peer support resources

Peer Connect: The BC Peer Support Training Curriculum
(Funded by The BC Ministry of Mental Health. Written by Jenn Cusick

Post-Secondary Peer Support Training–Download the open source textbook

An Overview of Peer Support Services in BC and Standards of Practice

BC Peer Support Training Curriculum Guide

The Kirby Report

Out of the Shadows at Last: Transforming Mental Health, Mental Illness and Addiction Services in Canada

This 2006 report was the first comprehensive examination of mental health issues in Canadian history. The Senate Committee looked at a number of very important issues that directly affect psychology and the country.

Making the Case For Peer Support

First edition came out in 2010, Second in 2016.

This is a literature review and research study on the effectiveness of peer support services in Canada. The report very clearly states that peer support works, it is effective, and it saves money.

Guidelines for the Practice and Training of Peer Support

“The two sets of Guidelines are intended to provide direction to policy makers, decision makers, program leaders and the Canadian public about the practice of peer support. The two sets of Guidelines offer elements for the practice of peer support and an outline of the underlying values, principles of practice, skills and abilities of supporters.”

On the future of mental health.

Shery Mead is a leader in the recovery movement. She created Intentional Peer Support.

Read this article from Psychology Today.

Peer Support Canada is a national certification organization run by CMHA.
They offer resources and professional certification for Peer Support Specialists.

Peer Supporter Competencies
Peer Support Code of Conduct
Peer Support Core Values

The Copeland Center has a plethora of resources for Peer Support and WRAP services.

Check out Matthew Federici’s webinar on “Strengthening the Peer Support Workforce”

Pat Deegan is a leader in the recovery movement.

Her website Common Ground, has numerous articles about Peer Support for Peer Supporters, MH Professionals, and Organizations.

This is a resource from the Mental Health Commission of Canada, and NAV Canada.

Nav Canada has implemented a successful peer support program as a service for their employees. The job is quite demanding and peer support is one of the many mental health initiatives this organization has implemented.

Learn more about it here.
And here.

Report by: Laura Linnan, ScD, Edwin B. Fisher, PhD, and Sula Hood, PhD

This discusses the advantage for peer support initiatives in the workplace.

Read the report.

“Increasingly, first responder organizations are embracing peer support. In its best form, it operates with autonomy and entrusts support workers to make judgments and decisions. Because peer support work can be exhausting and emotionally challenging, care must be taken to ensure that those involved in it have ongoing training and formalized support to prevent burnout and injury.”

Read more about peer support and First Responders.

Written by: Shery Mead M.A., David Hilton M.A., Laurie Curtis M.A.

This article offers one theoretical perspective of peer support and attempts to define the elements that, when reinforced through education and training, provide a new cultural context for healing and recovery.

Read the report.

“Peer support is an important contributor to recovery and offers a supportive relationship between people who have a lived experience in common. Peer-support programs provide confidential, non-clinical, mental-health support that relies on the wisdom of individuals who have lived with mental health challenges of their own or those of a loved one.”

Learn about this.

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