This project is complete.
BCcampus and the B.C. Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions Recently Launched the Provincial Peer-Support Worker Training Curriculum to the Public.
Curriculum and additional supporting resources:
- peerconnectbc.ca
- peerconnectbc.ca/help
- peerconnectbc.ca/resource-library
- peerconnectbc.ca/community-projects
- Peer Support Adaptation Project
This free online curriculum includes a comprehensive peer-support worker training course with 16 individual interactive learning modules as well as a range of additional resources for individual learners and facilitators, including in-depth standards of practice, a series of peer-designed Additional Insights tools, videos that summarize the core learnings of each module, a facilitation guide, and a series of grassroots In-Community tools that focus on specific aspects of peer work such as Indigenous approaches to harm reduction and family peer support.
The provincial peer-support worker training curriculum has everything you need, whether you are an individual peer learner just starting on your learning journey, an experienced peer-support worker who wants to add some new skills to your toolbox, or an organization that works alongside peers who may want to consider utilizing the curriculum as the foundational training for their peer program.
The Peer Connect BC website uses a learning management system that allows individual learners, or those facilitating groups of learners, to measure progress, receive badges, and work toward a certificate of completion. You can also choose to customize the course to your own needs by selecting the modules that meet your unique learning goals without registering for the learning management system.
Make it your own!
BCcampus worked directly with the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions (MMHA) to develop, implement, and evaluate a provincial peer-training curriculum and standard of practice designed to enhance the quality of peer-support training throughout the province.
To do this, MMHA and BCcampus committed to working alongside peers with lived and living experience to include their lived expertise directly in the co-creation of the curriculum. The result is a free, first-of-its-kind, provincially approved curriculum that’s been guided and evaluated by existing peer-support organizations and people with lived experience in the province — from start to finish.
One of the key objectives for making mental health care and support for people who use substances better for people in B.C. is ensuring that when they seek services, every door is the right door. We know that if the door you knock on is opened by someone who shares lived and living experience with you, the likelihood that you’ll stay connected to care is greatly increased. The unique capacity of people with lived and living experience to create bonds of trust and encourage clients toward hope-inducing strategies is one the most powerful and effective interventions in our healthcare system.
The provincial peer-support worker training curriculum recognizes and honours the fact that peer workers are always that “right door.”
Here are some articles that provide more insight into the consent-before-content approach we took to creating the curriculum.