CPSS Peer Support Principles 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Advocacy in peer support most often means:
- Arguing with providers on behalf of the individual
- Helping individuals speak up for themselves and navigate systems (Correct answer)
- Filing formal complaints against treatment facilities
- Lobbying legislators for policy changes
Correct 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.
Question 2: Which of the Eight Dimensions of Wellness is addressed when a peer specialist helps someone explore meaningful volunteer opportunities?
- Physical
- Financial
- Occupational (Correct answer)
- Environmental
Correct answer: Occupational
Occupational wellness involves finding personal satisfaction and enrichment through work or volunteer activities that align with one's values and strengths.
Question 3: Empowerment-based peer support differs from traditional helping relationships because it:
- Focuses on reducing dependency rather than solving problems for the individual (Correct answer)
- Relies on peer specialists making decisions on behalf of the person
- Emphasizes compliance with clinical recommendations
- Limits goal-setting to areas where success is guaranteed
Correct 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.
Question 4: A peer specialist helps someone identify early warning signs that their mental health may be declining. This activity supports which wellness tool?
- Crisis planning (Correct answer)
- Group facilitation
- Employment assistance
- Benefits counseling
Correct answer: Crisis planning
Identifying early warning signs is a key component of crisis planning and prevention, helping individuals take action before symptoms escalate.
Question 5: Which of the following best describes 'resilience' in the context of recovery-oriented peer support?
- The ability to avoid all future mental health crises
- The capacity to adapt and bounce back from adversity (Correct answer)
- Returning to the exact state of functioning before illness
- Achieving independence from all mental health services
Correct 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.
Question 6: When supporting someone in setting recovery goals, the peer specialist's primary role is to:
- Identify realistic goals based on clinical diagnosis
- Help the individual clarify their own goals and develop steps to achieve them (Correct answer)
- Ensure goals align with what the treatment team recommends
- Set challenging goals to motivate the individual to push harder
Correct 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.
Question 7: Which of the following statements about peer support and the medical model reflects the peer support perspective?
- Peer support replaces professional clinical services entirely
- Peer support is complementary to clinical care, not a substitute for it (Correct answer)
- Peer specialists should diagnose conditions that clinicians overlook
- Peer support is only appropriate after clinical treatment ends
Correct 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.
CPSS Peer Support Principles 5
Advocacy in peer support most often means: