Resource Library

Check back for an expanded selection of resources on recovery principles, person-centered practice, peer services, trauma-informed practice, and staff wellness.

Jump to a Topic

• Implementation Approaches, Research & Best Practices
• Implementation Tips & Tools
• Data Collection & Assessment
• About Staff Wellness & Professional Use of Self
• Staff Wellness Tips & Tools
• Tips & Tools on Professional Use of Self
• Peer Services Implementation
• Peer Supporter Supervision

---

Principles-Focused Evaluation: The Guide (book by Michael Quinn Patton)

Michael Quinn Patton is one of the most influential voices in the field of program evaluation. In Principles-Focused Evaluation, Patton explains why principles matter for program development and evaluation and how they can serve as a rudder to navigate the uncertainties, turbulence, and emergent challenges of complex dynamic environments, making it well-suited for recovery-oriented change initiatives.

The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR)

The CFIR provides a menu of constructs that have been associated with effective implementation. It reflects the state-of-the-science at the time of its development in 2009; including constructs from, for example, Everett Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations Theory and Greenhalgh and colleagues’ significant compilation of constructs based on their review of 500 published sources across 13 scientific disciplines. In addition to these two sources, the CFIR incorporates 18 other sources. The CFIR considered the spectrum of construct terminology and definitions and compiled them into one organizing framework.

The National Implementation Research Network (NIRN)

The National Implementation Research Network team wants to incorporate the thoughts, perspectives, and real-life experiences of those who work within implementation science into resources that support the Implementation Support Practitioner Core Competencies. To that end, NIRN is providing a unique opportunity for the implementation science community to come together and participate in the alignment of the implementation support practitioner core competencies to activities within the Implementation Stages.

Engaging People Who Receive Services: A Best Practice Guide

This guide assists human service systems to fully and effectively include people who receive services in system planning and improvement efforts. It is relevant for all systems that support older adults and people with disabilities. This guide was originally developed as part of technical assistance activities through the National Center on Advancing Person-Centered Practices and Systems (NCAPPS).

Implementation Toolkit for Person Centered Recovery Planning in Self-Directed Care

This toolkit is a resource to organizations implementing PCRP and builds on earlier work by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Institute for Excellence in Mental Health. It uses the CFIR five domains (PCRP characteristics, organization characteristics, external factors, characteristics of individuals, and implementation process) to present implementation and assessment tools, resources, and activities.

Project Plan Template by Via Hope

This template is a basic tool to assist in identifying goals, tracking progress, and reviewing potential barriers while implementing a program or practice.

Strategy Screen Template by Via Hope

A strategy screen is a list of standards against which you will test various strategic options. If a team is considering different approaches to promote recovery, a strategy screen is one tool that can help evaluate the options available. Via Hope has drafted this template as a tool for Collaborative teams to modify for their own use.

Liberating Structures (LS) Facilitation Methods

Leaders and implementers can understand where they want the organization to end up (i.e. practices being implemented) and be aware of how the organization is currently performing, but bringing about change requires facilitation skills and methods. Via Hope has found the Liberating Structures set of facilitation methods to be useful to engage groups of any size for any type of meeting or event (e.g. training, planning sessions, consultation). The 33+ LS tools provide options for group participation and collaborative planning that go beyond typical methods (i.e., presentations, brainstorming sessions, open discussion) and operationalize principles of facilitation that are closely aligned with person-centered practices. 

Organizational Readiness to Change Assessment (ORCA)

The ORCA was developed by the Veterans Health Administration and designed to assess organizational readiness to change in preparation for testing interventions designed to implement evidence-based changes in clinical practice. The scales are intended for diagnostic use, to identify needs or conditions that can be targeted by implementation activities or resources, and to provide a prognosis of the success of the change effort at the organizational level.

Recovery Self-Assessment

Developed by the Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health, the Recovery Self-Assessment (RSA) is a 36-item measure designed to gauge the degree to which programs implement recovery-oriented practices. It is a self-reflective tool designed to identify strengths and target areas of improvement as agencies and systems strive to offer recovery-oriented care. The RSA contains concrete, operational items to help program staff, persons in recovery, and significant others to identify practices in their mental health and addiction agency that facilitate or impede recovery. There are four versions of the RSA targeted to different groups.

---

Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others (book by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky & Connie Burk)

A longtime trauma worker, Laura van Dernoot Lipsky offers a deep and empathetic survey of the often-unrecognized toll taken on those working to make the world a better place. We may feel tired, cynical, or numb or like we can never do enough. These, and other symptoms, affect us individually and collectively, sapping the energy and effectiveness we so desperately need if we are to benefit humankind, other living things, and the planet itself. In Trauma Stewardship, we are called to meet these challenges in an intentional way—to keep from becoming overwhelmed by developing a quality of mindful presence. Joining the wisdom of ancient cultural traditions with modern psychological research, Lipsky offers a variety of simple and profound practices that will allow us to remake ourselves—and ultimately the world.

Self-Disclosure and Its Impact on Individuals Who Receive Mental Health Services

The Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), part of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), produced this monograph to examine the current literature related to self-disclosure. In addition, the monograph includes findings from a series of key informant interviews.

TEND Academy

TEND is an organization that provides education and resources to helping professions, leadership, and agencies to help them stay healthy, effective and engaged while doing challenging work. Their website includes virtual learning opportunities and on-demand courses.

“Beyond the Cliff” (video with Laura van Dernoot Lipsky)

In this TEDx talk, Laura offers a window into the cumulative toll that can occur when helping professionals are exposed to the suffering, hardship, crisis, or trauma of others.

Virtual Relaxation Room by Emergence Health Network

A collection of guided activities and relaxation exercises for staff and clients to reduce the negative effects of chronic stress on overall well-being.

Burnout Barometer Exercise by Via Hope

This exercise is designed to assist teams in acknowledging and managing experiences of burnout. Participants have the opportunity to ask for support that meets their specific needs and may provide a common language for ongoing discussions of supporting one another.

Hot Walk & Talk Protocol

A strategy to safely and kindly guide someone through a negative stress reaction following a traumatic incident, by Patricia Fisher at TEND.

Low Impact Debriefing

Four steps to protect you from being “slimed,” and to help ensure you don’t traumatize your colleagues, friends and family.

Cheat Sheet for Self-Disclosure in Therapy

Key guidelines by Janine Roberts about self-disclosure for mental health professionals.

---

Peer Workers in the Behavioral & Integrated Health Workforce: Opportunities & Future Directions

This article describes the experiences that organizations and their workforce, including peer workers, encounter as they integrate peer support services into the array of behavioral health services. Specific attention is given to the similarities and differences of services provided by peers in mental health settings and substance use settings, and implications for future directions. The authors also address the role of peer workers in integrated behavioral and physical healthcare services. This article was authored by Cheryl Gagne, Wanda Finch, Keris Myrick, and Livia Davis and published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine in 2018.

Enhancing the Peer Provider Workforce: Recruitment, Supervision & Retention

This toolkit by the National Association of Consumer/Survivors Mental Health Administrators is designed to guide community providers and state hospital administrators to integrate peer providers into their recovery-oriented services, or to expand them. It emphasizes recruiting and hiring, as well as supervision and retention. This toolkit also includes a list of resources.

National Practice Guidelines for Peer Specialists & Supervisors (NPG-S)

The original National Practice Guidelines for Peer Supporters (NPG) identified 12 core values of peer support including a short description of each value in practice. This revised version by the National Association of Peer Supporters (N.A.P.S.) provides added guidelines for supervisors about the core peer support values as applied in supervisory relationships, including a description of the supervisor’s role and practical tips to help peer support specialists remain true to the values outlined in the original NPG. The NPG-S may be used as a self-assessment for supervisors to improve the supervision experience, or to educate management and executive leadership about the values of peer support and to advocate for increased promotion of these values in practice.

A Guide to Supervising & Developing Young Adult Peer Mentors

This guidebook by Vanessa V. Klodnick is a practical organizational self-assessment tool to improve an agency’s young adult peer mentoring (YAPM) implementation. It can be used to assess an agency’s implementation needs and connect to easily accessible free resources. This guide is most beneficial to supervisors of young adult peer mentors, but may be valuable to others (e.g., young adult peers, provider administrators, family partners, supervisors of adult peer and non-peer staff).

---