Resources
Even Peer Supporters need Resources. Here are some we have put together for you, or have found helpful along the way.
What is Peer Support?
Peer support is a system of mutual aid between people who have similar experiences. It can involve emotional support, advice, and encouragement. Peer support is based on respect, shared responsibility, and mutual understanding.
A peer supporter is an individual with a life-altering lived experience of psychiatric, substance use, or other challenges who has made a personal commitment to his or her own recovery and has a desire to use what was learned from one’s own lived experiences to assist others with similar challenges.
Lived experience alone does not make someone a peer supporter. Peer support specialists relevant training (determined on a state-by-state basis) on using personal experiences to inspire hope, and support someone in taking personal responsibility. Peer supporters promote increased self-awareness, self-determination, self-advocacy, and a sense of empowerment in those receiving recovery support services. National Association of Peer Supporters
The CARES Toolkit
The CARES Toolkit is the Essential Peer Support Skills Training. We created this toolkit to be a resource and guide for you as Peer Supporters. It contains five essential categories for Peer Supporters with a total of 12 modules, one hour each in length. Each one touches on a different topic from a different specialist.
CARES Challenges:
Not ready to purchase the CARES Toolkit yet? How about a FREE skills check that works alongside the toolkit? We have created these challenges for you as a brief look at the CARES Toolkit but also as a challenge for you to really dig in and assess your Peer Support or Supervision Skills.
Has it been a while since your initial peer supporter training? Use this challenge to sharpen your skills and reconnect with the basic peer support values.
Or as a Supervisor of Peers, use this as a way to refine your skills and communicate best with Peer Supporters.
Other Helpful Resources: General
Many have been Pulled from the National Association of Peer Support (NAPS) website.
Helpful Supervision Resources:
Many have been Pulled from the National Association of Peer Support (NAPS) website.
