Welcome to the Peer Recovery Center of Excellence’s Resource Library. We have curated these resources in order to support peers and organizations who offer peer recovery support services (PRSS). Resources include toolkits, journal articles, multimedia, presentation slides, and more. You will find information regarding integrating PRSS into new settings, Recovery Community Organization (RCO) capacity building, PRSS workforce development, and best and emerging practices for the delivery of PRSS. As part of our MAI project, we have also gathered HIV-related resources here. You can search by topic, resource type, or simply browse the list below.
If you would like to check out products from the PR CoE, please see our Product Library.
Journal Article
Peer recovery support services (PRSS) are increasingly being employed in a range of clinical settings to assist individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) and co-occurring psychological disorders. PRSS are peer-driven mentoring, education, and support ministrations delivered by individuals who, because of their own experience with SUD and SUD recovery, are experientially qualified to support peers currently experiencing SUD and associated problems. This systematic review characterizes the existing experimental, quasi-experimental, single- and multi-group prospective and retrospective, and cross-sectional research on PRSS.
Curriculum or Toolkit
Addressing Stress and Trauma in Recovery-oriented Systems and Communities: A Challenge to Leadership
Workbook addressing stress and trauma among Recovery Oriented Systems of Care.
Curriculum or Toolkit
Cultural Humility Primer: Peer Support Specialist and Recovery Coach Guide
This primer was created as an entry level cultural reference for Peer Support Specialists and Recovery Coaches working in both substance use disorder and mental health fields. Sections include:
An appendix features a wealth of additional resources, including glossaries of terms and acronyms, references, and tools.
Whole Health Action Management (WHAM)
From the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, this peer-led program helps to prepare your peer consultants to improve the health of your clients and counter the high incidence of chronic physical health conditions among people living with behavioral health conditions.
Why and How Peer Services Improve Health and Wellness of People with Mental Illness
For numerous reasons, including several barriers to accessing quality healthcare, people with serious mental illness (SMI) have a mortality rate between 1.5 to 3 times greater than those without mental illness. Prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, peer support specialist programs established by providers exist to address some of these challenges that impede healing and overall health of persons with serious mental illness. Peer support specialists are persons in recovery who use their lived and shared experience to bridge interpersonal and systemic barriers to accomplishing the health and wellness goals of others with mental illness.
National Council for Mental Wellbeing, in partnership with the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), hosted this webinar in April of 2021 to explore the benefits of peer support services, research findings on peer services, practical guidelines on setting up peer support programs, and how COVID-19 health challenges have affected peer support services among people with SMI.
Words Matter: The Power of Language to Strengthen Services for HIV and Substance Use Disorder
This discussion guide is intended to elicit a comprehensive and concrete conversation about language, stigma, and discrimination as a means of strengthening care systems and ensuring that people who seek care for HIV and/or substance use disorders, including opioid use disorder, are treated with respect and dignity. The guide includes five discussion packages, which are intended to be used by individuals in state health departments, agencies, and service organizations providing services to people with HIV and/or substance use disorders. This tool also provides background, instructions, and resources to help you implement the discussion packages.
This is the third webinar in a three-part series on workforce recruitment and retention in behavioral health, with a specific focus on the field of addictions. In this webinar, Dr. Christine Chasek, Director of the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska, shares strategies for recruiting and retaining skilled behavioral health professionals to rural areas. Dr. Michael Flaherty offers insight on recruiting and retaining peer support workers.
This document accompanies the Clinical Guidance for Treating Pregnant and Parenting Women with Opioid Use Disorder and Their Infants publication. This fact sheet offers information about child welfare systems and what the health care provider's role is in developing a Plan of Safe Care.
You(th) Can Prevent Overdose: A Toolkit
This toolkit was created by the Carter County Drug Prevention & Sullivan County Anti-Drug Coalition. Included are specific questions to ask before training teens or children in Naloxone administration and training resources specifically for kids and teens around opioids, Naloxone, and other resources.
Click the resource link below to access.
From South Southwest MHTTC's Peer Support Conference, the panel has a conversation about the current state of Youth Peer Support in our communities and answers some fo the most commonly asked questions regarding Youth Peer Support.
How Recovery Happens for People With Substance Use and Mental Health Problems
This article, by Paolo del Vecchio, M.S.W., Director of the Office of Recovery, was originally posted by Future of Personal Health. In the article, he addresses how the pandemic highlighted behavioral health challenges and outlines SAMHSA funding that promotes resources to help Americans walk in recovery and regain their lives.
Research conducted between January and December 2022 a multi-service center incorporating an overdose prevention site (OPS) operated with city government sanction in San Francisco. One concern often expressed about OPS is that they may increase social nuisance associated with drug use in the surrounding area, despite international evidence that this is not the case. Researchers found that implementing authorized OPS services in a U.S. city did not increase the prevalence of visible signs of drug use and homelessness in the surrounding area. These findings are similar to those found at OPS outside the U.S.
Research conducted between January and December 2022 a multi-service center incorporating an overdose prevention site (OPS) operated with city government sanction in San Francisco. One concern often expressed about OPS is that they may increase social nuisance associated with drug use in the surrounding area, despite international evidence that this is not the case. Researchers found that implementing authorized OPS services in a U.S. city did not increase the prevalence of visible signs of drug use and homelessness in the surrounding area. These findings are similar to those found at OPS outside the U.S.
Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Behavioral Health: Results from the 2021 and 2022 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health presents data on key substance use and mental health indicators by sexual identity and gender among adults aged 18 or older in the United States. Estimates are based on pooled data from the 2021 and 2022 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) and are age-adjusted to facilitate comparisons between groups.
Modelo nacional de normas para la certificación de apoyo entre pares
El documento guía de modelo de normas de SAMHSA titulado, Modelo nacional de normas para la certificación de apoyo entre pares, ha sido preparado como respuesta a la agenda de unidad del 2022 del presidente Biden. Este documento delinea el modelo nacional de normas en el área del consumo de sustancias, la salud mental la familia así como también la certificación de apoyo entre pares jóvenes.
Funding for this initiative was made possible by grant no. 1H79TI083022 from SAMHSA. The views expressed in written conference materials or publications and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.