What is Peer Support?
The ACRP Peer Support Program utilizes Certified Peer Specialists who are in recovery from their own mental health, substance abuse and/or criminal justice struggles to assist other adults seeking wellness and/or recovery themselves. Together they identify and work towards achieving specific goals. Our Peer Support Specialists assist their peers in breaking out of the mind set of being a mental health patient and empowering the peers to take control of their lives and work toward recovery.
Peer Support Goals
- Increase social opportunities
- improved self-maintenance
- building and maintaining a more recovery focused life
- an understanding of each individual’s strengths
- break away from perceived deficits
The Peer Support Program is based on the key principles of mutual respect, responsibility, and agreement of what is helpful in order to enhance empowerment and a positive proactive lifestyle. Every individual served will have the opportunity for growth, recovery, hope and inclusion in their community. Peers in the ACRP Peer Support Program will have access to culturally competent services and supports of their choice, and enjoy a quality of life that includes family, friends, and a feeling that they are a part of their community.
How does it work?
A Certified Peer Support Specialist will:
- Serve as an active member of the person’s recovery team, providing outreach and engagement between the peer and their support system
- Facilitate community integration
- Promote the principles of individual choice and self-determination
- Use a person-centered approach that focuses on the individual and not the diagnosis
- Respond appropriately to risk indicators to assure the person’s welfare and safety
- Establish and maintain a “peer to peer” elationship rather than one of provider and client
- Serve as a role model of a person in recovery
- Assure that peers know their rights and responsibilities and maintain confidentiality
Eligibility
To be eligible for the Peer Support Program a person must:
- be 18 years of age or older
- have a mental health diagnosis that impairs their daily functioning
- have a physician’s approval to participate in the program.