What do Peer Support Specialists do?

• Empower peers to engage in their own treatment, healthcare and recovery
• Assist peers with setting their own recovery, goals and developing a recovery action plan
• Help peers solve problems and address barriers related to recovery 
• Encourage peers' self-determination, hope, insight, and development of new skills 
• Connect peers with professional and non-professional recovery resources in the community
• Help peers navigate the service system and access resources independently 
• Facilitate activation and encourage peers to be responsible for their own mental health 
• Support peers to decrease isolation and build community support
• Empower peers in establishing and maintaining recovery 
• Role model recovery, share their stories, and show that recovery is real 

The role of a Peer Support Specialist is to promote and support the recovery of his or her peers
This involves:

1. Helping peers find out what they want and how it will improve the quality of their lives 
2. Supporting peers in getting what they want in order to improve quality of life 
3. promoting peers' concern to the treatment team and other staff 

What does a Peer Support Specialist's training and certification prepare them to do? How do Peer Support Specialist effectively promote and support the recovery of their peers?
We have learned that there are some things that most peer specialists are able to do very well. There are many gifts they bring to the system as providers because of their lived experience with mental illness and training on how to use it to help others. 
Some things they do very well are...

• Validating and understanding that peers are experiencing. This helps create a trusting relationship. Peer Support Specialists may know the most about whats going on in the peer's life. 
• Establishing trusting relationships which puts peer specialist in the position to be good at advocating for what the peer wants 

*Must be 18 Years old 
*Medicaid Only 
*Idaho Agency Readiness Training for Peer Support Specialist Services August 1, 2016