From consumer to caregiver: individuals and systems benefit from use of peer-support models.

The fastest way we know to transform a mental health agency into a recovery-oriented operation is to involve the people being served in all levels of the program. Perhaps the most talked about consumer role these days is that of "peer support." Just about any conference you attend has several workshops on this subject. Peer support is a lot more than just the latest buzzword in behavioral health; it is in fact one of the most powerful tools for transformation.

The best way to gain an understanding of what peer support is and how it works is to go to the source and talk to people who are actually doing peer-support work. This quote from a peer graduating from the META Services Peer Employment Training program at META Services in Phoenix illustrates the powerful impact that even a brief peer encounter can have:

 
   I had hit the bottom of 
   depression, spending days on 
   the couch, not taking care 
   of my children, not even 
   going ...