When I left residential treatment for my substance use disorder (SUD) and entered back into “the real world,” I needed someone to walk beside me for a while. It was important for me to have another person to lean on. Someone to be honest with about what I was experiencing in my recovery.
I learned so much at the treatment center, and I was following the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. But once outside of the very structured treatment environment, it was up to me to implement the things I’d learned into new skills and habits. Some days were easy, but some days were difficult. It helped me, more than mere words can express, to be able to talk to someone who knew, really knew, what those bad days felt like. Addiction can be difficult to explain to a person who has never experienced it. There are only so many times I could hear some version of, “Why don’t you just stop?” When I talk to someone who struggles with addiction like I do, they know it’s not that simple.
Peer support has been instrumental in helping me find a job and a recovery community. In recovery, there is a to-do list for maintaining sobriety and being successful in life. Early in my recovery, my brain saw these tasks like they were the size of mountains. I’d get stressed out just thinking about them. But my peer-support specialist helped me to see them as small, doable things. I just needed to tackle them one at a time. She didn’t do things for me, but she empowered me to do them myself. Eventually, I needed her less and less. I became increasingly capable of accomplishing tasks and staying motivated.
I was very fortunate to be surrounded by a group of women in my recovery community, and I became part of something bigger than myself. When the time came, becoming a peer support specialist (myself) felt like the right next step. I’ll never forget how much my peer support specialist helped me in early sobriety, and I wanted to be that support for someone else.
The Role of Peer Support Specialists in Substance Use Disorder Recovery
Peer support specialists, also known as peer recovery coaches, are individuals who have successfully navigated the recovery process and now assist others experiencing similar situations.1 They play a crucial role in the recovery journey of individuals with substance use disorders (SUDs), offering a unique perspective and understanding that stems from their personal experiences. Indeed, peer support specialists are important members of SUD treatment teams.
Peer support specialists engage in a wide range of activities, including advocating for people in recovery, sharing resources, building skills, leading recovery groups, and mentoring.1 They help individuals create personalized recovery plans and develop their own recovery pathways. The support they provide extends beyond the clinical care setting into the everyday lives of those seeking a successful, sustained recovery process.
Recovery coaches provide many different types of support:2
- emotional (empathy and concern)
- informational (connections to information and referrals to community resources that support health and wellness)
- instrumental (concrete supports such as housing or employment)
- affiliational (connections to recovery community supports, activities, and events)
The unique relationship between the peer recovery coach and the individual in recovery is grounded in trust, shared understanding, respect, and mutual empowerment.
Evidence Supporting the Effectiveness of Peer Support
People who have worked with peer recovery coaches often provide strong testimonies about the positive impact that peer recovery support played in their recovery journeys.2 Several studies have evaluated the effectiveness of peer recovery support for individuals with SUDs.2,3 While the body of research is still growing, there is mounting evidence that people who receive peer coaching reduce their substance use, have greater housing stability, are less likely to be re-admitted to the hospital or seek care in an emergency room, and are less likely to be arrested. Moreover, those with a peer coach indicate they feel greater social support, improved self-efficacy, increased satisfaction with their treatment experience, and greater engagement and better relationships with their treatment team. Peer recovery support services have also been associated with lowering the risk of sexually transmitted infections, like HIV and hepatitis B.
Finding My Purpose
Today, my life is full of meaning and purpose. I get the opportunity to share my experience, strengths, and hopes with someone who has lost all hope.
Each day is different. Not every patient is ready to take action. It’s difficult to watch someone struggle when you know there is a way out. But it’s all worth it when I get to talk to a patient who is open, willing, and ready to change. Watching them succeed is the greatest honor.
Every organization should make peer support available to those in recovery, and health professionals should facilitate connecting someone who’s struggling with addiction with a peer coach. It makes an enormous difference. There’s something special about that shared experience.
The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous says it best:
We are average Americans. All sections of this country and many of its occupations are represented, as well as many political, economic, social, and religious backgrounds. We are people who normally would not mix. But there exists among us a fellowship, a friendliness, and an understanding which is indescribably wonderful. We are like the passengers of a great liner the moment after rescue from shipwreck when camaraderie, joyousness and democracy pervade the vessel from steerage to Captain’s table. Unlike the feelings of the ship’s passengers, however, our joy in escape from disaster does not subside as we go our individual ways. The feeling of having shared in a common peril is one element in the powerful cement which binds us. But that in itself would never have held us together as we are now joined.
References
- Peer Support Workers for those in Recovery. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA), May 29 2024.
- MacLellan J, Surey J, Abubakar I, Stagg HR. Peer support workers in health: a qualitative metasynthesis of their experiences. PLoS One 2015;10:e0141122.
- Reif S, Braude L, Lyman DR, et al. Peer recovery support for individuals with substance use disorders: Assessing the evidence. Psychiatric Services2014;65(7), 853-861.