This program will ultimately provide consumers throughout Allegheny County with opportunities to receive services necessary for recovery through a unique means of service delivery, from a trained team of Peer Specialists.

Peer Specialists are, by definition, consumers who have demonstrated the skill, ability, desire, motivation and attainment of a level of recovery sufficient to enable them to help other consumers in a peer counseling role. Peer Specialists operate from the philosophy of peer support. Peer support involves the development of a helping relationship between the Peer Specialist and the consumer. The relationship is guided by the principle that any two people who share a major common experience view each other as peers, and are as a result, in a better position to help one another than two people who do not share a major common experience. This principle is especially true when the major common experience has been negative, and one of the people in the helping relationship has already personally dealt with the major common negative experience in a successful manner.

Peer Specialists will be responsible for providing consumers with assistance in assessing problems of any nature that may arise in any area of a consumer's life, formulating solutions, and putting action plans in place to solve these problems. Action plans to solve problems may involve advocacy on behalf of a consumer with a third party, or providing information about community resources, as well as linking consumers to these community resources. Peer Specialists will perform these responsibilities in a collaborative manner with consumers, encouraging consumers to participate in the process to the best of their abilities and current level of functioning, so that the consumer can develop their own self a skills.

Peer Specialists and consumers will work together to ensure the basic building blocks for well-being, which include quality relationships, basic living needs, personal wealth, and good health, are available to the consumer. The provision of the basic building blocks for well-being creates a potential that can ultimately lead the consumer on the journey down the path to recovery. Opportunities for the recovery of the mind, body and most importantly, spirit, for all consumers, is the ultimate goal of the peer specialists within the Department of Advocacy.