Pratt Library Partners to Provide Recovery Resources to Customers

Pilot program with Peer Navigators at Pennsylvania Ave. Branch

March 1, 2022

Baltimore, MD – The Enoch Pratt Free Library has partnered with the Maryland Peer Advisory Council and Healing City Baltimore on a pilot project at the Pennsylvania Avenue Branch to provide support for those who need help with addiction recovery. The pilot program places peer navigators who have lived experiences with recovery in the Pennsylvania Avenue Branch to help direct customers in need to resources that may help them.

The Peer Navigators have a weekly presence at the library on Tuesdays from noon to 3 pm. Appointments are also available. The peers help provide resources to vital services that assist with substance use recovery, trauma, mental, and behavioral health, as well as outreach to individuals and families. In just the first few weeks of the program, the peers assisted more than 75 customers.

“Recovery is for everyone,” says Tiffinee Scott with the Maryland Peer Advisory Council. “Introducing peers in the library reduces the stigma and provides an inclusive, trauma-informed space for individuals or family members to engage in conversation, be supported, and connect to support and services.”

“Our mission at the Pratt Library is to provide access to our customers. Sometimes that access comes in the form of a book, other times it’s one-on-one assistance,” says Pratt Library President & CEO Heidi Daniel. “The Peer Navigator program is a natural extension of other wraparound services the Pratt provides as a trusted place in each of the communities we serve.”

The Pratt Library was one of the first libraries in the nation to offer Lawyer in the Library, a partnership with Maryland Legal Aid that began in 2015. In 2017, Social Worker in the Library launched in four branches in partnership with the University of Maryland School of Social Work. That program has now expanded to include social work graduate student interns from both Morgan State University and Coppin State University.

“Baltimore has suffered from an agonizing overdose crisis that has left so many families grieving. For too long we tried to criminalize our way out of substance use,” says Councilman Zeke Cohen. “In 2022, we know that addiction is a mental health disorder, not a personal failing. That is why I am so proud of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, under the leadership of Heidi Daniel for addressing addiction through a trauma informed, evidence-based approach. Instead of leaning on antiquated zero tolerance policies, they have brought peer recovery coaches into the library to help reduce harm. This type of innovation and commitment to equity is at the core of the Healing City Act, and will truly move Baltimore forward.”

For more details on the Peer Navigator program, visit www.prattlibrary.org/services/peer-navigators. A video about the program is available on the Pratt Library YouTube page.