Ta’Kisha Moore is a Peer Support Specialist (also known as a “peer navigator”) and Project Coordinator of the Libraries For Health (L4H) program through Via Hope: a pilot project situating peers in nine public libraries in rural areas of Texas. Ta’Kisha (“Kisha”) explains the structure of this project including the training and supervision requirements of peers, the incredibly strong reception of peers by the libraries, and what makes a non-traditional placement such as a library particularly useful and helpful for library staff, the peers themselves, as well as the patrons they support as “connectors.” For libraries interested in hosting peer navigators, tune into this conversation with Ta’Kisha to hear her perspective about the advantages of a peer model and why it’s particularly needed for library patrons and staff in rural regions.
