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Peer Recovery Coaches Perceptions of Their Work and Their Implications for Training, Support and Personal Recovery

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Abstract

The peer recovery workforce, including individuals in sustained recovery from substance use, has grown rapidly in the previous decades. Peer recovery coaches represent a scalable, resource-efficient, and acceptable approach to increasing service delivery, specifically among individuals receiving substance use services in low-resource communities. Despite the potential to improve access to care in traditionally underserved settings, there are a number of barriers to successfully integrating peer recovery coaches in existing recovery services. The current study presents results from two focus groups composed of peer recovery coaches. Findings suggest that peer recovery coaches report discordance between their perceived role and their daily responsibilities and experience both inter- and intrapersonal challenges that impact their own recovery processes. These results point to several promising policy and structural changes that may support and enhance this growing workforce.

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Data Availability

All data utilized in the current study will be made available upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This project was supported in part by a grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (U54 MD011227) awarded to C. Debra Furr-Holden.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Health Policy & Health Services Research, Henry Ford Health Systems, One Ford Place, Detroit, MI, USA

    Julia W. Felton

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Tolulope M. Abidogun

  3. Flint Odyssey House, Flint, MI, USA

    Kristen Senters & Ronnie Tyson

  4. Division of Public Health, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, Flint, MI, USA

    Leah D. Maschino & C. Debra Furr-Holden

  5. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Barrett W. Montgomery

  6. School of Nursing, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Sarah A. Stoddard

  7. School of Global Public Health, New York University, New York, USA

    C. Debra Furr-Holden

Authors
  1. Julia W. Felton
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  2. Tolulope M. Abidogun
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  3. Kristen Senters
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  4. Leah D. Maschino
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  5. Barrett W. Montgomery
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  6. Ronnie Tyson
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  7. C. Debra Furr-Holden
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  8. Sarah A. Stoddard
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Contributions

Study conceptualization and design were conceived of by CDF-H. Data collection and analyses were performed by authors (JF, SS, KS-Y, LM). All authors contributed to the drafting of each version of the manuscript and all approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Julia W. Felton.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in the study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institution and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments.

Informed Consent

Informed consent and assent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Felton, J.W., Abidogun, T.M., Senters, K. et al. Peer Recovery Coaches Perceptions of Their Work and Their Implications for Training, Support and Personal Recovery. Community Ment Health J 59, 962–971 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-022-01080-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-022-01080-z

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