The Power of Lived Experience as a Behavioral Health Care Strategy

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Power of Lived Experience as a Behavioral Health Care Strategy

Podcast: Advancing Health by American Hospital Association
Episode Date: February 2, 2026
Guests:

• Zylia Baugh – Senior Vice President of Behavioral Health, JPS Health Network
• Melanie Cooper – Peer Support Specialist, JPS Health Network
  Host: Rebecca Chickey, Vice President of Behavioral Health and Trustee Services, AHA

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on the transformative role of peer support specialists in behavioral health care, highlighting how their lived experience with mental illness and substance use supports patients’ recovery, improves outcomes, and bridges clinical gaps. The discussion explores JPS Health Network’s strategic use of peer support, the practical functions of the role, and the personal expertise that peer support specialists like Melanie Cooper bring to patient care.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to JPS Health Network and Behavioral Health (00:56–02:00)

• JPS Health Network is a large safety-net hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, serving a rapidly growing community and providing extensive behavioral health services.
• The hospital has invested in peer support specialists across all care settings: inpatient psych units, outpatient clinics, and the psychiatric emergency center.

2. What Is a Peer Support Specialist? (02:01–05:17)

• Definition: Individuals with lived experience in mental illness or substance use disorders, trained to support others on their recovery journeys.
• Roles: Facilitate groups, meet with new inpatients, provide individual support, navigate community resources, and assist with social determinants of health (housing, food, transportation).

“The first thing they [patients] see is hope when they come in because there’s someone right in front of them with lived experience that’s in recovery now and they’re helping people.”
— Zylia Baugh (04:57)

• Peer support specialists are crucial to the Transition Coordinator Program: They perform intensive follow-up with discharged patients for up to a year, aiming to reduce readmissions and support continued recovery.
• JPS’s 5.03% readmission rate is attributed in large part to this peer-led navigation and support.

3. Training and Hiring of Peer Support Specialists (05:17–06:42)

• In Texas, peer support specialists require state certification. JPS supports uncertified hires in obtaining this credential.
• Key hiring criteria:
  • Personality and interpersonal skills (“the people stuff is the first thing we look for”)
  • Depth of personal recovery experience
  • Certification (can be obtained post-hiring if needed)

4. A Day in the Life of a Peer Support Specialist (07:06–11:50)

• Inpatient Support:
  • Conduct “interdisciplinary interviews” to understand each patient’s barriers and goals.
  • Lead recovery-focused groups and share personal recovery stories to inspire patients.
  • Perform “readmission surveys” to help at-risk patients plan better for post-discharge success.

“We meet the patients where they’re at… learning about them as that person that they are, who they are, what they love to do.”
— Melanie Cooper (07:25)

• Discharge Planning and Emergency Services:

  • Provide practical support and resource linkage for those transitioning home or to shelters.
  • Offer a “warm handoff” and ensure safe, informed discharge plans.

• Team-Based Care:

  • Collaborate daily with social workers, doctors, nurses, and residents to address patient needs.
  • Act as a bridge between clinical staff and patients, ensuring patient voices and personal wisdom inform care plans.

“We don’t push recovery on anyone… it’s what works best for you. Because we believe that person individually knows what’s best for them.”
— Melanie Cooper (10:55)

5. Collaboration, Not Competition (11:50–12:39)

• The peer support role complements — rather than competes with — clinical staff.
• Emphasizes the importance of teamwork within behavioral health interventions.

6. Call to Action: Why All Health Systems Should Consider Peer Support (12:39–13:43)

• Peer support isn’t just for formal behavioral health units. All health systems encounter patients in need of support for life-altering events.
• Individuals with lived experience (cancer survivors, heart attack survivors, etc.) are valuable resources for patient navigation and hope.

“Peer support specialists are an untapped resource that I think is well overdue in all hospital settings.”
— Zylia Baugh (13:30)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the power of lived experience:
  “The first thing they see is hope when they come in because there’s someone right in front of them with lived experience that’s in recovery now and they’re helping people.”
  — Zylia Baugh (04:57)

• On personal approach:
  “We meet the patients, where they’re at... learning about them as that person that they are, who they are, what they love to do.”
  — Melanie Cooper (07:25)

• On nonjudgmental support:
  “We don’t push recovery on anyone… it’s what works best for you. Because we believe that person individually knows what’s best for them.”
  — Melanie Cooper (10:55)

• On system-wide applicability:
  “Peer support specialists are an untapped resource that I think is well overdue in all hospital settings. Whether it’s somebody that is a cancer survivor, heart attack survivor… these people have life experience and hope to share to help people where they are.”
  — Zylia Baugh (13:30)

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Key Timestamps

• 00:56 — Introduction to JPS Health Network and their behavioral health programs.
• 02:01 — What is a peer support specialist and how are they integrated at JPS?
• 05:17 — How JPS hires and certifies peer support specialists.
• 07:06 — Melanie Cooper describes the daily realities and impact of her role.
• 11:50 — Addressing concerns about role overlap and the power of collaboration.
• 12:39 — Zylia Baugh’s call to action for other health systems.

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Conclusion

This episode presents a compelling case for the integration of peer support specialists across healthcare settings, underscoring how their unique lived experience and person-centered approach fosters hope, empowers patients, and meaningfully improves outcomes. The conversation blends institutional strategy with the lived realities of frontline specialists, offering inspiration and practical guidance for health organizations considering this model.

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Transcript

[A]

Welcome to Advancing Health. Coming up on today's episode, a look at the immense value that peer support specialists provide in many healthcare settings.

[B]

I'm Rebecca Chickey, the vice president of behavioral health and trustee services at the American Hospital association. And it is my honor today to be joined by Zylia Baugh, the senior vice president of behavioral health at JPS Health Network, and Melanie Cooper, a peer support specialist at JPS Health Network. We are going to speak today about the incredible value and role of peer support specialists. And so, Zilia, I'm going to turn to you first. I want the listeners to have an understanding of what JPS Health is. What's your footprint, what type of organization, hospital, health system are you give them a little bit of background so they'll have some context.

[C]

Thank you, Rebecca. And we appreciate you having us on this podcast to share the great works that peer support specialists do for us. JPS Health Network is a safety net hospital located in Fort Worth, Texas, and we are in Tarrant county, which is one of the fastest growing counties in the country. We are a level one trauma center, a level four maternal care center, and. And we have a large community health presence as well as large residency programs. We are a learning institution, and then we have a very large behavioral health division.

[B]

So JPS Health, as you and I have talked about, has made a strategic investment in hiring peer support specialists for the listeners. Can you first of all tell them what a peer support specialist is from the broad perspective? And then also what was your plan and actually why you went down this journey? And then we'll have hear from Melanie who's going to bring all of that to life.

[C]

Absolutely. So at JPS, we do employ peer support specialists. We have 14 peer support specialists here in behavioral health. And a peer support specialist is a person that has lived experience with either mental illness or substance use disorders or both. And we utilize our peer support specialists in all areas of our division. So we have peer support specialists in our inpatient psych units. We have peer support specialists in our outpatient clinics, and we have peer support specialists in our psychiatric emergency center. And they provide different functions in each area. They do groups, they do individuals. They meet with all new patients that are admitted to our inpatient units to help answer their questions about what's going on. The group routines, the unit routines, also to get to know the patients so that they can help them navigate once they are discharged from our inpatient program. They also provide navigation for resources out in the community beyond what JPS has to offer. They help our patients get access to social determinants of health like housing, food, medicine, transportation, all those typical barriers our patients face in trying to get help, they help direct our patients towards those resources to be able to be successful once they discharge. They also are a huge part of our transition coordinator program. And that program is where we have licensed as well as peer support specialists contacting all patients to discharged from our psych emergency center and our inpatient program in order to help them navigate once they're out in the community and help get them to treatment. So if they have an outpatient appointment with us or someone else and they don't have a ride, we will help get them a ride. If they can't pay for their medications, our peer support specialists are able to set up for them to get a medication voucher to have their medicines paid for. And if they need help with job force training, our peer support specialists know how to set them up for that with resources here in our county. And that program as a result of our peer support specialists and licensed clinicians is very intensive with specific touch points throughout a six month to a one year time frame with all of those patients. Last year our behavioral health inpatient readmission rate was 5.03%. It is primarily due to the wonderful navigation, work and touch points and supportive services once our patients leave the inpatient setting. Because the one thing our peer support specialists do with our patients that just I love the first thing they see is hope when they come in because there's someone right in front of them with lived experience that's in recovery now and they're helping people.

[B]

That is just such a breadth and depth of offerings that the peer support specialists can do. And so I'm wondering, does the state of Texas. I realize you're in Texas and Probably there are 50 different flavors of what peer support specialists are required to do in terms of training, in terms of certification. But what are the specifics for the state of Texas in terms of certification and what does JPS look for when you're hiring a peer support specialist?

[C]

So the state of Texas has a certified peer support recovery certification. We love to hire folks that are already certified as a peer support specialist, but if they don't have that certification, we help pay for their training and to get to that certification. And what we look for in a peer support specialist is someone that has a track record of their recovery, so to speak, and someone that has a great personality because you can teach the task to anybody, but you can't teach the people stuff. The people stuff, really in the Personality and attitude is the first thing we look for. And the second thing is their depth of recovery. And the third thing would be certification. And if they don't have it, we get it for them.

[B]

Well, since I had the honor of meeting Melanie before we started recording this podcast, that's a nice transition because she has the heart and the personality. So, Melanie, I'm going to turn to you now. Zealia mentioned some of the tasks and the work that you do, which is quite broad. Just kind of describe the life of a peer support specialist as you've lived it at jps.

[D]

Sure. Thank you, Rebecca, and thank you, Zilia, for the wonderful introduction. So life as a peer support specialist, we stay pretty busy here. We have, as Zoya mentioned, for four of our inpatient units as well as our local commitment alternative unit, which is our long term. They have state beds, we have peer support specialists on every unit. There's sometimes there's two of us. It just kind of depends on the units. We meet the patients, where they're at. So we have what's called an interdisciplinary interview. And we go in, we find out not necessarily what maybe brought them here, but but challenges they have, what barriers do they have, what are their goals, learning about them as that person that they are, who they are, what they love to do. And we also help with the risk of readmission. Like Zilia also stated, we also do a readmission survey. And this is when a patient comes in within 30 days or less of their last inpatient stay here at JPS and we find out what's something differently that they'd like to work on. How can they stay out of the making sure they have those wellness tools, setting up that crisis planning, you know, it's basically what they want in their own recovery. We also share our recovery stories. We have peer support specialists in our wonderful psychiatric emergency center here at jps. And I love, we share our stories there. We share our stories on all the inpatient units and we rotate so all the patients get to hear our wonderful recovery stories. How we walk a life in wellness, what we just stay well. Challenges, barriers, things that we're still going through because we know recovery is ongoing. It's a journey. It's something that you just don't get to forget about one day. It's something that you have to work on every single day, is working on that self. In our psychiatric emergency center, we have peer support specialists that work with the discharges. Those are the discharges that are going home as well as discharges that may be coming to Our inpatient unit, with that being said, the discharges, going home, we make sure they're equipped with those resources, those things like Zilia mentioned in the community, making sure if they're discharging to a shelter, making sure, you know, they have a ride for that, making sure there's some sort of warm handoff for that, making sure they have a safe discharge plan, a place to go for those coming inpatient. We talk a little bit about the experience of what to expect next, what's it going to be like. We talk a little bit about their treatment team. They're going to have a peer support specialist, they're going to have a social worker assigned to them. They're going to have groups during the day. We do lead the groups on the inpatient units as well. They're all recovery focused, recovery driven, and that's what I love about it. And this gives patients the idea of maybe to try some own ideas of what they might want to do for their own wellness, their own recovery. We also meet with the discharges, people that come into the hospital right before they discharge. We usually meet with them 24 to 48 hours prior to their discharge date. We make sure we're working, we're collaborating with the social worker, the doctor, making sure they have all the tools they need in their wellness toolbox to make sure they're well equipped to go home, making sure they have that crisis planning set, not only our contact numbers, but our 988 numbers, 911, making sure they know they can come to the psychiatric emergency center. This is what we're here for. So we do as well treatment teams. So this is where we collectively work as a team. This is where the peer support specialist is involved, the social worker, the doctor, the residents, the psychiatrist, the nurse, and of course their lovely peer support specialists. And we meet with them to basically find out how they feel like they're progressing in treatment. If there's any type of medication management, you know, how are the medications working for you if they're taking medications? Because everybody's journey is different. We don't push recovery on anyone. It's what they want. We don't talk about, you should take medications, it's what works best for you. Because we believe that person individually knows what's best for them. We also help build that bridge where there's sometimes that gap between the social worker and the doctor and the nurse. So we are constantly rebuilding, building that and making sure we're all meeting at that one place and that's meeting the patient's needs.

[B]

You just summarized what was in my head. Sometimes I think organizations are concerned that if they bring peer support specialists on, it may compete with some of the work the existing staff have. And you said the word more than once and that is collaboration. And another way to say collaboration is we work in a team. Thank you Melanie, first of all for the work that you do and the joy and the hope that you bring to individuals lives. Zelia, I'm going to ask you for the people that are listening, that are on the fence, that are thinking about should we go on this journey to hire a peer support specialist or at least begin looking into is that right for our organization? What sort of call to action would you have or what guidance would you provide them?

[C]

Every institution needs to look at meeting your patients where they are and whether you have behavioral health in your health system or not. You can still utilize peer support specialists in your medical emergency center. You can utilize them in your case management office and doing follow up phone calls and navigation for those patients that are going to come to your health system. You may not have behavioral health officially in your health system, but you have behavioral health patients in your health system and many times those are the patients that are coming back in less than 30 days. And what can be done to try to stop that revolving door, to give a patient the best chance for recovery? Peer support specialists are an untapped resource that I think is well overdue in all hospital settings. Whether it's somebody that is a cancer survivor, heart attack survivor or whatever, these people have life experience and hope to share to help people where they are.

[B]

That's beautiful, inspirational and I hope just by listening to this podcast it will become actionable for our hospitals and health systems. So thanks to both of you today again for the work you do day in, day out at jps. And thank you so much for your willingness to share your time and expertise with us and inspire others and also teach others about this valuable role on the behavioral health team.

[C]

Thank you for having us.

[D]

Thank you.

[A]

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