TMHCA administers Peer Programs and Trainings annually in Tennessee. The annual trainings focus on best- and evidence-based strengths model of mental health that teach and train peers to help others.
Peer programs include Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP), Illness Management and Recovery (IMR), Supported Employment (SE), Peer Counseling Training, BRIDGES Student Courses and Teacher Training, BRIDGES support groups, Regional Advocacy Program, and Peer Delivered Medicaid Services.
Beers Van Gogh Center of Excellence
In addition to the current array of services offered the TMHCA Beers-Van Gogh Center for Excellence opened October 2010. The Beers-Van Gogh Center (BVG) of Excellence is a multipurpose facility where people with mental illness from the community, and homeless individuals with severe and persistent mental illness, will come to establish or re-establish links to mainstream resources. The BVG also houses 10 individuals in Single Room Occupancy Units (SROs). Residents have access to onsite evidence based and/or best practice curriculum through the TMHCA Peer Center and/or through the TMHCA Peer Delivered Medicaid Model.
BRIDGES
Building Recovery of Individual Dreams and Goals through Education and Support (BRIDGES) was founded in 1995. BRIDGES is a self-help program that provides education and support to and by people with mental illness. There are two parts to the program; courses on recovery and support groups.
The education component of BRIDGES is a 10-week course for individuals diagnosed with mental illness. The curriculum focuses on these major psychiatric illnesses (thought disorders, mood disorders, anxiety disorders and personality disorders), explaining the clinical treatment of these illnesses and teaching the knowledge and skills that consumers need in working toward recovery.
The ongoing support group is the other key element of BRIDGES. BRIDGES support group meetings provide a structured way for individuals to strengthen coping skills and deal with the realities of daily life with a diagnosis of mental illness.
Certified Peer Specialists
In 2007 TMHCA contracted with two Managed Care Organizations in Middle Tennessee to offer peer-to-peer delivered services under a MCO/Medicaid contract. Since 2007 TMHCA has provided Peer-to-Peer recovery-based services to TennCare Medicaid Enrollees who are members of a Managed Care Organization and who qualify and have been determined eligible for benefits in the TennCare Program through Medicaid eligibility criteria as described in the Medicaid/TennCare Rules and Regulations. TMHCA is currently contracted with three MCOs and currently has six locations in Tennessee licensed by the Tennessee Department of Mental Health to provide Peer Delivered Psychosocial Rehabilitation services.
Mental Health First Aid
Mental Health First Aid is a groundbreaking public education program that helps the public identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders. Mental Health First Aid USA is managed, operated, and disseminated by three national authorities — the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and the Missouri Department of Mental Health.
Memphis Peer Center
TMHCA Peer Center is a place designed for individuals that have received mental health services, past or present, eighteen years of age or older. It is a mechanism for social change with an extraordinary value placed on education, independence and recovery. TMHCA’s Peer Center is located in Memphis, Tennessee.
Regional Advocacy Program
The Regional Advocacy Program was initiated in 1998 to formalize TMHCA’s traditional role in helping consumers advocate for services, supports and consumer rights. Trained advocates assisted consumers in the community and operate a state-wide advocacy telephone hotline. Advocates participate in state and regional mental health councils and agency advisory boards to bring the consumer voice into decision-making. Advocates train other consumers in self-advocacy and system change methods. Each year TMHCA Advocates also sponsor several legislative trainings and a state-wide consumer conference.