Basic Competencies of Peer Specialists

There are certain basic skills that people need to serve as a peer specialist. These include:

• An understanding of the recovery process and how to use their own recovery story to help others
• An understanding of, and the ability to establish, healing relationships
• An understanding of the importance of taking care of yourself

What these skills really boil down to are the simple things that peers can do better than anyone else: Listen ... ask powerful questions ... help others see the possibility of recovery ... and tell their own recovery story effectively.