The Centre for Excellence in Peer Support envisions a mental health and additions system where peer support is available at every juncture of the system. We strengthen the practice of peer support by:
- Providing consultation and training on how to successfully implement and supervise peer staff roles
- Offering ongoing supervision, mentoring, and support to peer staff working in non-peer organizations
- Furthering evidence of the value of peer support and lived experience knowledge by engaging in research and evaluation
For more information on our services, please contact Keely Phillips
Community of Practice for Peer Support Workers
The Centre for Excellence in Peer Support is proud to offer mental health and addiction peer workers employed at Waterloo Wellington agencies access to the following on-going support:
Waterloo Wellington Peer Supporter Community of Practice
- Every Friday from 2:00pm – 4:00pm
- Opportunity to connect with other peer support workers to discuss peer support practice, prevent peer drift, learn from one another. Discussions are focused on skill acquisition.
Please email Kyle Bulstrode, Peer Support Practice Lead for more information or to join.
Check out our Resiliency Toolkit for Peer Supporters
Peer Support Training
Our peer support training is created and provided by an experienced peer worker. All of our training focus on both mental health and addiction issues from a lived experience perspective. You can attend the training as an individual or purchase training for your agency at your location. Inquire about training or register
Foundations of Peer Support
- Occurs online. Attendees must have internet connection, camera, and microphone to attend
- 10 weekly 3 hour sessions
- Topics include: history of consumer-survivor and drug user movements; peer support theory and evidence; intentional use of lived experience; boundaries; communication and conflict resolution; social determinants of health and harm reduction; perspectives on mental health and addiction issues; and scope of peer support.
- Aligns with Peer Support Canada’s Knowledge Matrix and MHCC’s Guidelines for Practice and Training of Peer Support
- This training is for people who are working/volunteering in a peer support role or wish to work as a peer supporter (must have lived experience of mental health or addiction issues to attend)
Being a Peer Support Provider in an Interdisciplinary Healthcare Team – available upon request
- 6 hour training
- Attendees must have internet connection, camera, and microphone to attend
- Topics include: the scope of peer support roles in interdisciplinary healthcare settings; communicating about peer support with people supported and colleagues; dealing with stigma in the workplace; reducing isolation and peer drift
- This training is for people who are working/volunteering or wish to work as a peer supporter, colleagues or supervisors of peer workers
Peer Support Group Facilitation – available upon request
- 6 hour training to occur in 2 x three hour sessions
- $250 per person
- Attendees must have internet connection, camera, and microphone to attend
- Topics include: group stages and dynamics; facilitation styles; creating space of peer conversations; navigating the topic of suicide in a peer group
- For people who are working/volunteering or wish to work as a peer supporter
Supervising Mental Health and Addiction Peer Workers – available upon request
- 6 hour online training to occur in 2 x three hour sessions
- $250 per person
- Topics include: history and theory of peer support; peer support evidence; best practices when implementing peer roles; the role of the supervisor when supervising peer workers; common challenges peer workers encounter in the workplace and how to address them
- For supervisors of peer workers
Customized Training
We can customize trainings on the following topics and more:
- Implementing and supporting peer support programs and peer support roles
- Supervising peer workers
- Trauma informed peer support
- Staying grounded in peer support values while working in clinical environments
- Peer support group facilitation
- Talking about suicide in a peer support group
- History of mental health and addictions peer support
Information on Peer Support
Recovery Outcomes of People Accessing Peer Support Groups (PDF)
Getting Grounded in Peer Support Nov2017
Centre for Excellence in Peer Support newsletter Jan 2018
Information on Implementing, Supervising, and Supporting Peer Roles
Reflexive Practice Guidelines for Peer Supporters, 2020
Supervising Peer Workers Toolkit CMHA WW 2019 – Supervising Peer Workers: A toolkit for implementing and supporting successful peer staff roles in mainstream mental health and substance use/addiction organisations
Supervising Peer Staff Roles: Literature Review and Focus Group Results April 2018
Supervision Needs of Peer Workers in Non-Peer Settings – OPDI Oct 2017
The Peer Support Research Project (2016)
The Peer Support Research Project (PSRP) is a peer-led community-based research project of the Centre for Excellence in Peer Support that took place in 2015. The project, led by a steering committee of peer staff from mental health and addiction agencies, a project coordinator from Self Help, and two external peer researchers hired as principal investigators aimed to answer the following question:
“What is the experience of implementing peer staff roles in non-peer mental health and addiction organizations and what are the strategies and opportunities for supporting successful implementation of these roles?”
The following documents summarize the Peer Support Research Projects findings:
- The Peer Support Research Project (PowerPoint)
- Implementing Peer Roles Reflective Practice Questions (PDF)
- Harrison et al (2016) – A Reflective Practice Tool For Mental Health and Addiction Agencies That Employ Peer Staff (PDF)
- Harrison & Read (2016) Literature Review – Challenges Associated With the Implementation of Peer Staff Roles in Mainstream Mental Health and Addiction Agencies (PDF)