Dealing with any mental health or substance abuse issue is tough. It can often feel like no one really understands what you’re going through. But there’s a growing movement to change that by employing people who can better empathize with patients.
Peer specialists are people who have personally struggled with mental health or substance abuse problems but are now in recovery and helping others. They work for community behavioral health centers, psychiatric inpatient facilities and other health-care providers.
“These programs are proliferating everywhere you look. There’s a lot of evidence to show that peers can support and acclimate someone to a new life of recovery,” said Kim Nelson, the regional administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. She worked as a peer specialist for a decade before landing her current job.
[For more of this story, written by Mattie Quinn, go to http://www.governing.com/topic...s-mental-health.html]
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