Resource Available: Enhancing Peer Services in Behavioral Health Services
In 2015, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) led an effort to identify the critical knowledge, skills, and abilities (leading to Core Competencies) needed by anyone who provides peer support services to people with or in recovery from a mental health or substance use condition. This effort resulted in Core Competencies for Peer Workers in Behavioral Health Services , to help communities interested in enhancing peer services in both mental health and substance use services and supports. As our understanding of peer support grows and the contexts in which peer recovery support services are provided evolve, the Core Competencies must evolve over time. Therefore, updates to these competencies may occur periodically in the future. Core Competencies are intended to apply to all forms of peer support provided to people living with or in recovery from mental health and/or substance use conditions and delivered...
