The Value of Peers
The Value of Peers
From time to time in life we all hear unusual or bizarre arguments that are vehemently presented, yet they seem to disregard logic and reason. We hear them from sales personnel, politicians, telemarketers, and sometimes from people who are normally credible sources of information such as physicians. For example, one of my very close friends was recently told by her physician that she needed to be on cholesterol medication. My friend, however, had evidence that almost all of the healthy adults in her family had lifelong high cholesterol levels, but no cardiac disease. Despite the fact she had none of the usual risk factors for coronary diseases and is quite a young person, her physician argued persistently that she needed cholesterol medication. I suggested she get a second opinion from a cardiologist. The cardiac specialist told her that it would be a bad idea to be on cholesterol medications at such a young age and then recommended alternatives like dietary changes and an enhanced exercise program. Those changes were very helpful. My friend switched to a new internal medicine physician.
One of the most illogical arguments I have heard in recent years is that peer support personnel should not provide crisis support services because they really cannot be adequately trained to provide such services and that they will cause harm. The person who argued this position claimed that only mental health professionals could provide crisis support services. Surprisingly the vehement arguments against peer support personnel were not being presented by a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a social worker, a psychiatric nurse, a professional counselor or anyone with training in crisis intervention, stress management, or any form of mental health services.
Here is a second opinion. Gerald Caplan, M.D. (1917-2008), a psychiatrist, was one of the world’s most renowned crisis intervention specialists. In the 1964, he wrote a book entitled Principles of Preventive Psychiatry that set the foundation for the basic theory and practice guidelines for crisis intervention that are currently in use throughout the world. Throughout his sixty year, distinguished professional career, he was a major proponent of peer-provided crisis intervention services. He believed that excellent support can be provided by those who do not hold professional mental health degrees. In other words, he strongly encouraged the use of peer support personnel to assist their friends, families, and co-workers in times of crisis. Gerald Caplan not only encouraged peers to provide crisis intervention services, he trained thousands of non-mental health people in Israel and around the world to offer crisis support services to people in their families, colleagues, organizations and communities.
There are many hundreds of studies, papers, articles and books describing the effectiveness of peer support and the value of the trained peer support person. In a future essay I will outline some of the specific studies that clearly demonstrate the enormous benefits peers can generate by their care for their fellow workers and by their careful application of specific crisis intervention skills.
For now, I will summarize what Caplan and many others have consistently said over the last century: assistance coming from peers is well received and highly effective. Peers provide to their fellow workers:
- a readily available enhancement of individual strengths,
- an increase in social support and
- a boost of environmental and physical resources in times of duress.
- a guidance system for people to extricate themselves from painful human experiences.
The real experts in crisis support services are overwhelmingly in favor of peer provided crisis intervention services and they back up their enthusiastic support with a long history of studies that indicate the incredible value of properly trained crisis intervention peers.
Perhaps those who are hearing the flawed arguments by a person without expertise in the crisis intervention field should, instead, listen to a real expert like Gerald Caplan. Like my friend with the cholesterol problem, they should take their advice only from a specialist in the field.
