The M.A.R.S. Project is the only federally funded program that provides peer recovery support to patients in medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid addiction. Funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, M.A.R.S. is conducted in collaboration with the substance abuse division of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, Yeshiva University, and the National Alliance for Medication-Assisted (NAMA) Recovery.
Walter Ginter, CMA, M.A.R.S. project director, talked with AT Forum recently about how peers can help patients in MAT. First of all, MAT peers can help new patients understand that recovery is a long-term commitment. “All of us come into treatment with the idea that we’re just visiting,” said Mr. Ginter. By the time most patients enter an opioid treatment program (OTP), they have already been through “a couple of detoxes, a therapeutic community,” he said. Patients are usually older than 35, and have already been told that being on methadone means “still using.” Other programs tell people with opioid addiction to go to detoxification and go to meetings, which doesn’t help—at least 80 percent of people who go through detoxification only relapse.
So when they finally get to an OTP, they’re desperate, he said. But they still don’t think they should stay, because being on methadone isn’t “real recovery.” Peers—other patients on methadone—can communicate the facts: They can say, “’I’m not using, I’m taking a medication for a brain disorder,’” and model the appropriate recovery response. This was an unexpected bonus for M.A.R.S., he said.
Trusting Peers More Than Counselors
Why do you need peers? Of course, counselors can say the same thing—that methadone is a medication for a brain disease, and does mean being in recovery. “But when they hear that from the counselor, they wonder about the motivation, because the counselor is paid to say it,” said Mr. Ginter. The real problem is that patients haven’t learned to trust their counselors, not that counselors are giving misinformation. The same phenomenon occurs in other conditions; for example, patients who are overweight can get better nutrition support from peer groups than from doctors, who they may feel patronized by and disconnected from.
Support is key. Recovery in general has been based on mutual support, he said. “Why do people go to 12-step meetings—for support.”
Mental health peers are part of community mental health centers, and are much more allied with treatment than MAT peers, he said. Insurance companies are starting to reimburse some peers in substance use disorders, but not in MAT. At a recent meeting of mental health peers, Mr. Ginter got the clear impression that insurance companies don’t like the idea of maintenance medication. “They’re concerned about paying for methadone treatment for the rest of someone’s life,” he said.
Mr. Ginter’s M.A.R.S. program is the only one like it in the country, but some other peers have been trained there. Cheryl Blankenship Kupras, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, worked for an OTP for 12 years in Santa Clara County, California. The OTP, a Beyond M.A.R.S. grantee, sent Ms. Blankenship Kupras, a manager, to peer training, along with two long-standing patients.
‘By the Patients and For the Patients’
It’s essential that any peer group be “by the patients and for the patients,” said Ms. Blankenship Kupras. “It can’t be an arm of the clinic,” because then patients don’t trust the peers.”
The peer who was most involved in the program “really wanted to break down the us-versus-them mentality,” she said. “Whatever was said in M.A.R.S. stayed in M.A.R.S.”
The clinic does control medication, but beyond that, the peers make sure that patients have a place to go for support that is different than mandated counseling, said Ms. Blankenship Kupras. This is particularly important because many OTP patients don’t feel welcome at 12-step meetings. “Just having another option for support is important,” she said. It’s important for the OTP to give the peers a place to meet in the building, as well.
Peer groups can also provide education to dispel myths. “Everybody was hearing rumors,” Ms. Blankenship Kupras said. “So they asked a physician from the program to come in and make a presentation.” Originally, the doctor was reluctant to do this, because she was afraid patients would ask questions about their personal treatment. As it turned out, that didn’t happen. She saw the patients in a different light, and more importantly, they saw her in a different light as well. “The presentation helped them to make a connection with the doctor in a way they hadn’t before,” she said.