“Peer support helped me see 

that I was not hopeless. It 

gave me my voice back and 

bolstered my self-worth.” —Michelle

“When I needed someone to 

walk beside me, peer support 

was there.” 

—Steve 

Peer recovery coaches walk side by side with 

individuals seeking recovery from substance use 

disorders. They help people to create their own 

recovery plans, and develop their own recovery 

pathways. 

Recovery coaches provide many different types of 

support, including

emotional (empathy and concern)

informational (connections to information and 

referrals to community resources that support 

health and wellness)

instrumental (concrete supports such as housing or employment)

affiliational support (connections to recovery 

community supports, activities, and events)

Recovery plans and other supports are customized, 

and build on each individual’s strengths, needs, and 

recovery goals. 

essential ingredients in developing a recoveryoriented system in which clinical treatment 

plays an important, but singular, role. Acute care 

substance use treatment without other recovery 

supports has often not been sufficient in helping 

individuals to maintain long-term recovery. 

Substance use disorders are currently understood 

to be chronic conditions that require long-term 

management, like diabetes. Peer-based recovery 

support provides a range of person-centered and 

strength-based supports for long-term recovery 

management. These supports help people in 

recovery build recovery capital—the internal 

and external resources necessary to begin and 

maintain recovery (Best & Laudet, 2010; Cloud & 

Granfield, 2008).

WHAT ARE PEER RECOVERY SUPPORT SERVICES?

1. Peer recovery support services, peer-delivered recovery support, and 

peer-based recovery support are used interchangeably.

recovery coaches, are one form of peer support. 

They involve the process of giving and receiving 

non-clinical assistance to support long-term 

recovery from substance use disorders. A peer 

recovery coach brings the lived experience of 

recovery, combined with training and supervision, 

to assist others in initiating and maintaining 

recovery, helping to enhance the quality of 

personal and family life in long-term recovery 

(White, 2009). Peer recovery support services can 

support or be an alternative to clinical treatment 

for substance use disorders.

Peer-based recovery supports are part of an 

emerging transformation of systems and services 

addressing substance use disorders. They are 

Peer recovery support services,1delivered by peer 

Peer recovery support focuses on long-term 

recovery and is rooted in a culture of hope, health, 

and wellness. The focus of long-term peer recovery 

support goes beyond the reduction or elimination 

of symptoms to encompass self-actualization, 

community and civic engagement, and overall 

wellness. 

The unique relationship between the peer recovery 

coach and the individual in or seeking recovery is 

grounded in trust, and focused on providing the 

individual with tools, resources, and support to 

achieve long-term recovery. 

Peer recovery coaches work in a range of settings, 

including recovery community centers, recovery 

residences, drug courts and other criminal justice 

settings, hospital emergency departments, child 

welfare agencies, homeless shelters, and behavioral 

health and primary care settings. In addition to 

providing the range of support encompassed in the 

peer recovery coach role, they take an active role in 

outreach and engagement within these settings.

WHAT DO PEER RECOVERY COACHES DO?

Peers Supporting 

Recovery 

from Substance 

Use Disorders
People who have worked with peer recovery 

coaches provide strong testimonies of the 

positive impacts of peer recovery support on their 

own recovery journeys. The research supports 

these experiences. While the body of research 

is still growing, there is mounting evidence that 

people receiving peer recovery coaching show 

reductions in substance use, improvements on 

a range or recovery outcomes, or both. Two 

rigorous systematic reviews examined the body 

of published research on the effectiveness of peerdelivered recovery supports published between 

1995 and 2014. Both concluded that there is a 

positive impact on participants (Bassuk, Hanson, 

Greene, Richard, & Laudet, 2016; Reif et al., 2014). 

IS PEER RECOVERY COACHING EFFECTIVE?

Greater housing stability

(Ja et al., 2009)

Reduced 

re-hospitalization rates

(Min et al., 2007)

Improved access to 

social supports

(O’Connell, ND; Boisvert et al., 

2008; Andreas et al., 2010)

Increased satisfaction with the 

overall treatment experience

(Armitage at al., 2010)

Increased treatment retention

(Mangrum, 2008; Deering et al., 2011; 

Tracy et al., 2011)

Decreased 

emergency service 

utilization

(Kamon & Turner, 2013)

Reduced relapse rates

(Boisvert et al., 2008)

Decreased criminal justice 

involvement

(Rowe, et al., 2007; Mangrum, 2008)

Reduced substance use

(Bernstein, et al., 2005; Boyd et al., 

2005; Kamon & Turner, 2013; Mangrum, 

2008; O’Connell, ND; Rowe, et al., 2007; 

Armitage at al., 2010)

Two rigorous systematic reviews 

examined the body of published 

research on the effectiveness of peerdelivered recovery supports published 

between 1995 and 2014. Both concluded 

that there is a positive impact on 

participants (Bassuk, Hanson, Greene, 

Richard & Laudet, 2016; Reif et al, 2014)

...Taken as a whole, the current body of 

research suggests that people receiving 

peer recovery support may experience:

Improved relationship with 

treatment providers

(Sanders et al., 1998; Andreas et al., 2010)

REFERENCES

Armitage, E. V., Lyons, H., & Moore, T. L. (2010). Recovery 

Association Project (RAP), Portland, Oregon. Alcoholism 

Treatment Quarterly, 28(3), 339–357.

Bernstein, E., Bernstein, J., Tassiopoulos, K., Heeren, T., 

Levenson, S., & Hingson, R. (2005). Brief motivational 

intervention at a clinic visit reduces cocaine and heroin use. 

Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 77(1), 49–59. 

Boisvert, R. A., Martin, L. M., Grosek, M., & Claire, A. J. (2008). 

Effectiveness of a peer-support community in addiction 

recovery: Participation as intervention. Occupational 

Therapy International, 15(4), 205–220

Boyd, M. R., Moneyham, L., Murdaugh, C., Phillips, K. D., Tavakoli, A., 

Jackwon, K., . . . Vyavaharkar, M. (2005). A peer-based substance abuse 

intervention for HIV+ rural women: A pilot study. Archives of Psychiatric 

Nursing, 19(1), 10–7. 

Ja, D. Y., Gee, M., Savolainen, J., Wu, S., & Forghani, S. (2009). Peers 

Reaching Out Supporting Peers to Embrace Recovery (PROPSPER): A 

final evaluation report. San Francisco, CA: DYJ, Inc., for Walden House, 

Inc., and the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Substance Abuse 

and Mental Health Services Administration.

Kamon, J., & Turner, W. (2013). Recovery coaching in recovery centers: 

What the initial data suggest: A brief report from the Vermont 

Recovery Network. Montpelier, VT: Evidence-Based Solutions. 

Mangrum, L. (2008). Creating access to recovery through drug courts: 

Final evaluation report for the Texas Department of State Health Services. 

Austin, TX: University of Texas Addiction Research Institute. Retrieved 

from http://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=http%3A%2F%

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2FATRFinalEvaluationReport-Final.doc

Min, S. Y., Whitecraft, E., Rothbard, A. B., & Salzer, M. S. (2007). Peer 

support for persons with co-occurring disorders and community 

tenure: A survival analysis. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 30(3), 207–

213. doi: 10.2975/30.3.2007.207.213 

O’Connell, M. J., Flanagan, E. H., Delphin-Rittmon, M. E., & 

Davidson, L. (2017). Enhancing outcomes for persons with cooccurring disorders through skills training and peer recovery 

support. Journal of Mental Health, Epub ahead of print. Retrieved 

from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2017.1294733

Rowe, M., Bellamy, C., Baranoski, M., Wieland, M., O’Connell, M. 

J., Benedict, P., . . . Sells, D. (2007). A peer-support, group 

intervention to reduce substance use and criminality among 

persons with severe mental illness. Psychiatric Services, 58(7), 

955–961.