A Certified Peer Support Specialist plays a key role by being a source of encouragement and hope, providing emotional support, and inspiring others by demonstrating that recovery is achievable.
Peer Support Specialists are trained individuals who use their personal experience with mental health or substance use recovery to offer support, rather than providing clinical services like diagnosis or prescribing medication.
Peer Support Specialists help individuals identify and pursue their own recovery goals. They do not direct people to specific treatments but instead focus on empowering individuals to make choices for their own recovery.
Unlike licensed therapists who provide clinical interventions, Peer Support Specialists draw on their lived experiences to offer understanding and support, helping others navigate their own recovery journey.
Peer Support Specialists empower individuals by sharing their own recovery stories and helping others realize that recovery is possible, while also promoting autonomy and self-determination in decision-making.