Chestnut’s Dennis Watson and Justin Bell join us to discuss the role of peer support specialists in substance use disorder treatment and the challenges they are facing in today’s environment. Dennis is a senior research scientist, and Justin is a behavioral scientist. They are among the authors of a recent article in the Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment titled “Advancing peer support workforce research: Insights and recommendations through the lens of professionalization." We discuss:

• What a peer support professional does and what makes them effective.
• The professionalization of the field and what the certification process involves.
• How the peer support role has evolved and gained acceptance in the professional and treatment communities.
• The differences between peers working in treatment spaces and recovery spaces.
• The challenges in harm reduction work including the need for nuanced skills beyond just supplying resources.
• Compassion fatigue: why it’s a growing problem, and how the development of an e-learning curriculum and case-based learning can address and ameliorate it.