Integrating Peer Providers into Traditional Service Settings: The Jigsaw Strategy in Action

Gates and Akabas (2007) identify several practical strategies for easing peer providers into traditional mental health agencies based on interview data collected from 21 agencies in New York City. Policy strategies, which can be enacted immediately, include agency adoption of a recovery orientation, minimization of peer versus professional job distinctions, and peer provider job security, dignity, and control over disclosure of disabilities. Practice strategies, which require time to establish and become routine, include clear job tasks, sharing of client information between peer and nonpeer staff, cooperative service planning, and supervision of peer providers by professionals. Ideally, recovery-oriented policies facilitate peer provider integration as they are realized through empowering agency practices.