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Certified Peer Support
What is a Peer Specialist?
A Peer Specialist is an individual with lived recovery experience who has been trained and certified to help their peers gain hope and move forward in their own recovery.
HandUP is dedicated to developing a strong peer workforce.
This workforce is an integral part of treatment teams in both public and private settings including inpatient care, community-based services, consumer-run respite services, and in a wide variety of roles. This is a rapidly growing workforce and HandUP is here to help you become part of it today!

The HandUP Peer Specialist works to:
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Cultivate their peers’ ability to make informed, independent choices
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Help their peers identify and build on their strengths
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Assists their peers in gaining information and support from the community to make their goals a reality
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Help peers create individual service plans based on recovery goals and steps to achieve those goals
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Use recovery-oriented tools to help their peers address challenges
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Assist others to build their own self-directed wellness plans
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Support peers in their decision-making
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Set up and sustain peer self-help and educational groups
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Offer a sounding board and a shoulder to lean on…and more!