The Vital Role of Peer Counselors

November 3, 20099

Peers and consumers serve vital roles in our community. In 2008, the Mental Health Transformation Project's (MHTP) Technical Work Group (TWG) formed a subcommittee on employment and use of Peer Counselors. Early on, a primary focus development and implementation of a survey of those who had taken the Peer Counselor training and certification.

The MHTP contracted with WIMHRT-west to work with the subcommittee to develop of survey instrument. The resulting Peer Counselor Survey consists of six modules.

The Base Module included information about the certification process
Module A had questions for those that have been employed as a peer counselor since participating in the training
Module B had questions for those that have been employed since the training but not as peer counselors
Module C had questions for those that have never been employed since receiving the training
Module D asked about volunteer services
Module E collected demographics on survey participants and items that assessed participants’ perceptions of recovery potential

Some highlights of the survey results include:

Since the peer counselor training, 39% of the survey respondents have been employed as a peer counselor and 29% have been employed as a non-peer counselor. Other studies have shown that about 16% of mental health consumers find employment of any sort in Washington State.
The job titles of those employed as a non-peer counselor suggests that the majority of these individuals are working in social services or other "helping professions".
Over 80% of those employed since the training are currently employed.
Those who are employed average 28 hours of work per week, receive an average of $13 per hour, and 48% receive benefits.
Eighty-seven percent of employed respondents state that they are always or mostly satisfied with their work.
Ninety-three percent of employed respondents state that they are respected in the workplace by mental health clinicians (peer counselors)/co-workers (non-peer counselors).
In addition to paid employment, many of those who completed the peer counselor training are doing volunteer work and each contributes an average of 26 hours per month.
Eight-one percent of all respondents said that the training prepared them adequately for their role as a peer counselor. Sixty-six percent of all respondents feel that there are areas that they need more training.
Seventy-two percent expect to remain a peer counselor for the rest of their career or at least the next three years.

Read full survey: Peer Counselor Survey

Read full report: Peer Counselor Survey Report

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