BECOME A VOLUNTEER
Peer Support Specialists are individuals in recovery from mental health and/or substance use disorders. They identify and apply personal experiences to assist others. Special training and certification exams are designed to enhance social and emotional support, advocacy, and skillsets to better qualify them when providing peer support assistance.
Pees Support Specialists offer:
- Social Support – Developing strategies to cope with life circumstances, and assistance in making post-discharge arrangements.
- Mentoring – Advising, teaching, and strategically planning a way to manage and maintain mental illness.
- Emotional Support – Providing companionship, encouragement, validation, and understanding.
- Advocacy – Lending support and planning with providers.
- Hope and Reassurance – Leading by example that managing a mental health condition(s) is possible.
Those with lived experience work to promote the following statements:
- Understand that mental health treatment is unique to everyone.
- Getting help is a choice and doesn’t have to be a stronghold.
- A journey can be brief or lengthy, but doesn’t have to land at a destination.
Our peer-run programs focus on general support and advocacy to promote social inclusion strategies. We provide training to individuals with mental health challenges by empowering them with the necessary tools to seek employment, become financial self-sufficient, and participate in community activities as informed citizens.