Chapter Ten:
Peer Support Services
Veterans and their families need 24/7 services that address the problems of both body and mind across all the hours of their daily lives. But many of these services cannot be carried out only by medical and mental health personnel. So to meet these needs, many consumers of medical and mental health services have organized themselves into peer support groups to provide these types of services to each other and to lend support and provide guidance to each other.
In the process of assisting others, many veterans and family members gain strength and knowledge to assist their own recovery process. From Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) examples are plentiful of consumers working together in peer networks to help others just like them through recovery and reintegration.
Combat veterans, with their history of insuring that no soldier is left behind on the field, are doing the same with their fellow veterans by forming and creating volunteer-based organizations to insure that those who risked their lives can return to communities that provide support long after war has ended. And where formal services do not exist, they have created their own groups and organizations to provide their own support.
Peer Support consists of groups of consumers providing training and experiences for: mutual acceptance; empowerment in solving problems; information about and advocacy for mental/medical health services; skills training in reducing social withdrawal and increasing interpersonal interactions; education to increase work skills and find better jobs; and training to reintegrate into families, work, and one’s community of choice. The guiding notion of these groups is that those who have been treated are well qualified to help those who are entering treatment. Those who have learned skills of recovery are now qualified to teach those who begin to master the skills of providing for their care and rehabilitation.
Author:
Wayne Gregory, Ph.D., of the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System draws upon the local groups in which he has worked to offer one example of the specific steps that need to be taken to create and to carry out peer counseling. His approach centers primarily upon veterans with serious mental illness.
