Peer support specialist

A Certified Peer Support Specialist also known as a Certified Peer Specialist is a person with significant life-altering experience. This is also referred to as lived experience. These specialists support individuals with struggles pertaining to mental health, psychological trauma or substance use. Because of their lived experience, such persons have expertise that professional training cannot replicate. This is not to be confused with peer educators who may not consider recovery a suitable goal for everyone and may focus instead on the principles of harm reduction.

There are many tasks performed by peer support specialists that may include assisting their peers in articulating their goals for recovery, learning and practicing new skills, helping them monitor their progress, supporting them in their treatment, modeling effective coping techniques and self-help strategies based on the specialist's own recovery experience, and supporting them in advocating for themselves to obtain effective services.

As of September 2012, 36 states had established programs that train and certify individuals with lived experience who have initiated their recovery and are willing to support others in their recovery process.

A peer recovery support specialist (P-RSS) is an occupational title of trained individuals who engage with peers in a community-based recovery center, or outside it around any number of activities, or over the telephone as well. The peer support specialist can work with individuals as they develop and implement a personal recovery plan, which can also serve as a contract for engagement.

The Veterans Administration has increased its number of peer specialists to 800 as of the end of 2013. The VA uses peer support specialists much like local, state, and private agencies.

Recovery plans can take many forms. A key component of the recovery management model is a personal recovery plan. This plan is drawn up by the individual looking for support, and reviewed with an RSS. This peer-centered recovery plan is instrumental for individuals in the process of their recovery.

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