Project Overview

1. Diabetes and Mental Health Peer Support ProjectThe Lawson Foundation Diabetes WorkshopEdmonton, October 20, 2010Presentation byJohn RehnerProvincial Consumer/Survivor LHIN Leads Network

2. Project Overview • Full title: • Creating Diabetes Competency Training for Mental Health Peer Support Workers and Outreach to at-Risk Mental Health Consumer/Survivors • 2-year project: April 2010-March 2012 • Partners / Project Team • Canadian Mental Health Association, Ontario • Christine Gayler and Associates • Lawson Health Research Institute • Ontario Peer Development Initiative • Provincial Consumer/Survivor LHIN Leads Network • Project goals: • increase the skills of mental health peer support workers in providing support for the prevention and self-management of diabetes in the high-risk population of people living with a serious mental illness • increase awareness in the diabetes community of the role mental health support workers can play in prevention and self-management support

3. Project Rationale • Physical and mental health are fundamentally linked, yet health systems tend to address them separately. Nowhere is this more evident a problem than in the area of chronic conditions. Poor mental health and mental illness are risk factors for chronic physical conditions. People living with chronic conditions often experience poor mental health. • Diabetes is not only more prevalent in the population of people living with serious mental illnesses but also under-diagnosed and under-treated. • Rates of diabetes are two to four times greater than the general population and studies have found a 25 to 33 percent incidence of previously undiagnosed pre-diabetes and diabetes in community-based cohorts, as well as higher rates of complications developing earlier in the course of the illness. Both depression and schizophrenia are risk factors for the development of type 2 diabetes. • Supporting people living with diabetes to manage their own illness and improve their health is one of the key features of chronic disease prevention and management. Self-management support goes beyond education to providing people with the skills, tools and confidence they need to take control of their illness and make positive changes in their lives.

4. Advisory Committee • 15 members representing a range of stakeholders with an interest in diabetes and mental health: • Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Local Health Integration Networks, Family Health Teams, Community Health Centres, Community Mental Health Agencies, Hospital Diabetes Clinics, Researchers (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, York University), Canadian Diabetes Association • Responsibilities: • Provide advice and guidance on the development of a knowledge transfer strategy. • Identify new opportunities for project communications and knowledge exchange. • Educate colleagues about the potential role of mental health peer support in diabetes prevention and management, and suggest tools that the project can develop for AC members to use in educating their colleagues. • Build connections between the DMHPS project and the wider diabetes and primary care sector, locally and provincially. • Advise the Steering Committee on activities that it can undertake in order to reach out to others in the diabetes and primary care sectors.

5. Project Deliverables • Literature review (Jul 2010) • Environmental scan (Sep 2010) • Learning needs survey (Sep 2010) • Draft diabetes training module (Jan 2011) • Train-the-trainer 2-day workshop (Feb 2011) • Regional half-day training sessions (Feb 2011) • Local implementation (Mar-Aug 2011) • Evaluation of training module (Feb-Oct 2011) • Final diabetes training module (Nov 2011) • Project communications (ongoing) • Knowledge transfer (ongoing)

6. Peer Support Core Essentials™ Training Program • The Lawson-funded Diabetes and Mental Health Peer Support project builds on a pre-existing OPDI peer support training project. • OPDI received a 2-year (2008-2010) Trillium Foundation grant to develop a peer support toolkit and train-the-trainer program. • Training program: • 8-day (50 hours) in-class session, featuring 8 modules: Peer Support, The Role of the Peer Supporter, Exemplifying Peer Support, Recovery Inspired Peer Support, Trauma Informed Peer Support, Community Minded Peer Support, Core Connecting Skills, Peer-Peer Supporter Relationship • Monthly webinars • 50-hour internship (consumer/survivor initiatives, mental health centres, community mental health programs, hospital units) • Certificate upon completion • Train-the-trainers program: • 3-day (25 hours) in-class session, bi-monthly webinars, 50-hour internship • Certificate upon completion

7. Evaluation Timeline (Diabetes Module) • Aug 2010: Research proposal submitted for ethics review. • Sep 2010-Jan 2011: Diabetes Training Module developed. • Feb 2011: Two-day train-the-trainers program – minimum of 5 peer trainers (one from each Ontario region). Peer trainers complete an evaluation of learning needs via telephone after training is complete. • Feb-Mar 2011: Peer trainers return to home regions to deliver Diabetes Training Module to 100-150 (total) diabetes peer support workers, who provide feedback and complete diabetes knowledge test. • Mar-Aug 2011: Peer trainers continue to support peer support workers via correspondence. Peer support workers complete activity logsof how they are utilizing knowledge from the Diabetes Training Module. • Aug 2011: Six-month follow-up survey and focus groups. • Sep-Oct 2011: Data analysis and final evaluation report. • Nov-Dec 2011: Diabetes Training Module revised. • Jan-Mar 2012: Diabetes Training Module distributed provincially.

8. Anticipated Results • People with SMI will have access to informed, educated peer support workers who will support them around prevention, early identification and self-management strategies. • Diabetes policy and health care delivery system across Ontario will have more awareness of the value and role of mental health peer supporters and of Consumer/Survivor Initiatives (CSIs) across Ontario and their potential to contribute to the reduction of the impact of diabetes on high-risk populations. • A change in attitude towards, and understanding of, people with lived experience of mental illness in those in the diabetes policy and practice sector.

9. Anticipated Results (continued) • Local diabetes prevention and management resources in communities with CSIs that have trained diabetes/mental health peer support workers will have the opportunity to increase their capacity to serve people with mental illnesses through developing partnerships with the CSI. • A diabetes training manual will be available for members of both the diabetes and mental health care delivery systems to train mental health peer support workers to support self-management and prevention of diabetes with people living with mental illnesses. • The project will strengthen participating Consumer/Survivor Initiatives, giving them more to offer their communities, their participants and their partners.

10. Contact For more information: Scott Mitchell, Director, Knowledge Transfer Canadian Mental Health Association, Ontario 416-977-5580 ext. 4136 smitchell@ontario.cmha.ca Deborrah Sherman, Executive Director Ontario Peer Development Initiative 416-484-8785 ext. 238 deb@opdi.org www.diabetesandmentalhealth.ca