Differing perspectives on diagnosis
Medical model approach
Peer support approach
Assess problem symptoms and apply diagnostic criteria to categorize human experience. Mental health clinician is the expert based on the possession of technical knowledge about human experience. Diagnosis leads to reimbursement for treatment. Goal of treatment is to reduce symptoms, as well as support recovery, health, and wellness. Diagnosis is focused on assessment of pathology and experiences of distress. Treatment is understood to be aided by the patient’s acceptance of diagnosis and following a given treatment plan. Diagnosis is shown in charting and billing documentation. Even old or inaccurate diagnoses can stay, impacting how people are treated in various settings. Many people can have the exact same diagnosis. Rejection of diagnosis by a patient is generally viewed negatively by the clinician as resistance, being difficult, or as lacking insight.
Look for strengths and affirm. Listen to understand the peer’s lived experience. Each person is unique. Peer is the expert on their own lived experience based on a lifetime of experience. Lived experience informs both personal choices, as well as access to various options. The goal is to foster trust and mutual relationships to support recovery, health, and wellness. Lived experience includes life lessons, wisdom, values, and strengths, as well as struggles and traumas. Drawing upon a strengths-based approach can have empowering effects. Supporting self- determination and honoring the perspectives of peers relating to their own lived experience, whatever they may be, is essential to recovery. Lived experience is understood to be dynamic and ever changing. Peer support is not centered in labels or diagnosis and seeks to reduce systemic harm in documentation practices. No two people can have the exact same lived experience. Rejection of diagnosis by a peer is accepted without question in peer support because it is a person-centered approach consistent with the principle of self-determination.
158
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online