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Q&A
B-HEARD program: Social worker vacancies and peer involvement
1:41:22
ยท
69 sec
Council Member Sandy Nurse inquires about the B-HEARD program, focusing on social worker vacancy rates and the potential for including peers with lived mental health experiences on B-HEARD teams.
- DOHMH is not directly involved in B-HEARD operations, which are run by OCMH
- DOHMH supports the use of peers in many of their other programs
- DOHMH is uncertain about the current use of peers within their department and promises to follow up with details
Sandy Nurse
1:41:22
Okay, if I have a second, I wanted to ask about BeHard.
1:41:28
I wanted to get a sense of what is the current vacancy rate for social workers on BeHard teams, And then I would love to get your opinion and thoughts about adding peers or people with their own lived mental health experiences on to BeHard teams.
Michelle Morse
1:41:46
Thank you for the question, councilmember.
1:41:48
BeHard is a program actually that the health department is not involved in.
1:41:53
It is fully run by OCMH, so we're not involved in the operations of that program.
1:42:00
As far as peers go, we at the health department are very supportive and believe in the power of peers and work with peers in many of our other programs at the health department.
1:42:12
Although we can't comment on the utility of peers and be heard, but we do believe in the peer model.
Sandy Nurse
1:42:17
Okay, do you all have peers on staff or within your department?
Michelle Morse
1:42:23
That is a great question.
1:42:24
Believe that we do, but we can follow-up with you on the details.
1:42:27
That would be great.
Sandy Nurse
1:42:29
I will come back for a second round.
1:42:31
Thank you.
Linda Lee
1:42:31
Actually can I just follow-up on that because I know that at every DOHMH hearing when we ask about Be Heard, the response is that you guys are not involved in that, but then on the OCMH website it says that they're working in direct partnership with you and H and H?