What is a Peer Support Specialist and How Can You Become One?

One of the goals of this website is to bring employers and qualified candidates for addiction jobs together.  Another, very important, goal is to help those in recovery explore this career path and see some of the amazing opportunities that are available to them, largely, because they are in recovery from addiction themselves.  One of those is being a Peer Support Specialist.  The certified peer specialist is somewhat new in the behavioral health field, with certification programs starting in only 2001.  Since that time, a majority of States have recognized the value of these programs and of hiring Peer Support Specialists to help others, either in a paid or volunteer capacity.  As of the end of 2012, 36 States (see map below) had established programs that train or certify individuals for these roles.

What is a Peer Support Specialist?

A Peer Support Specialist is a person who is in recovery themselves from either drug addiction, alcoholism or other mental disorder and is willing to self-identify to others as a “peer” and to work with others in order to help them recover.  Isn’t this what we do in AA or other 12 Step Programs?  Well, yes it is but now we’re talking about moving matters into the professional arena and those people always have “rules”.  A Peer Support Specialist may work in a treatment center, a social services center, a hospital or other organization with a need.   There are any number of tasks performed by peer support specialists, such as practicing new skills needed for recovery, monitoring progress, and being an advocate.

Peer Support Specialist Certification

What is unique, and exciting, about the Peer Support Specialist job is that the training required for certification is quite accessible not out of reach for most.   The whole idea behind the program is that your life experience, particularly that of being in recovery, has provided you with expertise that all the professional training in the world wouldn’t be able to replicate.  Certification requirements do differ by State and we have a pretty good outline of those different requirements in this report from the University of Texas.  However, in most States the base Peer Support Specialist certification requirement is a 40-hour course.  In some states, you may even be able to find these courses put on by public and non-profit groups.  There are links to a few of these on this Wikipedia page under Training and Certification.

Peer Support Specialist Jobs and Salaries

As stated before, many Peer Support Specialists work as part of treatment teams.  They are not counselors but can assist in a lot of the day to day operations at a treatment center.  I personally have quite a few friends locally that got sober in a treatment center here and went to work at the those same facilities not too long after.  They didn’t have to go back to college to get an additional degree or sit for any boards to do it either.  There are so many of these jobs out there and the need is tremendous.  In fact the Veterans Administration employs over 800 peer specialists in it’s ranks.  So, what’s it pay?  That’s going to vary widely depending on your location and employer.   The estimate is anywhere from $28,000-$62,000.  It’s a wide range, I know.  If you’re interested in pursuing this career path, the best suggestion is to start searching for jobs in your area to get an idea on salary and requirements.  Being a Peer Support Specialist is a rewarding position for anyone in recovery and one that isn’t difficult to break into.