Helping People Heal Through Experience, Connection, and Community
What Are Peer Recovery Support Services?
Peer Recovery Support Services are community-based services delivered by people in recovery. They provide guidance, encouragement, and connection to resources for those working to sustain recovery from substance use disorders (SUD).
Key Idea: Peers have lived experience with addiction and recovery, offering hope, mentorship, and support beyond clinical treatment.
Core Principles
Peer-Led & Nonclinical: Peers provide support, not therapy or medical advice.
Strengths-Based: Focus on abilities, resources, and personal goals, not deficits.
Empowerment & Choice: Individuals in recovery direct their own recovery journey.
Community-Oriented: Builds networks and access to recovery-supportive resources.
Types of Social Support
Type | What it Means | Examples |
Emotional | Empathy, encouragement, caring | Peer mentoring, peer-led support groups |
Informational | Knowledge, guidance, life skills | Job readiness training, parenting classes, wellness seminars |
Instrumental | Practical help for daily needs | Transportation, childcare, access to health services |
Affiliational | Social connection, belonging | Recovery community events, sports, alcohol- and drug-free gatherings |
Core Peer Activities
Mentoring or Coaching – One-on-one guidance, goal-setting, problem-solving, life skills development.
Resource Connecting – Helping peers access housing, jobs, treatment, education, and social services.
Facilitating Groups – Support and educational groups, skill-building workshops, shared storytelling.
Building Community – Organizing sober social activities, recovery centers, and networks of support.
Who Can Benefit?
People early in recovery needing support
Those seeking connections to resources and community
Individuals who struggle with social isolation or relapse triggers
People wanting to give back and strengthen their recovery by helping others
Where Peer Recovery Support Happens
Recovery centers & community organizations
Treatment facilities & hospitals
Prisons, jails, and reentry programs
Faith-based organizations & youth services
Urban and rural communities
Why Peer Support Matters
Extends recovery support beyond clinical treatment
Builds hope through lived experience and role modeling
Strengthens community and social networks
Supports empowerment, choice, and self-direction in recovery
“Recovery happens best when people support each other.”
Peer Recovery Support Services make recovery visible, accessible, and sustainable in everyday life.