综合社区服务
10-7 农场
Peer Support
Helping One Another Sustain a Positive Lifestyle
"Have you been through a trying time, have experienced a life challenge ? Would you like to speak to someone with a similar story to yours? Perhaps ask questions, gain resources, and learn strategies for success?
If so, you may be interested in Peer Supports. 10-7 offers three kinds of Peer Supports:
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Peer-to-Peer Support (a peer matching your pathway to resiliency)
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Family Supports (those where the challenges are experienced by an immediate family member ), and
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Youth Supports (for those with lived experience under the age of 18 and paired with trained peers between the age of 18-29.
'Peer' implies that those providing peer support services have lived experience with mental health challenges and/or addictions of various kinds. In Virginia, we are called Peer Recovery Specialists (PRS).
After completing the Department of Behavioral Health (DBHDS) mandated PRS training, meeting a standardized set of requirements, serving over 500 hours, and passing a Board Certification exam, we can add “Certified” to that title (CPRS).
Peer support is a complement to standard mental health treatment. Clinical treatment is based on classroom and book knowledge, and clinicians usually do not share their personal experiences with clients.
An essential component of Peer Support is to share personal recovery stories; it’s important that peers (clients) know that they are talking with someone who has “been down that road.” For example, we know what it’s like to hide behavioral health issues in interviews and on the job. Ironically, a requirement to be trained as a PRS, is to have mental health challenges! " (https://rappahannockareacsb.org/peer-support/)
