Rule 24-2-42.1 - Service DesignA. Peer Support Services are non-clinical activities with a rehabilitation and resiliency/recovery focus that allow a person receiving mental health services and substance use services and their family members the opportunity to build skills for coping with and managing psychiatric symptoms, substance use issues and challenges associated with various disabilities while directing their own recovery. Natural resources are utilized to enhance community living skills, community integration, rehabilitation, resiliency and recovery. Peer Support is a helping relationship between peers and/or family members that is directed toward the achievement of specific goals defined by the person. Peer Support Services are provided by Certified Peer Support Specialist Professionals. A Certified Peer Support Specialist Professional is a person with significant life-altering experience, also referred to as lived experience, who has successfully completed peer support competencies-based training and testing.B. Certified Peer Support Specialist Professionals include the following designations: 1. A Certified Peer Support Specialist Professional - Adult (CPSSP-A) is an adult diagnosed with a mental illness and/or substance use disorder who can demonstrate his/her own efforts at self-directed recovery and expertise including knowledge and approaches to support others in recovery. This designation prepares people who are successfully engaged in recovery from mental health and/or substance use who provide support to others who can benefit from their experiences and knowledge to help other adults in their recovery journey.2. A Certified Peer Support Specialist Professional - Parent/Caregiver (CPSSP-P) is a biological parent, adoptive parent, or relative caregiver with permanent legal custody who is raising or has raised a child/youth with an emotional, social, behavioral, and/or substance use disability; and, whose child/youth has received services from a children/youth mental health provider. The Certified Peer Support Specialist Professional- Parent/Caregiver will provide support and guidance to parent(s)/caregiver(s) in navigating the child/youth serving systems and advocating with them to help their child/youth.3. A Certified Peer Support Specialist Professional - Youth/Young Adult (CPSSP-Y) is a person between the ages of eighteen - twenty-six (18-26) with lived experience with a behavioral health diagnosis who can demonstrate his/her own efforts in self-directed recovery. A behavioral health diagnosis can include a mental and/or substance use disorder. This designation prepares people who are successfully engaged in recovery from mental health and/or substance use disorders to help others in their recovery journey.4. A Certified Peer Support Specialist Professional - Recovery (CPSSP-R) is an adult diagnosed with a substance use disorder who provides Peer Support Services for people in recovery from substance use disorders.C. Agency providers of Peer Support Services must develop and implement a service provision plan that addresses the following:1. The population to be served, including the process in place for referring people to Peer Support Services, how peer services will be introduced to the people receiving services, expected number of people to be served, diagnoses, age and any specialization.2. The types of services and activities offered, particular peer supports utilized, including whether services will be provided on an individual or group basis, type of intervention(s) practiced, typical service day and expected outcomes.3. Service location capacity, including staffing patterns, employee to person ratios, employee qualifications and cultural composition reflective of population, and a plan for deployment of employees to accommodate unplanned employee absences to maintain employee to person ratios.4. A description of how the mental health/substance use disorder professional will maintain clinical oversight of Peer Support Services, which includes ensuring that services and supervision are provided consistently with DMH requirements.5. A description of how Peer Support Specialists within the agency provider will be given opportunities to meet with or otherwise receive support from other Peer Support Specialists both within and outside the agency provider.6. A description of how the Certified Peer Support Specialist Professionals and Certified Peer Support Specialist Supervisors will participate in and coordinate with treatment teams at the request of a person and the procedure for requesting team meetings.7. A description of how the agency provider will recruit and retain Certified Peer Support Specialist Professionals.8. A description of how the organization will prepare for the integration of Certified Peer Support Specialist Professionals into the workforce; ensuring the employees understand the duties and responsibilities of Certified Peer Support Specialist Professionals and how the duties and responsibilities support other employees and promote recovery and resiliency.D. Peer Support Services are voluntary. People and/or their legal representative(s) must be offered this service when indicated as necessary to promote recovery and resiliency by a mental health professional and/or physician.E. Peer Support Services are provided using a group or one-on-one (1 on 1) support.F. Peer Support Services must be included in and coordinated with the person's Individual Service Plan. A specific planned frequency for service should be identified by the physician and/or mental health professional who believes the person would benefit from this recovery/resiliency support.G. Certified Peer Support Specialist Professionals must provide documentation of successful completion of at least one (1) of the DMH recognized peer training programs, that is designed to increase the knowledge of the Certified Peer Support Specialist Professional about the population he/she will be supporting.H. Peer Support Services must be supervised by a mental health professional who has completed the DMH-required peer supervisory training.I. Certified Peer Support Specialist Professionals may be employed as part-time or full-time employees depending on agency capacity, the needs of the community being served, and the preferences of the employee.J. Agency providers are encouraged to employ more than one (1) Certified Peer Support Specialist Professional within an agency provider and to employ Certified Peer Support Specialist Professionals who reflect the cultural, ethnic, and public mental health service experiences of the people with whom they will work.K. Certified Peer Support Specialist Professionals must provide Peer Support Services according to their lived experience scope of service and Certified Peer Support Specialist Professional designation.L. A Certified Peer Support Specialist Professional Supervisor must report Code of Ethics violations and changes in employment status to the DMH, Division of Recovery and Resiliency.M. Supervision must occur at least bi-weekly for Certified Peer Support Specialist Professionals within the first six (6) months of employment as a Certified Peer Support Specialist Professional; monthly for Certified Peer Support Specialist Professionals within seven (7) months - one (1) year of employment as a Certified Peer Support Specialist Professional; and, as deemed necessary for Certified Peer Support Specialist Professionals after one (1) year of employment. Supervision of Certified Peer Support Specialist Professionals must be provided face-to-face, individually or in group settings.N. A full-time equivalent supervisor may supervise no more than nine (9) full-time equivalent Certified Peer Support Specialist Professionals.O. The supervisor will maintain a log of supervisor meetings. Section 41-4-7 of the Mississippi Code, 1972, as Amended