iFTI Launches Peer Support Training

 During the last week of March, the iFTI hosted the first Peer Support Services training class on the IUPAT Campus in Hanover, MD. This program is another step in the IUPAT Helping Hand initiative aimed at providing our membership with a front-line level of support. The two-and-a-half-day education and training workshop includes information, discussions and activities pertaining to the impact of substance use disorder and mental illness on the brain, suicide prevention, the role of a peer supporter, ethics and confidentiality, employee assistance programs (EAP’s).

In attendance were rank-and-file members, training directors and other IUPAT representatives who are willing to commit to learning about mental health and substance use disorders to help their peers on the job as well as their families and friends.