Specifications include, but are not limited to: 1. The solicitation is for the Wellness in the Streets project. Wellness in the Streets will fund a peer-based behavioral health team including certified “Peer Specialists”, who will provide peer support, peer counseling, and linkage to care to unhoused San Francisco residents. Peer Specialists will have lived experience with behavioral health issues. 2. The successful Proposer must provide a Peer Specialist Supervisor to supervise the Peer Specialist team. 3. Peer Specialists must be certified as Peer Support counselors by contract award. 4. Peer Support must include but is not limited to the following services: a. Active Listening: Listening to a participant’s personal story and discussing wellness and recovery. b. Engagement: Connecting one-on-one with participants at informal settings such as coffee shops and parks and providing motivational interviewing and other evidence-based interventions to support participants. c. Life Skills: Teaching participants organizational strategies and tools that will help them manage appointments and medications. 5. Peer Counseling may occur one-on-one or in a support group based on the preferences of a participant. Peer counseling must include but is not limited to the following services: a. Wellness Planning: Helping participants develop a wellness toolbox that can be used on a daily basis to promote recovery. b. Crisis Planning: Helping participants create a crisis plan that includes coping tools and strategies to follow when feeling distressed or in crisis. c. Support System Development: Helping participants develop a support system to use when needs arise. d. Socialization Skills Development: Teaching participants conflict resolution and communication skills. e. Coping Skills Development: Teaching participants healthy new ways to deal with stressors. f. Harm Reduction Education And Skills Training: Teaching participants safe and alternative practices to reduce harm such as overdose prevention. g. Mental Health Psycho-Education: Teaching participants early warning signs of behavioral health problems, including what to do when problems arise and where to go for resources.
