History of Peer Support

July 01, 2008

Editor's note: This is the second in a series of articles about Peer Support Specialists. The series starts with Peer Support 101.

The idea behind Peer Support Specialists is a simple and powerful one: People who have recovered from mental illness are in a unique position to share with others the knowledge – and perhaps more importantly the hope – of recovery.

"This is not a totally new notion at all," says Phyllis Solomon, of the University of Pennsylvania, who is a widely respected authority in this area for her research on clinical services and service system issues related to adults with severe mental illness and their families. "The clubhouse Fountain House was really probably one of the first examples, and that was in the '40s. That was formulated by peers. That's part of the movement to something more professional, because Fountain House had transitional employment and other professional services."

But, according to Solomon, it wasn't until the '70s that the concept of Peer Support Professionals really started to gain ground.

Community Support Programs

In the late '70s, the embrace of community support programs on a national level in the mental-health field made clear the critical role that only consumers could play. The idea was that a whole support system is required when people are de-institutionalized – and a hospital is only one piece of that.

"Consumers were viewed as an important part of that continuum of supports that were needed," says Solomon. "As a result, over time, community support programs through the '80s became much more of an advocate, and actually funded services that were provided by consumers. Until then, even though there might have been pockets of things that were started by consumers, they didn't have the sustainability, because there wasn't the money."

Getting to Support and Acceptance

It's hard to imagine now what a revolutionary, even radical, idea it was that consumers could provide professional services to consumers – often more efficiently and with better results than many mental-health professionals.

"Sure, there was some controversy around it," says Solomon. "Certainly some professionals really were not big advocates of this and didn't accept these notions – that persons with a severe psychiatric disorder could provide services and do these kinds of things. Even today you will still find this resistance. Professionals are concerned that consumers will be stressed out, they don't have the skills, it has to be done by clinicians. The usual kinds of things."

And, to make sure the context is understood, Solomon adds, "We're not talking that long ago either. When I proposed peer-provided services as a randomized trial to really test this out, that was in the early '90s. To many, it was a new idea then. So today, when I see funding for Peer Specialist services, and the idea accepted that people who are peers can be considered providers, to me these are huge leaps."