Building Buy In: Address Concerns

There are several legal and legitimate concerns that are continually raised. The “big 2” – as I call it – are confidentiality and liability. It’s important for us to remember that managers and attorneys are in place to protect and grow the organization.

At first glance, a peer / crisis support program involves volunteers – who have been through some kind of training but are not licensed or certified – to actively engage distressed individuals who just suffered a tragedy that may or may not involve an investigation or an inquiry or some sort. Where’s the problem?? When discussing a volunteer “helping” program, this is what some managers and attorneys will inevitably hear.

We teach the Top 5 Back Pocket Skills that every Helper needs to be Helpful.  A few of these include: Listening, Validating and Exploring Options.  We recommend using these skills to address management concerns.

• Listen to the concerns of your leadership. I assure you that the concerns they raise will not be the first time these concerns have been raised – and later addressed to the satisfaction of leadership.
• Validate their concerns by acknowledging and reflecting. Don’t be “quick to fix” here. There are real and valid concerns for approving and promoting a peer / crisis support program. People could be further harmed and hold the organization accountable for the damage. By raising concerns, managers are demonstrating consideration of the program by thinking through tough issues.
• Keep an open mind and meet with management to explore the various options that may work best with your organization. For example, if management doesn’t feel comfortable with implementing a program agency-wide, then consider a “location-specific launch”. In other words, approve the program for a small section of the organization for a period of time. During the time, gather data and report effectiveness. Or consider launching a “pilot program” for a limited time. During the time, gather data and report effectiveness. During the pilot (or “phase 1 roll out” or whatever your leadership labels it), consider meeting with attorneys to continually address concerns through policy and protocol.
• Once concerns have been expressed and options explored, a necessary step toward program implementation is drafting a sound peer / crisis support policy. Most concerns can be – and should be – addressed in policy. For example, peer programs are not considered legally confidential; however, confidentiality can be defined and outlined in your policy. The policy can also set the “limits” to confidentiality and outline the parameters for “mandatory reporting” (or referring) and even identify the next level of care, etc.

Building buy in requires time and patience.  We get it – we’ve been there.

For more, download Top FAQs Often Ask.