in JR as a youth, Ted has a deep appreciation for the power of peers. He is honored to be a part of efforts in the State of Washington to expand and amplify the role of Certified Peer Counselors and other mentoring supports.
Ted is also the former Clinical Director for the Cornerstone Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) program in Tacoma, WA, where he provided staff training and intensive clinical services for individuals with co-occurring intellectual disabilities and mental health needs. Ted has provided training, consultation and clinical supervision services to providers who support individuals with intellectual disabilities and young people with mental health needs who are involved with the juvenile justice system.

Cindy M. Schaeffer, PhD

Dr. Schaeffer is an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland and a Child-Clinical Psychologist. Her research focuses on developing, evaluating, and ensuring the successful real-world implementation of interventions for youth involved in, or at high risk of involvement in, the juvenile justice and child protective service (CPS) systems. She is a co-developer of iKinnect, a linked parent-youth mobile app system designed to empower caregivers to help their teenager overcome conduct problems, substance abuse, self-harm, and suicidal ideation. Dr. Schaeffer is partnering with the Maryland Behavioral Health Administration to make iKinnect available to youth statewide with the help of caregivers with lived experience raising an at-risk teen serving as family peer support specialists.

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