Dictionary of Terms

Every field has its own language. Peer support and community health are no
different. This is a quick, plain-English dictionary you can scan anytime
something feels “too clinical” or confusing. You don’t have to memorize these.
Bookmark this section and come back whenever you need it.

Peer Support

Support given by someone with lived experience of recovery, using that
experience to walk alongside others instead of “fixing” them.

Lived Experience

Your real-life experience with mental health, substance use, systems, and
recovery — not something you learned from a textbook.

Community Health Worker (CHW)

A frontline public health worker who is a trusted member of the community
and helps connect people to services, education, and support.

Certified Peer Recovery Support Specialist (CPRSS) / Certified Recovery
Peer Specialist (CRPS)

A person trained and credentialed to use their lived experience with
recovery to provide professional peer support to others. The credential
means you’re qualified and accountable to professional standards.

Recovery

A personal journey of improving health, wellness, and quality of life where
someone defines their own goals and has hope for the future. Recovery looks
different for everyone.

Recovery-Oriented

Centering hope, strengths, and self-determination instead of only symptoms
and problems. It focuses on what’s working and what’s possible.

Recovery-Oriented Systems of Care (ROSC)

A coordinated network of services and supports in a community built around
recovery principles, offering many pathways to wellness and putting peer
support at the center.

Trauma-Informed

An approach that assumes people may have trauma in their history and focuses
on safety, choice, respect, and avoiding re-traumatization.

Strengths-Based

Looking at what someone is good at, what they’ve overcome, and what they can
do — not just what’s broken or what they can’t do.

Person-Centered

Putting the individual’s goals, preferences, and choices at the center of
everything you do, rather than telling them what they need.

Self-Determination

The right to make your own choices about your life, goals, and recovery
path. Your job is to support their decisions, not make them for them.

Recovery Capital

The personal, social, and community resources someone can draw on to support
their recovery — like skills, relationships, family, employment, and
community connections.

Scope of Practice

What you are trained and allowed to do in your role — and just as important,
what is outside your role. Stay within it.

Dual Relationship

When you have more than one kind of relationship with someone (like being
their peer support and their friend, or boss, or family member). This can
blur boundaries and cause problems.

Boundary

A clear line between your professional role and personal relationship.
Healthy boundaries protect both you and the person you’re supporting.

Confidentiality

Keeping what someone tells you private, unless they’re a danger to
themselves or others. This builds trust and is often legally required.

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)

Federal law protecting health information privacy. Know what records you can
access, how to handle them, and who you can share them with.

Informed Consent

Making sure someone understands what you do, what you’ll discuss, and what
information you might share — and getting their permission before moving
forward.

Warm Handoff

A live, personal connection between you and another provider (often with the
person present), instead of just giving someone a phone number or brochure.

Care Coordination

Helping someone navigate different services, appointments, and supports so
things feel connected instead of chaotic. You’re the connector.

Service Navigation

Walking someone through how to access services — like explaining what’s
available, how to apply, what to expect, and removing barriers.

Advocacy

Speaking up for someone’s needs and rights, helping them use their voice,
and connecting them to resources and systems that support them.

Documentation

The written record of services and support you provided, focused on facts,
strengths, and next steps — not judgment or labels.

Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)

Things like housing, food, transportation, income, safety, and community
connection that strongly affect someone’s health and recovery.

Stigma

Negative stereotypes and judgment about mental health, substance use, or
recovery. Your role is to challenge stigma through authentic relationships
and understanding.

Self-Stigma

When someone believes the negative stereotypes about themselves and their
recovery. Peer support directly counteracts this by showing recovery is
possible.

Mutual Support

A two-way street where both people learn and support each other, not a
one-way helping relationship. Your recovery strengthens through helping
others.

Hope

The belief that things can get better. It’s the foundation of recovery and
something peer supporters help others find and hold onto.

Recovery Coach

A peer who helps someone develop goals, track progress, learn skills, and
remove barriers to recovery using their own recovery experience as the
foundation.

Mentor

Someone further along in their recovery who guides and supports someone
earlier in theirs, modeling healthy behaviors and offering wisdom from
experience.

Patient Navigator

Someone who helps people understand and access healthcare services, often
with lived experience and cultural understanding of the community.

Outreach

Going out into the community to find people who need support, meet them
where they are, and connect them to services and resources.

Engagement

Building a relationship and getting someone interested and involved in their
own recovery. It’s about trust, not forcing change.

Relapse

A return to substance use or unhealthy behaviors after a period of recovery.
It’s a setback, not failure, and a chance to learn and get back on track.

Harm Reduction

Meeting people where they are and reducing the negative effects of their
behavior, even if they’re not ready to stop completely. It’s practical and
non-judgmental.

Motivational Interviewing (MI)

A respectful conversation technique that explores someone’s own reasons for
change instead of telling them what they should do. It honors their
autonomy.

Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP)

A personal plan someone creates to manage their mental health and recovery,
including what works for them, early warning signs, and resources to turn
to.

Co-occurring (Co-morbidity)

When someone has both a mental health condition and a substance use disorder
(or other conditions) at the same time. Both need attention.

Substance Use Disorder (SUD)

A medical condition where use of a substance (alcohol, drugs) causes
problems in someone’s life but they keep using despite those consequences.

Mental Health Condition

A medical condition affecting mood, thinking, or behavior — like depression,
anxiety, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia. Treatment and support help
people manage and recover.

Behavioral Health

The connection between behaviors and overall health and wellness. It
includes mental health, substance use, and how we care for ourselves.

Crisis

An acute, intense period where someone’s thoughts, feelings, or safety are
at serious risk. Your role is to stabilize, support, and connect them to
professional help.

Secondary Trauma (Vicarious Trauma)

The stress and emotional impact from hearing difficult stories and
supporting people through trauma. It’s real and it matters — you need
support and self-care.

Self-Care

Intentional actions you take to maintain your own physical, mental, and
emotional health. You can’t pour from an empty cup.

Burnout

Emotional and physical exhaustion from ongoing stress in your role. It
happens when boundaries, self-care, and support are missing. Watch for it
and address it.

Peer-Led

Programs and initiatives run by peers, for peers, with peers in leadership
positions. It centers the voice and wisdom of people with lived experience.

Mutual Aid

People coming together to help each other based on shared experience and
needs, not because of professional roles. It’s community-driven and
reciprocal.

Recovery Community

A group of people connected by recovery — often including peers, families,
supporters, and organizations. It provides belonging and accountability.

Strengths Assessment

Identifying and mapping what someone is good at, what they’ve accomplished,
and what resources they have. It’s the foundation for recovery planning.

Recovery Plan

A personalized document the individual creates with support that outlines
their recovery goals, strengths, resources, and actions. It’s their roadmap.

Resiliency

The ability to bounce back from difficulties and hardship. It’s built
through support, relationships, and learning from experience.

Empowerment

Giving someone the knowledge, skills, and confidence to make their own
decisions and take control of their recovery and life.

Accountability

Taking responsibility for your actions and the impact you have. In peer
support, it means following professional standards and being honest.

Transparency

Being open and honest about your role, limitations, what you can and can’t
do, and any conflicts of interest. It builds trust.

Cultural Competence / Cultural Humility

Understanding and respecting the cultural background of the people you
support. Humility means recognizing what you don’t know and staying curious.

Health Equity

Fair access to health services and resources for everyone, regardless of
race, income, location, or other factors. Peer supporters help bridge
inequities.

Intervention

An action taken to help someone move toward recovery — could be a
conversation, connecting them to services, or helping solve a specific
problem.

Follow-Up

Checking back with someone after providing support to see how they’re doing
and if they need additional help. It shows you care.

Supervision / Peer Consultation

Regular meetings with a supervisor or mentor to discuss cases, process
difficult experiences, and continue developing your skills and
self-awareness.

Professional Development

Training, education, and growth activities that help you improve your
skills, stay current, and advance in your career as a peer specialist.

Referral

Directing someone to another service or professional because what they need
is outside your scope of practice. Do it with a warm handoff when possible.

Accessibility

Making services and support easy for people to use — including considering
transportation, language, cost, disability, and cultural fit.

Non-Judgmental

Meeting people where they are without criticism or blame, regardless of
their choices or history. It’s foundational to all peer support.

Authenticity

Being real and genuine in your interactions. People recognize when you’re
being honest about your own recovery journey, and it creates connection.

If you see a term in your lessons or live sessions that doesn’t make sense,
write it down and bring it to your facilitator or supervisor. Language is part
of your power in this work.