CPSS Community Navigation 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A peer specialist is helping someone enroll in NC Medicaid for the first time. Which factor is MOST important to verify before starting the application?
- The peer's opinion on managed care
- The peer's income, residency, and citizenship/immigration status to determine eligibility (Correct answer)
- Whether the peer has used Medicaid before in another state
- The peer's preferred hospital system
Correct answer: The peer's income, residency, and citizenship/immigration status to determine eligibility
Medicaid eligibility in NC is based primarily on income level, NC residency, and citizenship or satisfactory immigration status.
Question 2: When a peer specialist accompanies a peer to a service appointment as a community navigator, what role is MOST appropriate for the specialist to take during the meeting?
- Answer all questions on behalf of the peer to save time
- Provide supportive presence and only speak if the peer asks for assistance or clarification (Correct answer)
- Lead the meeting and direct the provider on what services the peer needs
- Take detailed clinical notes for the provider
Correct answer: Provide supportive presence and only speak if the peer asks for assistance or clarification
The peer specialist's role is to provide support and promote the peer's voice, not to speak for them or take over the interaction.
Question 3: A peer is reluctant to engage with formal mental health services due to past trauma from involuntary hospitalization. As a navigator, what approach is MOST appropriate?
- Insist that formal services are necessary and the peer must engage
- Acknowledge the trauma, validate the hesitancy, and collaboratively explore less formal alternatives first (Correct answer)
- Report the refusal to the peer's psychiatrist
- Disengage since the peer is not ready for services
Correct answer: Acknowledge the trauma, validate the hesitancy, and collaboratively explore less formal alternatives first
Trauma-informed navigation means validating past experiences, building trust, and exploring the full spectrum of supports rather than pushing formal services.
Question 4: Which SAMHSA principle of recovery emphasizes the peer specialist's role in helping peers connect to community, relationships, and meaningful activities?
- Self-Direction
- Many Pathways
- Holistic
- Supported by Peers and Allies (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Supported by Peers and Allies
The 'Supported by Peers and Allies' principle recognizes that community connection and mutual support are essential to recovery.
Question 5: A peer specialist is helping a peer with a felony record access employment services. Which NC resource specializes in supporting people with justice-involvement barriers to employment?
- NC WORKS Career Centers with reentry services and NC Works First (Correct answer)
- NC DMV employment division
- NC State Bar Association
- NC Child Care Commission
Correct answer: NC WORKS Career Centers with reentry services and NC Works First
NC WORKS Career Centers offer reentry services and can connect justice-involved individuals to employment supports, training, and bonding programs.
Question 6: A peer specialist is preparing a peer to self-advocate at a housing authority meeting. What is the BEST way to prepare?
- Write a script and have the peer read it word for word
- Role-play the conversation, review rights and key points, and encourage the peer to speak in their own voice (Correct answer)
- Attend alone and advocate without the peer present
- Send a letter instead and avoid the meeting
Correct answer: Role-play the conversation, review rights and key points, and encourage the peer to speak in their own voice
Role-playing and preparation build the peer's confidence and skills to self-advocate effectively in their own authentic voice.
Question 7: What does the term 'systems navigation' mean in the context of NC peer support specialist practice?
- Using GPS to travel between service locations
- Helping peers understand, access, and effectively interact with the complex network of community and social service systems (Correct answer)
- Filing paperwork in the behavioral health records system
- Managing the LME/MCO's service authorization database
Correct answer: Helping peers understand, access, and effectively interact with the complex network of community and social service systems
Systems navigation refers to the peer specialist's role in guiding individuals through complex social, behavioral health, and community service systems to access needed supports.
CPSS Community Navigation 5
A peer specialist is helping someone enroll in NC Medicaid for the first time.
Which factor is MOST important to verify before starting the application?