Peer Support
What is Peer Support?
Peer Support is the "process of giving and receiving encouragement and assistance to achieve long-term recovery." Peer supporters "offer emotional support, share knowledge, teach skills, provide practical assistance, and connect people with resources, opportunities, communities of support, and other people," (Mental Health America).
The Thomas M. Wernert Center is the only stand-alone peer support center in Lucas County. Our staff share their lived experience with members, providing non-clinical peer support.
"Peer support offers a level of acceptance, understanding, and validation not found in many other professional relationships (Mead & McNeil, 2006). By sharing their own lived experience and practical guidance, peer support workers help people to develop their own goals, create strategies for self- empowerment, and take concrete steps towards building fulfilling, self-determined lives for themselves," (SAMHSA, 2017).
Research has shown benefits of peer support may include:
- Increased self-esteem and confidence
- Increased sense of control and ability to bring about changes in their lives
- Increased engagement in self-care and wellness
- Increased empathy and acceptance (camaraderie)
- Increased sense of hope and inspiration
- Increased social support and social functioning
- Decreased psychotic symptoms
- Reduced hospital admission rates and longer community tenure
- Decreased substance use
Consider joining a Support Group or participating in Programs & Activities
Work With Us
Are you interested in joining our dedicated staff and helping make a difference in the lives of our members?
As a Peer Supporter, you will have an opportunity to:
- Inspire hope that people can and do recover;
- Walk with people on their recovery journeys;
- Dispel myths about what it means to have a mental health condition or substance use disorder;
- Provide self-help education and link people to tools and resources; and
- Support people in identifying their goals, hopes, and dreams, and creating a realistic plan and goals for getting there.