Your Partners for Transformative Change
Integrating & Supervising Peer Workers
At C4, one of our core values is integrating peer workers and uplifting their roles in as many programs, organizations, settings, and systems as possible. We believe peers are a key workforce in the delivery of health and human services for adults and youth. As a result, we prioritize the lived and living experience and first-hand knowledge of our staff and partners, including peer support expertise, to inform and enrich all our work.
A growing body of research shows the support provided by peer workers benefits people in or seeking recovery in many ways. Peer workers also help health, human services, and housing organizations get better at what they do. Whether organizations employ peers or partner with peer-run organizations, they improve their own capacity to effectively engage and support people and ultimately improve outcomes.
Support Peers
The functions and needs of peer workers are unique to their roles. Organizations and systems can demonstrate commitment to recovery and healing for the people they serve by becoming recovery-ready in polices, practices, physical space, and culture prior to hiring peer workers and by supporting peer workers to fully participate in all aspects of planning, delivering, and evaluating health and human services. Success depends on intentional organizational development, effective supervision practices, and training staff from all disciplines on the value and role of peer workers.
Our team members have experiences as peer workers, supervisors and trainers of peer workers, and working in organizations to integrate peers. Close to half of our staff is in recovery from substance use and mental health conditions, homelessness, trauma, or incarceration. Many more are family members of people in recovery as well as frontline service providers, peer professionals, clinicians, and leaders with on-the-ground experience designing and delivering services.
We Can Help You ↓
- Share the value and benefits of recovery supports and peer workers
- Increase knowledge, skills, capacity, and infrastructure to integrate peers and peer-run organizations into behavioral health and health care services and systems
- Align policies, procedures, and practices to support and integrate peer workers
- Train peer workers in specific work-related competencies and leadership development
- Develop strategies to hire, supervise, support, and retain peer workers
- Support peer supervisors in:
- Building respectful, safe supervisory relationships and environments
- Maintaining supervisory relationships and connections over time
- Supporting career advancement for peer workers
- Train peer supervisors to support peer workers in:
- Defining roles and responsibilities
- Acquiring competencies
- Navigating the work environment
- Working with colleagues
- Support the design, delivery, and evaluation of youth peer support models
“I can definitely apply this information as a peer to my job and use it to help my clients live a more productive life.”
Community Partner
“[C4-operated] Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategy has been instrumental in raising awareness of the need for peer support services and has done tremendous work to strengthen the infrastructure for peer support services by building the capacity of peer-run organizations, states, tribes, and territories.”
Community Partner
“[C4-operated] Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategy helped us take the first step toward having conversations with other systems serving individuals with substance use issues regarding the integration of peer services and helped us to understand our common ground.”
State Partner
Our Experts
Transform Your Services
Partner with C4 to build programs and solutions that are recovery-ready and be prepared to hire and supervise peer workers.
Examples of Our Work
Supporting Rhode Island’s Peer Workers
C4 is developing and testing certification trainings for Certified Peer Recovery Specialists and Certified Peer Recovery Specialist Supervisors in Rhode Island (RI). This work includes facilitating listening sessions to learn what training is most needed; reviewing RI’s peer certification board requirements; developing curricula; beta testing new trainings; and developing a process for training new trainers. This project is supported by the Rhode Island Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities, and Hospitals.
Recovery Education Collaborative
Recognizing the increasing demand for education and training in the recovery field, the Recovery Education Collaborative (REC) was established to deliver quality instruction and ongoing learning and technical assistance opportunities. The REC supports addiction recovery coaches and organizations providing peer recovery support services in Massachusetts. The goal of the collaborative is to enhance, expand, and deliver recovery support training and education across the Commonwealth. C4 is one of the partner organizations in the collaborative which is supported by the MA Bureau of Substance Addiction Services. Learn more.
Statewide Environmental Scan of Peer Recovery Supports
In 2024, C4 partnered with OhioPRO to launch a statewide environmental scan of peer recovery supports in Ohio. The scan aimed to understand the current status, strengths, resources, and needs within Ohio’s peer recovery support landscape. Centered around peer-run organizations (PROs) and other peer leaders, activities included a statewide survey, interviews, focus groups, and a literature review. Participants included PRO staff and other peer leaders, people who receive peer recovery support services, system and community leaders, state and county funders, and peer recovery leaders and government agencies in Ohio and other states. The two-phase scan resulted in a series of advocacy and technical assistance briefs, all aimed at preserving and strengthening the position of PROs in Ohio. Learn more.
Learn More
- Peer Support and Recovery from Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorders—video (6:33 minutes)
- Youth Peer Self-Assessment Tool (PDF)
- Building Infrastructure and Sustainability: A Guide for Peer-Run/Recovery Community Organizations (PDF)
- Value of Peers (PDF)—prepared by C4 staff with funding from SAMHSA’s Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategy (BRSS TACS) project
- Peer Support(PDF)
- Spanish version: Apoyo entre compañeros(PDF)
- Spanish version: Apoyo de pares para padres o encargados de niños y jóvenes con problemas de comportamiento (PDF)
- Spanish version: Recuperación de problemas de salud mental con el apoyo de campañeros(PDF)
- Spanish version: Recuperación de trastornos de consumo de sustancias con el apoyo de pares (PDF)
- Core Competencies for Peer Workers in Behavioral Health Services (PDF)—prepared by C4 staff with funding from SAMHSA’s Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategy (BRSS TACS) project
- Supervision of Peer Workers resources: how to use these resources(PDF),supervision of peer workers guidelines(PDF),slide deck with trainer notes(PDF), supervisor self-assessment(PDF), supervision resource list (PDF)—prepared by C4 staff with funding from SAMHSA’s Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategy (BRSS TACS) project