908 KAR 2:220 - Adult peer support specialist

RELATES TO: KRS 210.010, 210.040, 210.370-485

NECESSITY, FUNCTION AND CONFORMITY: KRS 194A.050(1) requires the secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to promulgate administrative regulations necessary to protect the health of Kentucky citizens and to implement programs mandated by federal law or to qualify for the receipt of federal funds. KRS 210.450 authorizes the secretary to promulgate administrative regulations governing qualifications of personnel, standards for personnel management operations and consultation in ascertaining local needs for community programs for mental health or individuals with an intellectual disability. KRS 222.211 authorizes the secretary to promulgate administrative regulations to assure that there is the provision of prevention, intervention, and treatment services for both juveniles and adults to address the problems of addiction to alcohol and other drug abuse within individuals, families, and communities. This administrative regulation establishes the minimum eligibility, training, and supervision requirements for an adult peer support specialist.

Section 1. Definitions.

(1) "Adult peer support" means emotional support that is provided by an adult peer support specialist to others with similar mental health, substance use, or co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders in order to achieve a desired social or personal change.

(2) "Adult peer support specialist" means a self-identified consumer of mental health, substance use, or co-occurring mental health and substance use disorder services who has successfully completed the adult peer support specialist training.

(3) "Adult peer support specialist services" means structured and scheduled non-clinical, therapeutic activities provided to a consumer by an adult peer support specialist in accordance with this administrative regulation.

(4) "Consumer" means an individual who receives adult peer support services.

(5) "Department" or "DBHDID" means the Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities.

(6) "Recovery" means a process of change through which a consumer improves in health and wellness, lives a self-directed life, and strives to reach full potential.

(7) "Regional community mental health center" or "CMHC" means the board established by KRS 210.380 and governed by KRS 210.370 to 210.485.

(8) "Training curriculum" means a total package of learning activities designed to achieve the goals of the training program with:

(a) The objective that trainees will acquire the specific knowledge and skills (competencies) needed to perform the duties of an adult peer support specialist; and

(b) Four (4) primary components, including:

1. Content or information to be transmitted, including:

a. Theoretical framework;

b. Conceptual rationale;

c. Best standards of practice;

d. Application to direct practice; and

e. Congruence between and within sections;

2. Organization of the curriculum, including structure, format, and sequencing, incorporating:

a. Concordance with the natural learning process;

b. Design of each section linked to specific learning objectives, with adequate time provided for each;

c. Linkages between sections;

d. Knowledge and skills that are conceptually related, or that are performed together on the job, are taught together; and

e. Retention and understanding facilitated by principles of sequencing (from simple to complex, from the universal to the exception, and from fundamental to more refined applications) and repetition;

3. Training methods appropriate to adult learners in an applied setting, in each section or topic area, including:

a. Discussion to promote exploration and understanding of the topic;

b. Experiential exercises or simulations; and

c. Presentation of the same concepts using a variety of learning strategies (for example, hearing, seeing, modeling, and then practicing) to ensure that trainees with different learning styles can assimilate the knowledge; and

4. Evaluation methods, including:

a. Trainee knowledge assessment through testing, with achievement of a passing aggregate assessment score of at least seventy (70) percent; and

b. Trainee performance reviews of trainers.

Section 2. Eligibility. An adult peer support specialist shall:

(1) Be eighteen (18) years of age or older;

(2) Have a current or past diagnosis of a mental health, substance use, or co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders;

(3) Have received or be receiving treatment;

(4) Have a minimum educational requirement of a high school diploma or General Equivalence Diploma (GED) certificate;

(5) Demonstrate a pattern of recovery from a mental health, substance use, or co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders;

(6) Successfully complete adult peer support specialist training approved by the department or receive a training waiver for this requirement in accordance with Section 5 of this administrative regulation; and

(7) Successfully complete, maintain, and submit to the department documentation of a minimum of six (6) hours of related training or education in each subsequent year.

Section 3. Department Responsibilities.

(1) The department shall, within twenty (20) business days, approve or deny at least a thirty (30) hour adult peer support specialist training curriculum based on a nationally recognized model, which shall include modules on the following:

(a) Problem solving;

(b) Wellness recovery action plan;

(c) Stages in the recovery process;

(d) Effective listening skills;

(e) Establishing recovery goals; and

(f) Using support groups to promote and sustain recovery.

(2) The department shall maintain a record of all approved adult peer support training providers on the department's Web site.

(3) Providers of approved curricula shall notify the department within twenty (20) business days of a trainee's successful completion of an adult peer support training.

(4) The department shall maintain a record of all individuals who have successfully completed the adult peer support specialist training or who have received a training waiver in accordance with subsection (5) of this section and Section 5 of this administrative regulation.

(5) The department shall review all requests to waive the training requirement and shall, within twenty (20) business days:

(a) Approve, in writing, the request based on the documentation provided by the individual; or

(b) Deny, in writing, the request if the individual fails to demonstrate compliance with any portion of this administrative regulation.

Section 4. Adult Peer Support Specialist Responsibilities. An adult peer support specialist shall:

(1) Use relevant personal stories to assist other consumers through experience;

(2) Serve as a role model to a consumer;

(3) Encourage consumer voice and choice during development and implementation of plans;

(4) Support a consumer by:

(a) Attending team meetings on behalf of the consumer at the request of the consumer; or

(b) Accompanying the consumer to meetings upon the consumer's request;

(5) Empower a consumer to have the confidence to be a self-advocate;

(6) Help providers or other individuals understand the importance of integrating consumer voice and choice in services and support within a system of care;

(7) Promote socialization, recovery, self-advocacy preservation, and enhancement of community living skills for consumers; and

(8) Complete and maintain documentation of a minimum of six (6) hours of related training or education in each subsequent year after successful completion of the adult peer support specialist training or receipt of waiver, and shall submit a list of all trainings in which the adult peer support specialist participated, the provider or presenter of the training, and the number of hours of each training to the department every three (3) years. The submission due date shall be the last day of the month of which the adult peer support specialist's initial training was completed.

Section 5. Request to Waive the Adult Peer Support Specialist Training.

(1) An individual requesting to waive the adult peer support specialist training shall:

(a) Provide documentation to the department, on the department's Web site, of successful completion of an adult peer support specialist training sponsored by a federal entity or by another state that is comparable to the adult peer support specialist training in this administrative regulation; and

(b) Provide documentation to show that the training has occurred within five (5) years of the waiver request.

(2) The department shall review all requests to waive the training requirement and shall, within twenty (20) business days:

(a) Approve, in writing, the request based on the documentation provided by the individual; or

(b) Deny, in writing, the request if the individual fails to demonstrate compliance with any portion of this administrative regulation.

(3) If an individual is denied a training waiver, the individual may complete the adult peer support specialist training in accordance with the requirements in Section 2 of this administrative regulation.

Section 6. Supervision of an Adult Peer Support Specialist.

(1) Adult peer support specialist services shall be provided under the supervision of one (1) of the following professionals:

(a) Physician;

(b) Psychiatrist;

(c) Advanced practice registered nurse;

(d) Physician assistant;

(e) Licensed psychologist;

(f) Licensed psychological practitioner including a certified psychologist or a certified psychologist with autonomous functioning;

(g) Licensed clinical social worker;

(h) Licensed professional clinical counselor;

(i) Licensed marriage and family therapist;

(j) Licensed psychological associate;

(k) Marriage and family therapy associate;

(l) Certified social worker;

(m) Licensed professional counselor associate;

(n) Licensed professional art therapist;

(o) Licensed professional art therapist associate;

(p) Professional equivalent working within a CMHC;

(q) Licensed clinical alcohol and drug counselor;

(r) Licensed clinical alcohol and drug counselor associate;

(s) Certified alcohol and drug counselor; or

(t) Psychiatric nurse working in a CMHC.

(2) Supervision meetings between the supervising professional and adult peer support specialist shall:

(a) Be conducted face-to-face;

(b) Occur no less than twice per month, at least one (1) of which shall be individual; and

(c) Be at least thirty (30) minutes in length.

(3) The supervising professional shall maintain a written record of supervision that:

(a) Is dated and signed by the adult peer support specialist and the supervisor for each meeting; and

(b) Includes a description of each supervision meeting that specifies:

1. The topic discussed;

2. Specific action to be taken;

3. An update for any issue previously discussed that required follow-up; and

4. A plan for additional training needs if any were identified.

Notes

908 KAR 2:220

34 Ky.R. 689; Am. 1984; eff. 2-14-2008; 41 Ky.R. 1925; 2273, 2560; eff. 6-17-2015; TAm eff. 4-27-2016.

STATUTORY AUTHORITY: KRS 12.455, 194A.030, 194A.050, 210.450, 222.211