Practice Brief: Supporting the Youth Peer Workforce

Peer support is fast emerging as a promising and widely endorsed addition to the array of mental health services available to young people experiencing serious mental health conditions, yet very little is known about the peer support workforce in general, and even less about the peer workforce engaged specifically in providing services to youth and young adults. While the need for more research into this developing professional population is evident, what data we do have available indicates several challenges that have frequently shown up in implementing the youth peer role, as well as several common themes around what youth peer support specialists need in order to be successful in their positions. This brief may be of interest for anyone preparing to implement the youth peer role in their organization, those who have already introduced the role and may be looking for further guidance around organizational policy and procedure, and anyone who provides training, coaching or supervision to youth peers