Peer support services: state of the workforce-state of the field in the USA
| Date | 12 June 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/MHSI-03-2017-0015 |
| Published date | 12 June 2017 |
| Pages | 168-175 |
| Author | E. Sally Rogers |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Mental health,Social inclusion |
Peer support services: state of the
workforce-state of the field in the USA
E. Sally Rogers
Abstract
Purpose –Peer support and other consumer-provided services have burgeoned within the USA during the
past 30 years and are now a central component of mental health services nationally. However, their growth
has been uneven and somewhat dependent on state initiatives, policies, and funding. Recent programshave
matured along myriad paths, resulting in a variety of program typologies, service structures, and funding
streams, but with common values, missions, and principles. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach –The landscape of peer specialist services in the USA, as well as
innovations afoot, is reviewed. The empirical information that speaks to the efficacy of peer support and the
need to better understand the mechanisms by which it is effective is described.
Findings –Although peer support has grown exponentially across the USA, its growth has been uneven.
Evidence suggests that peer specialists experience role ambiguity within many existing programs and
systems. Though the empirical evidence for peer services has grown, research has been most favorable for
manualized, group interventions. There is still a need to better understand how individual peer support is
beneficial and effective, and how individual peer support can best be utilized to promote the best outcomes
for those served.
Research limitations/implications –Inorder for the workforce of peer support specialists to continue to grow
and for services to be responsive and innovative, we need to better understand the mechanisms by which peer
support is beneficial and how it can be structured and delivered to promote the best outcomes for those served.
The “core conditions”of helping relationships promulgated decades ago by Rogers along with research on
self-disclosure may be useful frameworks for understanding and researching the effectiveness of peer support.
Practical implications –More research is needed to better understand the effectiveness of peer support
services and how best to insure that they are well-integrated into the mental health programs and systems in
which they serve.
Originality/value –There is a need to understand why peer support is effective and how best to sustain peer
specialists in their roles within the mental health system.
Keywords USA, Peer support, Recovery, Mental health, Peer specialists
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Peer-delivered services have proliferated greatly over the past three decades and are now a
central component of the mental health and behavioral health care systems in the USA
(International Association of Peer Supporters (iNAPS), 2016; Mental Health America, 2017a;
US Department of Health and Human Services, 2017). Nationwide, recent data suggest that
peer support services are delivered in 35 out of 50 states using current public funding
mechanisms (Mental Health America, 2017b). Peer-delivered services have been suggested as a
critical component in a recovery-oriented mental health system by one of the largest institutes
focused on mental health and were endorsed by the federal agency responsible for insuring
individuals with disabilities as being an evidence-based service that is eligible for payment (or
reimbursement) through public health insurance mechanisms (US Department of Health and
Human Services, 2007, 2017). Research suggests that peer support has grown beyond
traditional mental health settings and is now being delivered in an array of ancillary settings
(Chinman et al., 2014; Cronise et al., 2016).
E. Sally Rogers is the Executive
Director and a Research
Professor at the Center for
Psychiatric Rehabilitation,
Sargent College, Boston
University, Boston,
Massachusetts, USA.
PAGE168
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MENTALHEALTH AND SOCIAL INCLUSION
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VOL. 21 NO. 3 2017, pp. 168-175, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2042-8308 DOI 10.1108/MHSI-03-2017-0015
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