Podcast Episode - Peer Support Groups
By Maureen Leif, J.D., President, Grays Peak Strategies
Anna Michaels Boffy, Illuminate Colorado
In celebration of April being Child Abuse Prevention Month, I was excited to be able to interview Anna Michaels Boffy today on an edition of our Podcast News from the Peak. I have gotten to know Anna through our work together on the Circle of Parents Expansion (COPE) Grant. I’ve been so impressed working with her and her commitment to families and children. She’s so passionate and smart and holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work, and Organizational Leadership and Public Policy from the University of Denver.
She is the Family Support Program Manager at Illuminate Colorado. Illuminate Colorado, a non-profit organization with the mission of strengthening families through some direct services as well as advocacy and policy work.
Grays Peak Strategies is helping manage and plan this 5 year Regional Partnership Grant from the Administration of Children and Families (ACF). This a collaborative grant between the Colorado Judicial Department (Grantee), Illuminate Colorado, Colorado Department of Human Services, 2M Research, and Kempe Center.
The purpose of the grant is to expand peer support groups for parents going through a Dependency and Neglect case involving substance abuse. The goal of the project is to support parents in recovery thereby strengthening families and reducing the number of children removed from their homes because of substance abuse.
According to the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, about 1 out of every 8 children in the U.S. lives with at least one parent dependent on alcohol or in need of treatment for illicit drug use. Drug and alcohol abuse among parents underlays many Dependency and Neglect (D&N) cases both nationally and in Colorado. According to 2014–2018 data from the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS), 13,325 children in Colorado were removed from their homes due to parental drug and/or alcohol abuse.
While parental substance use can be a risk factor for maltreatment, subsequent child welfare interventions, such as removals, can add another layer of trauma. To better manage these cases and reduce the likelihood of re-traumatization, Colorado has built on Family Drug Court research to develop and test a collaborative, multi-system approach called Dependency and Neglect System Reform (DANSR). Unfortunately, the funds required to deliver participants the enhanced services that characterize DANSR cannot adequately meet the real need these families have for community supports over and above their existing treatment services.
The COPE project is designed to bridge this gap by identifying and providing services for substance use issues in keeping with the approach used by DANSR and supported by Circle of Parents in Recovery (CoPR), an evidence-informed model that uses prosocial peer networks to strengthen families, prevent child maltreatment, and support recovery.
Anna and I discuss why peer support groups work, and how peer support is important to recovery. In addition, we also talk about how peer recovery is working during the COVID-19 Pandemic when stressors are extraordinarily high with financial losses and isolation factors.
Listen to our interview here: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and more.