Advocacy, Recovery, Compassion & Healing

The Advocacy, Recovery, Compassion & Healing (ARCH) team is a group of clinicians within the Department of Surgery that focuses on providing integrated addiction and mental health services on a number of inpatient hospital units.

The Advocacy, Recovery, Compassion & Healing (ARCH) team is committed to creating innovative spaces for equitable mental health and addiction care through value differences, fostering connections, cultivating growth, and championing the humanity of all.

Our Services

Our team is comprised of Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselors (LCMHC), Licensed Clinical Addiction Specialists (LCAS), Certified Peer Support Specialists (CPSS), licensed supervisors and graduate student trainees.

From a person-centered and trauma-informed approach, we provide brief addiction and mental health counseling services on trauma, burn, and medicine inpatient services, and offer continued support in our outpatient clinic. We also provide counseling to pediatric surgery patients and their families and patients on other hospital services on a consultation basis.

Our primary areas of focus include:

Substance misuse and use disorders
Trauma, acute stress disorder (ASD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Grief/loss
Recovery support

We work closely with the medical teams to address substance use and mental health concerns related to patient care such as alcohol withdrawal, drug use with medical concerns, and psychosocial issues.

Through our team approach, we strive to ensure patients receive well-rounded care and support during their hospital admission, connection to valuable community resources and systems of support, and continuity of care in our outpatient Trauma Connection Supportive Care & Wellness Clinic.

Peer Support Services

“Peer support is based on the belief that people who have faced, endured, and overcome adversity can offer useful support, encouragement, hope, and perhaps mentorship to others facing similar situations” – Davidson, Chinman, Sells, & Rowe, 2006

Peer support is an integral part of the services provided by the ARCH team. At its core, peer support is about connecting patients with someone who has personal knowledge and a shared lived experience with them, and fostering that connection and support to enhance their recovery. Across the units we serve, we offer three different kinds of peer support.

Certified Peer Support Specialists

A certified peer support specialist (CPSS) is an individual who uses their lived experience in recovery from mental illness and/or addiction to support others whom can benefit from their lived experiences. Our CPSS provides supplemental services to patients seen by licensed clinical addiction specialists or licensed clinical mental health counselors and further supports our patients in the recovery process. Our CPSS provides recovery support to patients during a critical time of potential change, has the opportunity to be the voice of recovery for the medical team through patient advocacy and enhancing patient self-empowerment, and has the ability to follow up with patients in the community and serve as a bridge to important support systems and resources.

To learn more about Certified Peer Support Specialists, visit the official website for North Carolina.

Trauma Survivors

As a Trauma Survivors Network (TSN) facility, trained trauma survivors are available to provide peer visits at the bedside (or virtually) and offer trauma patients the opportunity to talk with someone who has also experienced the aftermath of a serious injury. Our trauma survivors offer encouragement, answer questions, and address concerns from the perspective of someone who has been there.

Trauma survivor peer visits are only a portion of the TSN services available to trauma patients at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist. To learn more, reach out to our Trauma Survivors Network Coordinator, Suzy Vaile, at traumasurvivors@wakehealth.edu or 336-716-7500.

Survivors Offering Assistance in Recovery (SOAR)

As a Phoenix SOAR hospital as well, this program connects burn survivors and loved ones with trained SOAR volunteer peers who have experienced a similar burn trauma and can support them in the hospital as they begin the journey of recovery.

In addition to peer visits, our Victim2Victor is a monthly support group led by burn survivors in North Carolina whose purpose is to provide education and community for burn victims as well as their loved ones. To learn more about Victim2Victor, visit their website.

To learn more about Phoenix SOAR, visit the official website.

Student Training Center

The Student Training Center, as part of the ARCH team, is a national and international leading model of integrated and trauma-informed care, placing mental health clinicians-in-training at the hospital bedside as part of the standard of care.

Locations

Providers

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