The Gap Between Therapy and Peer Support

We often tell people that peer-support isn’t therapy. And it isn’t. The individuals providing therapy have different training from those providing peer-support. In this post, we take a closer look at the gap between therapy and peer support.

Therapy is offered by someone who has gone to school and received specialized training to provide therapy. They also are licensed and regulated by their state, and can be paid through a client’s health insurance. By contrast, peer support individuals have different educational expectations. In many cases though, they can still be credentialed by their state once they meet supervised work requirements, educational requirements, and pass the state exam. However, the credentialing and regulatory process is far less stringent than for licensed therapists.

Additionally, therapy works on addressing underlying traumas, processing complex emotions, diagnosing clinical conditions, and developing treatment recommendations. This is different from peer support specialists, who share their lived experience and work on coping strategies, self-care routines, and other tools that might help support recovery. Rather than recommending treatments, they act as a guide who has been through similar challenges before.

Peer support specialists often disclose about their lived experience. One of the big requirements to be a successful peer specialist is to be stable in their recovery, and able to talk about their journey openly, without creating too great a risk of re-traumatizing themselves. On the other hand, therapists rarely disclose any lived experience they have. Many do have their own lived mental health journey, but the professionalism demanded from a clinical therapist means they rarely disclose that. Again, because the two have different goals, they use different techniques.

Therapy and peer support can work exceptionally well when used collaboratively. This can be done by utilizing both a peer support specialist and a trusted therapist. The collaboration can be even more beneficial if the therapist and peer specialist are willing to work together, and the client is willing to sign HIPAA waivers to facilitate such collaboration, although the client should always lead the way in this area, and only be willing to allow such collaboration if they are ready, and they trust both the therapist and the peer specialist.

However, one big benefit of peer support is that it can often address the gap between access to our mental healthcare system and a licensed therapist. There is still a large demand for therapists, leading to extended wait times. This is further exacerbated by questions about whether or not an individual’s therapist is covered by insurance. The difficulties created by this can be eased (though not eliminated) by access to peer support, which is often more affordable and more accessible.

At The LegalMind Society, our peer support service is free, and often has no wait time, instead offering convenient scheduling options to fit the busy schedule of legal professionals. If you are curious to learn more visit https://www.thelegalmindsociety.org/supportprograms or email us at info@thelegalmindsociety.org.