United Spinal collaborates with hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, and selected community-based organizations (”Host Agency”) that agree to provide the United Spinal Peer Mentor Program at their facilities. Each Host Agency designates a licensed health care professional-the “Mentor Coordinator”- who will be responsible for implementing the general operations of the Peer Mentor Program.
What is Peer-Mentoring?
Peer-Mentoring is an effective way for people to learn a variety of personal skills, including problem solving, assertiveness, and “SMART” goal setting. Trained Mentors can assist with the challenges of adjusting to new situations. Within the context of spinal cord injury (SCI), a Mentor is someone with SCI who has learned from his or her own experience and is successfully living with SCI. Mentors are knowledgeable about coping strategies, daily living skills, and SCI resources. Mentors have completed the United Spinal Peer Mentor Training Program, and are committed to sharing their knowledge and experience with other people with SCI.
Benefits of Peer-Mentoring
Current research suggests that peer-mentoring is an effective intervention for improving functional outcomes, health, and well-being in persons with SCI. People participating in Peer-Mentoring Programs may have a lower incidence of secondary complications (e.g., pressure sores, depression, pain) associated with SCI. A Peer-Mentor Program can have a positive effect not only on the Peer participant, but on family members, the Mentor, and the Host Agency, as well.
What are the goals of the United Spinal Peer-Mentoring Program?
• Help men and women cope with SCI
• Help men and women prevent secondary medical complications
• Help men and women with SCI discover ways to live healthy, active lives
• Help men and women with SCI set and achieve
• SMART (Specific, Manageable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely) Goals.
The peer-mentoring process can have a significant positive influence on a person’s ability to adjust to his or her injury.
Why is Peer-Mentoring Important?
For Peers
• Opportunities to interact with someone who has successfully adjusted to SCI
• Opportunities to learn and improve life skills related to SCI
• Opportunities to talk with someone with similar life experiences
• Opportunities to develop/expand effective support systems
• Information about practical issues such as accessibility, and the use of adaptive technology
SCI is one of the most devastating injuries a person can experience. SCI forces an individual to cope with medical, psycho-social, and physical changes. Adjustment to SCI is a long-term process.
Newly injured individuals face unique challenges in adjusting to their injury and re-integrating into the community. These challenges often include: isolation; lack of encouragement and support; a loss of independence, a lack of self confidence, limited self-advocacy skills and limited or no access to successful role models.
For Mentors
• Opportunities to “get by giving.” Mentors have opportunities to experience the satisfaction of helping others
• Opportunities to develop/expand effective support systems
• Opportunities to improve interpersonal and communication skills
• Opportunities to acquire new knowledge and develop new skills
SCI may prevent a person from doing things the “old way,” but it doesn’t prevent them from learning new ways to live.
For Families
• Opportunities to meet a person with SCI who has made a successful adjustment to his or her injury
• A reliable source of SCI information and resources
• Someone with whom they can share their concerns, fears, hopes, and questions
• Education resources for the family to learn the practicalities of living with a SCI SCI requires an examination of goals, aspirations, and skills. Learning new paths to independence, finding new sources of self-esteem, and becoming part of new social systems are all part of successful adaptation to spinal cord injury.
The peer-mentoring process can have a significant positive influence on a person’s ability to adjust to his or her injury. Mentors can help Peers re-evaluate their life/career goals. Mentors are able to assist newly injured persons with the day-to-day challenges of living with SCI, particularly those related to self- management of health care and social interactions.
For Host Agencies
• Complementary services to the professional services offered by the Host Agency
• Support for facility-based patient education
• A decrease in the incidence of secondary sequelae of SCI
• Potential reduction in health care costs by improving self-management /self-care
• A community-based resource
To find out more about establishing a Peer-Mentor Program, contact Jerome Kleckley, LMSW, Director of Social Services & National Peer-Mentor Coordinator, by calling 718-803-3782, ext. 267, or write jkleckley@unitedspinal.org.
