Compensating Peers

Can I get your email address please. There are a number of Peer groups in Hamilton who might have some answers for you. I was a peer volunteer and received a $15.00 honorarium for attending workshops. I will post your question on our Hamilton Helping Network Facebook page

Hi Jessica,

I am currently working on some resources, still in draft form. I am also in conversation with a service user research initiative that is creating "critical thinking" toolkits on compensation from a labour rights/equity perspective. I could point you in a few directions. Please get in touch!

My email is christina.foisy@camh.ca  or 416-535-8501 x 36505

Hi,

I'm interested in hearing about the answers to the question Jessica has asked. As well, I'm looking for some information an appropriate hourly wage for peers trained and employed as peer support workers?

thanks, Nicole

Here are some peer payments standards out of BC - recommendation is between $25-50 per hour depending on task. I think it's important to consider what other staff members would be paid, and ensure equitable compensation for their time/input. 

 http://www.bccdc.ca/resource-g...yment-guide_2018.pdf 

Hi!

The honorariums/payment for lived experience (patient) and /or family (caregiver) advisory work is really all over the map from no payment to quite equitable reimbursement for experiential knowledge and expertise.  (please note that advisory work is different then being a paid peer support worker which I will address later).

For lived experience (patient) and/or family (caregiver) engagement/advisory work:

A helpful resource is:

In March 2015, The Change Foundation released Should Money Come Into It? A Tool for Deciding Whether to Pay Patient-Engagement Participants. https://www.changefoundation.c...ney-come-into-it.pdf 

In Fall 2017, in response to increased uptake and interest in the topic, the Foundation decided to “relaunch” this report, by releasing a newly redesigned Decision Tool and our 7 Things to Think About when Considering Compensation infographic. As patient engagement activities become more common and compensation is a question, these tools can help answer the question: Should patient and family-caregiver participants be paid?

You are free to adopt the tool as is, adapt it for your needs, or use it as a springboard to discussion. In the associated brief, straightforward paper, you will also find pros, cons and expert opinions on the philosophical and practical issues involved. A note about process: We developed the decision tool with input from our own key patient engagement group, the PANORAMA panel.

(I have attached all documents as PDFs below)

For Peer Support Paid Positions:

I am the Director for the Centre for Innovation in Peer Support.   We support over 60 paid peer support workers, 40 peer supervisors, across 40 different programs and 12 partner agencies and hospitals.  All roles are equitably paid, determined on training, internships, peer support expertise and knowledge, transferable skills, other relevant experience and skill sets etc. Although each agency and/or hospital has their own pay scales, peer support is recognized as an expertise and valued.

Centre for Innovation in Peer Support: A Promising Practice

Serious rock stars over here at the Centre for Innovation in Peer Support! Health Quality Ontario features the Peer Support Integrity, Quality & Impact Survey

The Centre for Innovation in Peer Support (@ Support & Housing – Halton) promotes meaningful engagement and empowerment of lived experience (patient) and family (caregiver), and effective peer support services regionally, provincially, nationally and internationally. The Centre continues to ensure that the lived experience of peer support workers and the values (fidelity) of peer support work are viewed as assets that facilitate the journey of individuals to what they see as health and good quality of life. (Life worth living).  With those values and priorities, the Centre continues to champion social and healthcare change that fosters person-directed care to ensure every person will be recognized, appreciated and respected for the unique person they are on their unique journey; and to ensure that care provision is adaptable to the fluctuations in peoples’ wellness and needs. Most importantly, the Centre works to have lived experience/patient and family/caregivers experiences embraced as expertise and evidence towards evolving our healthcare system. The Centre knows that the roots of equality & inclusivity are found through engaging the people who “know what it’s like,” and how that can promote values driven/person directed service delivery, inform quality improvement, co-create service provision, inform policy change, encourage cultural humility and transform organizations and systems.

Feel free to connect with me if anymore info needed

bkristy@shhalton.org

Thank you very much for the additional information!

Nicole

From the youth engagement toolkit of the Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health, there's some guidance/ principles to consider (scroll down the page to see "Honorarium":

http://www.yetoolkit.ca/content/identify-resources