UNCG’s Willow Burgess-Johnson is more equipped than most North Carolinians to handle a mental health crisis. A licensed clinical social worker with a can-do attitude, she has over 20 years of experience working with family and youth as a therapist and a program coordinator.
Still, when one of her children faced an unexpected challenge after the death of two family members during the COVID-19 pandemic, Burgess-Johnson was shocked by how difficult it was for her to find support for her daughter.
“It’s been very eye-opening trying to navigate both the physical health system and mental health system and find her services that fit, even after decades of doing this work and knowing all kinds of providers,” she says.
Burgess-Johnson eventually connected with a person who had a similar condition as her daughter – a peer with lived experience – who served as a valuable sounding board and provided hope for their family as they waded through the process of seeking help and healing.
“You don’t always have to have letters behind your name to bring expertise to the table,” Burgess-Johnson says.
Family and youth peer support specialists are becoming increasingly recognized as an integral resource within the mental health care system.
“The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services recently released a strategic plan, and peer support is very much a focus of how they want to move forward,” Burgess-Johnson says. “It’s becoming integrated into North Carolina’s vision for the mental health care system.”
The state department recently invested $5.5 million in UNCG’s NC Youth and Family Voices Amplified program, which Burgess-Johnson coordinates. With this funding, the UNCG team is increasing the availability of trained family and youth peer support specialists across the state, while simultaneously strengthening peer support as a professional model.
These trained community members have lived experiences caring for family members with mental health difficulties or have navigated mental health difficulties themselves.
With a little help from our peers
Across the state, youth between ages 3 and 17 are increasingly experiencing mental health challenges, including anxiety and depression.
There’s not a clear roadmap for most families after their child receives a diagnosis or undergoes a crisis. How do you ensure a child is supported at school? What’s the process for finding a therapist?
Similarly, the freshly diagnosed young person can feel isolated and unsure as they grapple with their new reality.
Individuals with similar experiences can shine a light on the path they walked – or just serve as a listening ear.
“These youth and families are very interested in hearing from somebody who has maybe not worn the same shoes that they have, but they’ve been in the same shoe store,” Burgess-Johnson says. “They can really talk on the same level about the experience and how they can manage it.”
But finding people who have frequented the same metaphorical shoe store is tricky.
That’s where Voices Amplified comes in. They recruit community members through events, provide trainings to certify them as youth and family peer specialists, and then place them within programs – some within UNCG’s own CYFCP and others across the state in care coordination roles or community settings. For example, some youth and family peer specialists will connect families with services or benefits that they may not have known existed as a resource for them.
Through their partnership with the state, Voices Amplified plans to expand their existing services.
“This is really a way to expand access to behavioral health services, to create a system where the people who are providing services share a lot more characteristics with the people who are receiving services, which has historically been a real challenge,” says Burgess-Johnson.
Learning how to listen
Bringing a stranger, even one with empathy and lived experience, into a family during one of their hardest moments is delicate – and not always intuitive.
The National Federation of Families requires potential family peer specialists to complete 88 hours of training to prepare them for their role. Voices Amplified provides 56, including family partner 101, motivational interviewing and trauma-informed care.
Family Training Coordinator Frederick Douglas connects family peers to an additional 26 hours. The UNCG alumna and pastor is an expert listener who knows how vital peer support can be.
“I understand, because of my own lived experience, the need for support when you’re navigating the system, which can be extremely challenging and intimidating,” Douglas says. “I have children who have mental health challenges. I understand that walk of life and how important it is for there to be authentic family peer support.”
Douglas mentors trainees – meeting with them monthly, answering questions about the trainings and encouraging them to delve into emotions that may resurface from their own lived experiences. She also helps new specialists navigate challenges, including when health organizations they work with are less familiar with peer support.
The process is both an art and a science.
Soon, Voices Amplified will know even more about the science. Their latest funding will support research into how effectively the training process sets specialists up for success and the impact of peer support on families.
“Our hope is we’ll be able to contribute to national understanding of the impact of family peers, and learn how we can deploy this growing resource more effectively,” Burgess-Johnson says.
Modeling hope
North Carolina is becoming a source of guidance on peer support, says Burgess-Johnson. UNCG’s Voices Amplified works closely with the National Federation of Families to develop best practices. Closer to home, they educate health providers and organizations on the key role it can play for a family.
They’re also active in policy, including consulting with the NC Division of Child and Family Wellbeing to crystallize a definition of family peer support for Medicaid coverage.
Family and youth peer support has momentum as a profession. And for UNCG’s Douglas and Burgess-Johnson, it’s also personal – a way to help North Carolinians just like them find hope in some of their toughest moments.
“I have worked in the mental health system for a little over two decades now, and there have been many days where I felt discouraged – there’s always more need than there are resources to support people in need,” Burgess-Johnson said. “But this area feels hopeful to me. It feels exciting, creative, and innovative.”
Story by Rachel Damiani
Photography by David Lee Row
