Peer Practice Brief: How Youth Partners Can Collaborate with Family Partners in Wraparound

Youth partners and family partners each have key roles on Wraparound teams, and they work with each other as well as with care coordinators, other team members, and, of course, family members and young people. Their roles are similar in function but separate in practice, as the family partner is a designated peer support specialist for the family member and the youth partner is a designated peer support specialist for the youth participating in the Wraparound process. It is crucial that these supports work with each other — as well as with the other members of the team, the youth, and the family — to achieve successful outcomes. In this Peer Practice Brief, we will describe how family partners and youth partners can collaborate in a synergistic way, some common challenges they might face, and how these challenges can be addressed. We also will provide scenarios along with discussion questions to help you consider how these collaborations and challenges might play out with real youth and family, and their unique strengths and needs. The accompanying Study Guide provides answers to these questions that you can use to guide individual or group supervision, coaching, or training