Peer Support Principles Flashcards

Advocacy in peer support most often means:

Answer: Helping individuals speak up for themselves and navigate systems

Peer support advocacy primarily focuses on empowering individuals to self-advocate and helping them access resources, not speaking over them or pursuing external battles.

Which of the Eight Dimensions of Wellness is addressed when a peer specialist helps someone explore meaningful volunteer opportunities?

Answer: Occupational

Occupational wellness involves finding personal satisfaction and enrichment through work or volunteer activities that align with one's values and strengths.

Empowerment-based peer support differs from traditional helping relationships because it:

Answer: Focuses on reducing dependency rather than solving problems for the individual

Empowerment-based support builds the individual's own capacity and confidence, intentionally reducing reliance on the peer specialist over time.

A peer specialist helps someone identify early warning signs that their mental health may be declining. This activity supports which wellness tool?

Answer: Crisis planning

Identifying early warning signs is a key component of crisis planning and prevention, helping individuals take action before symptoms escalate.

Which of the following best describes 'resilience' in the context of recovery-oriented peer support?

Answer: The capacity to adapt and bounce back from adversity

Resilience is the ability to adapt positively in the face of adversity, trauma, or significant stress — it does not mean avoiding hardship, but navigating it.

When supporting someone in setting recovery goals, the peer specialist's primary role is to:

Answer: Help the individual clarify their own goals and develop steps to achieve them

The peer specialist facilitates goal-setting by helping individuals identify what matters to them and breaking those aspirations into achievable steps.

Which of the following statements about peer support and the medical model reflects the peer support perspective?

Answer: Peer support is complementary to clinical care, not a substitute for it

Peer support works alongside clinical services to provide lived-experience-based connection and community, filling gaps that professional services may not address.