Thank you for visiting this page. For those in the field of addiction and recovery, it is commonly understood that an individual may have mental health and substance use disorders combined. A Peer Recovery Coach is most often used in the addiction field, where a peer support specialist is most often used in the mental health field. As a peer recovery coach, part of the role's responsibility lies in recognizing some signs of mental health conditions and referring to a higher level of care. Seasoned recovery coaches who have sought out additional training, may have a very basic idea of some of the mental health conditions.
To familiarize yourself with symptoms and disorders, check out these pages provided by NAMI:
https://www.nami.org/About-Mental-Illness/Warning-Signs-and-Symptoms
https://www.nami.org/About-Mental-Illness/Mental-Health-Conditions
Familiarizing yourself with this information can improve your service delivery. However, we must always remember Recovery Coaches and Peer Support Specialists are not Clinicians and should never diagnose or offer any type of medication advice.
Your service delivery is the product to the consumer. Stay in your lane.
Developing Youth Peer Groups and Youth Mentors:
Mentis-NAPA - Mental Health Non-profit that is pioneering the youth movement and youth peer models Bilingual: https://mentisnapa.org/
Institute on Disability - UNH - Pioneering the Alternative Youth Peer Group in NH (APG). Check out the website on how to implement an APG in your area: https://iod.unh.edu/projects/creating-connections-nh/alternative-peer-groups
Wellness Cafes - I have not been able to find this model's website. If you know anything about it, please email me at Choices@ChoicesRecoveryTrainings.com. Thank you.
NAMI: Teen Connect, Teen Council, Suicide Prevention, Family support, and more.
Mental Health Worksheets, blogs, and other tools
Dr. Hal Buchannan - https://journeytorecovery.com/ has numerous recovery worksheets (for a small fee), a fantastic blog post, e-lessons, and more.