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Peer Support

Education Session F

F8 - Peer Power: Optimizing Services Across the Crisis Spectrum with Peer Staff

Tuesday, April 28, 2026
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM MDT
Location: 501
NASW CCB ACCME ANCC NY-SW NY-MHC SHRM NBCC
Peer staff are not ancillary to crisis services—they are foundational to a recovery-based approach. This presentation explores how crisis services can blossom with intentional engagement of peer staff across all crisis modalities. This session will illustrate how peer staff are embedded across workflows, from safety planning and milieu support to participation in interdisciplinary case conferences and debriefs. Grounded in values of universal respect, motivation, non-judgement, individual uniqueness, and power awareness, the model emphasizes the humility and lived experience that peers bring to treatment spaces, often bridging gaps that traditional licensure or clinical expertise cannot close on their own.

Learning Objectives:

  • Align peer integration with program principles to enhance therapeutic alliance and client voice.
  • Attendees will learn how to address common tensions among frameworks of professional clinical licensure and peer support services improving the overall function of the treatment team and client care.
  • Create supervision, mentorship, and career advancement structures that elevate peer contributions to organizations and improve overall client care.
Disclosure(s):
Lauren Kahn, MPA: No financial relationships to disclose
Omar Gonzalez-Valentino, PhD, LMFT, LPCC: No financial relationships to disclose
Ashley Flores, MPSS: No financial relationships to disclose

    Breakout Presenter(s)

  • Lauren Kahn, MPA

    Vice President of Public Affairs
    Telecare Corporation
    Alameda, California

    Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose

    Slides

  • Omar Gonzalez-Valentino, PhD, LMFT, LPCC

    Program Administrator
    Telecare Corporation
    Riverside, California

    Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose

  • AF

    Ashley Flores, MPSS

    Peer Recovery Team Lead
    Telecare Corporation
    Alameda, California

    Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose

  • BH

    Brenda Hamamoto, LCSW

    Admin Outpatient Licensed
    Telecare Corporation
    Alameda, California

    Disclosure information not submitted.