Peer support deserves a place among mental health and substance use interventions

Nov 19, 2025

Understanding the range of supports for people to recovery is at a time when so many Canadians are struggling. It’s estimated that 1 in 5 people in Canada will struggle with an addiction at some point in their life.

But there’s another powerful and accessible option often missing from the conversation: peer support.

What is peer support?

Peer support is when someone who has lived through a mental health or substance use health challenge walks alongside another person on their own journey. It’s grounded in shared experience. Peer supporters don’t diagnose, prescribe, or claim to have all the answers. Instead, they offer connection, hope, understanding, and practical coping strategies—meeting people where they are and drawing from their own experiences of navigating challenges.

For many, talking to a peer supporter feels less intimidating and less stigmatizing than speaking with a therapist or other medical professional. Because of this, peer support is an approach people may feel more ready to take first. There’s something uniquely healing about being understood by someone who truly “gets it,” not through degrees and doctorates, but through the connection of a shared lived experience.

Peer support complements western therapeutic approaches

Peer support doesn’t replace the need for therapies delivered by medical professionals. Psychology, medication and other therapeutic approaches are essential for people experiencing mental health and/or substance use health challenges. But people in Canada don’t always have access to these supports because of cost, location, or long wait times. Rather than replacing these interventions, peer support complements them. Peer support can help people stay connected between therapy sessions, offer support before things escalate to a crisis, and provide ongoing connection that helps sustain long-term recovery and wellness.

Peer support can also address the cultural responsiveness that is often missing in modern, western therapies. Not only does it help connect people with someone with a similar experience, but peer support can also connect people who share similar cultural backgrounds which is an important part of meaningful understanding and connection. The peer support workforce tends to be diverse, and people may find they’re better culturally represented by a peer support worker than a medical professional. This is important in terms of seeing the whole person, recognizing their strengths, identities, and social contexts, and not just focusing on their illness or disorder.

Peer support is growing

Peer support is not a lesser form of help—it’s a different kind of help. And for countless people across Canada, that difference can mean everything.

Over the decades, peer support has evolved into a recognized, evidence-informed practice in Canada and internationally. Today, peer supporters are part of multidisciplinary teams in hospitals (including CAMH/Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and St-Michael’s), community health centres, and even emergency room departments. Many Canadian Mental Health Association branches and other community organizations offer peer-led programs and one-on-one peer supports. You’ll also find peer supporters embedded in inpatient units, housing programs, harm reduction services, and workplaces.

Given its growing presence and the strains on Canada’s healthcare system, peer support needs to become a standard component of mental health and substance use health care interventions. The path to recovery for many can be long and winding because, after all, healing isn’t linear. Peer supporters can help people navigate that path.

Peer Support Canada (PSC) serves as the national voice for peer support in Canada, providing leadership to peer support workers and organizations providing peer support services across Canada.

Related

Strength in connection: how peer support can change lives (October 2024)