Peer support may be defined simply as “offering and receiving help, based on shared understanding, respect and mutual empowerment between people in similar situations”.

Peer Support is about mutual support including the sharing of experiential knowledge and skills and social learning and plays an invaluable role in recovery. Consumers encourage and engage other consumers in recovery and provide each other with a sense of belonging, supportive relation-ships, valued roles, and community. Peer workers will work with and in community mental health teams to advance personal recovery.