APA Publishes Groundbreaking Paper Supporting Peer-Run Crisis Respites

The paper, authored by two individuals with lived experience of a mental health condition, makes a compelling case for these peer-run services.

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, September 12, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The National Empowerment Center (NEC) is proud to announce the publication of a groundbreaking paper on the unique approaches of peer-run respites, published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA).

The paper, "Peer-Run Respite Approaches to Supporting People Experiencing an Emotional Crisis," is published both online and in print in Psychiatric Services, an APA publication.

"Peer-run respites provide a voluntary alternative to an emergency department visit or inpatient hospitalization for people experiencing a psychiatric crisis," the article notes. "Further, peer-run respites are staffed and operated by people with lived experience of the mental health system."

"Peer-run respites assist people experiencing an emotional crisis to both strengthen their internal resources and deepen self-knowledge to more effectively navigate big emotional states," said lead author Lauren Spiro, M.A., who wrote the paper with Margaret Swarbrick, Ph.D.

"I have learned to harvest insights from extreme emotional states, and this article conveys the underlying process for doing so — as well as the data showing significantly better outcomes than conventional psychiatric hospitalization," Spiro continued. "Our intention is to transform mental health care so that it better meets the genuine needs of people and promotes post-trauma healing."

Oryx Cohen, CEO of the NEC, concurred. "Peer respites are places you can go to in times of severe emotional distress where you are surrounded by people who have been there — and there are no locked doors or forced treatment, there are bedrooms rather than beds, and you stay in a cozy home in the community rather than a sterile clinical ward," he said. "I've been advocating for peer respites for years and, in fact, it was a peer respite that turned my own life for the better in 2013. I am forever grateful."

Oryx Cohen
National Empowerment Center
+1 800-769-3728
info4@power2u.org
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