The Vital Importance of Peer Support Specialists

In the last twenty or so years, a new profession has taken root, one that can ease some of the tremendous workloads of mental health professionals. I’m talking about peer support specialists and the wonderful work they are doing in many settings around the United States.

What are peer support specialists? What do they do? What are the credentials and training they must have? This article will delve into answering these questions and much more.

What are Peer Support Specialists?

There have long been people willing to give up parts of their lives to help those who are struggling. They spend inordinate amounts of time making sure that others do not feel alone or abandoned. Until recently, these positions were unpaid, although the workload was just as heavy as any other profession.

Now, in 2021, all but five states have established peer support specialist training programs that offer a certificate of completion and two of the five that do not have it are in the process of offering one.

Peer support specialists are people with lived experience with a mental health condition, such as substance use or depression, who have knowledge that cannot be taught in the professional training of doctors or nurses.

Some peer support specialists fulfill roles that include assisting their peers in reaching their goals for recovery and practicing new skills with them, plus monitoring their progress. Peer support specialists help their clients by modeling effective coping skills and helpful strategies that the specialist has used in their own life.

In 2007, the United States Department of Health and Human Services elevated peer support services to an evidence-based practice which made the services offered by peer support specialists payable by Medicare and Medicaid in all fifty states.

There is a National Certified Peer Specialist credential that does not replace the state certifications but is an added certification to show their leadership qualities and their advancement in the field.

What Do Peer Support Specialists Do?

Peer support specialists fill a lot of shoes working to shore up the drooping psyche of their clients. Peer workers engage in many activities, including:

• Advocacy for people on the person’s healing journey
• Sharing resources and character-building skills
• Leading groups such as Well Recovery Action Planning (WRAP
• Educating the public and policymakers about the role of peer support specialists and about mental health in general
• Supervise other peer support workers
• Mentor others
• Developing resources for use by their clients
• Offer heartfelt and compassionate care to those living with mental illness

This activity list does not include all the preparation it takes to form and lead the groups, or the continuing education credits peer support specialists are required to get each year.

Peer support specialists will also need proficiency in core competencies so they can provide services to specific groups, such as the family members of those affected by their loved one’s mental health condition. Having experience with mental health issues or being a family member is foundational to the work of a peer support specialist in behavioral health.

Why Peer Support?

There is a terrific shortage of mental health workers in the United States today, especially in rural areas away from the big cities. Many people in rural America who need help with their mental health are forced to travel many miles to get the help that they need. Peer support specialists can work besides mental health professionals offering lower-tiered support.

Also, peer support is much more economically affordable to both the client and Medicaid and Medicare. In 2006, the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health & Developmental Disabilities compared people using peer support specialists as part of their treatment against a group of people who received mental health professional help only.

The people in the peer support specialist assisted group show more improvement when compared to the group without them in the following three categories:

1. Reduction of current symptoms/behaviors
2. Increase in skills/abilities
3. Ability to access resources and meet their own needs

Comparing the costs of services of conventional day treatment by mental health professionals that cost the state of Georgia $6,491 per year, they were astonished to find that peer support specialists cost only $997 per day. Meaning an average cost saving of $5,494 savings to the state.

Not only this but there was a reduction in the need for hospitalizations among those with mental health conditions with the average hospitalization occurring 60% of the time but re-hospitalization due to relapse happening only 19% of the time (Bergeson.

Clearly, hiring and using peer support specialists saves money and lives.

Perhaps the most important ‘why’ to peer support specialists is their unique ability to comprehend and aid others struggling to overcome a mental health condition because they have been there. They know what it is like to hurt and can offer help that no one else can.

Where are Peer Support Specialists Employed?

Peer support specialists serve many places assisting in the care of those who, like themselves, are living with a mental health condition. You might find them in any of the following settings:

• Running living room projects
• Working for the Department of Veterans Affairs
• Working for a behavioral health center
• Helping clients in an inpatient facility setting
• Working for community-based mental health centers
• Employed at homeless shelters
• Running peer-run respite centers

Peer support specialists are finding their niche among the places that have suffered the most from the mental health professional shortage.

Before you think anyone can walk in off the street and become a peer support specialist, allow me to fill you in on the requirements in Illinois (where I live) to receive the credential.

First, one must have earned either a high school diploma or finished the GED. Then one must apply for and complete a two-day training with a $75 submission fee.

Afterward, the person is required to complete 2,000 hours of Certified Peer Specialist on-the-job training. The work can be paid or voluntary, but 51% of the person’s work duties must involve providing mental health recovery support services. The work must be supervised with the primary responsibility being to provide recovery support services to an individual or a group following detailed recovery care plans. The prospective certified peer specialist must document client progress and be supervised by an individual who knows performance domains.

On top of the previously outlined details, a potential peer support specialist must receive 40 hours of training; 6 hours of professional ethics and responsibility training, and 54 more spent on core functions, such as:

• Recovery support specialist training
• Wellness Recovery Action Plan
• The Psychiatric Rehabilitation Certificate Program
• College courses
• Seminars
• Conferences
• In-services
• Workshops
• Relias online learning

Then, after all the training, a person seeking to become a certified peer support specialist must take an examination that costs $125.

Whew!

So, no, when someone states they have the Certified support specialist credential, they are not a charlatan or someone pretending to care. They have jumped through a lot of hoops and training to earn your trust.

Ending the Piece

Peer support specialists are a vital new tool in helping those with mental health issues to heal and recover. They offer low-cost services that are supervised and save enormous amounts of money for both consumers and state plus federal governments.

The next time you attend a session with your therapist, ask them about the importance of peer support specialists and I think they will agree they offer invaluable services.

If you don’t have peer support specialists working in the place where you receive care, you can advocate for them to become employed there. The power of their shared experience changes lives.

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” Leo Buscaglia.

“Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have.” Margaret Mead.

References

Bergeson, S. Cost-Effectiveness of Using Peers as Providers By Sue Bergeson, Vice President, Consumer Affairs, Optum Health. Retrieved from:

https://prpsn.org/docs/cost-effectiveness-of-using-peers-as-providers.pdf

Originally published at https://cptsdfoundation.org.