What Is Peer Support?
While people in recovery can provide conventional services, peer support per se is made possible by the provider’s history of disability and recovery and his or her willingness to share this history with people in earlier stages of recovery. As shown in Figure 1, peer support differs from other types of support in that the experience of having “been there” and having made progress in one’s own personal recovery comprises a major part of the support provided. Forensic peer support involves trained peer specialists with histories of mental illness and criminal justice involvement helping those with similar histories. This type of support requires special attention to the needs of justice-involved people with mental illness, including an understanding of the impact of the culture of incarceration on behavior. Recognition of trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder, prevalent among this population, is critical.
