Who Is a Recovery Assistant?
A Recovery Assistant (also known as a Peer Support Specialist or Expert by Experience) is a relatively new profession within psychiatric care. A Recovery Assistant is a specialist who has gained unique and valuable knowledge through their own lived and processed experience of a mental health crisis. After completing specialized training, they use their personal experience to support the recovery process of others who are currently experiencing or have experienced a mental health crisis or mental illness. A Recovery Assistant acts as a BRIDGE between the patient and their world during times of crisis. They also provide support to families, loved ones, and professionals involved in the treatment process (such as psychiatrists, psychologists, and therapists), as well as entire therapeutic teams, by helping them better understand the patient’s situation—their capabilities, limitations, and needs. Through their own experiences, they offer hope for recovery and help others view the treatment process from the perspective of someone receiving psychiatric care.
Recovery Assistant – Why Was This Profession Created?
The role of a Recovery Assistant emerged in response to the significant need for support among individuals using psychological and psychiatric care services. Today, Experts by Experience can work in places such as:
- Community Mental Health Centers,
- Hospitals,
- Consultation and advisory points (e.g., Patient Clubs—regular weekly meetings for both current day-care patients and individuals who have completed treatment),
- Other healthcare facilities (inpatient wards, day wards, community-based services, including mobile visits).
Experts by Experience are members of multidisciplinary teams alongside psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, and psychiatric nurses. In practice, they are an integral and valuable complement to these teams.
Goals of a Recovery Assistant – Expert by Experience:
- Supporting individuals in consciously and intentionally taking care of their mental health,
- Inspiring action, following the principle: “teach how to fish rather than give a fish,”
- Sharing their own perspective and lived experience of mental health crisis and recovery.
The most important role of an Expert by Experience is to accompany the individual without applying pressure, without rushing the recovery process, while still encouraging activity and engagement in actions that support their well-being. Being empathetically present is key.
The aim of Recovery Assistants’ work is to develop accessible community-based care, improve psychiatric services, prevent mental health disorders, and effectively reduce the escalation of mental health crises.
What Does the Role of a Recovery Assistant Involve?
An Expert by Experience, through their personal story, offers hope for recovery. They show that illness can be a temporary state, and sometimes even the beginning of a new, better life. If a condition is considered incurable, they provide hope for improving daily functioning. A Recovery Assistant accepts both their own limitations caused by illness and the person they support—without judgment or blame. Together, they seek a space where life with illness can have meaning. They respect the autonomy, choices, and decisions of the other person, including moments when the individual may not be ready for change. This approach fosters a deep emotional connection.
Recomended Specialists
Psycholog, Mentor, Pedagog, Terapeuta, Mówca, Trener
Chcesz lepiej zrozumieć proces zdrowienia i odzyskać nadzieję i poczucie siły? Dołącz do warsztatów Zdrowienie – bezpiecznej przestrzeni dla osób po kryzysie psychicznym i ich bliskich. ► https://avigon.pl/zdrowienie-warsztaty-dla-osob-w-kryzysie-psychicznym ► https://a...
Mentor, Psychotraumatolog, Asystent zdrowienia
Nazywam się Jolanta Poźniak i jestem psychotraumatologiem, asystentką zdrowienia, edukatorką, trenerką i konsultantką, której praca wypływa z głębokiej pasji do wspierania osób w kryzysie emocjonalnym oraz egzystencjalnym. Towarzyszę ludziom w odzyskiwaniu równowagi, odzy...