Learn About Peer Support
Peer support refers to practical, social, emotional, ongoing support from a person who shares similar experiences with a disease or health problem. Peer support is a powerful and affordable tool for facilitating the kind of knowledge, skills, encouragement, and linkages to resources that people need to adopt and maintain healthy behaviors.
Ongoing support is a key factor in managing health. Even if individuals spend as much as 6 hours a year in a clinic or health professional’s office, that leaves them 8,760 hours they are “on your own” to manage their diet, physical activity, medications, stress, and other factors. Peer support provides assistance with these daily management tasks, social and emotional support to stay motivated and deal with the stress chronic disease often brings, and helps people stay connected to clinical care.
For additional resources on Peer Support please check out our list of Publications and Presentations from 2009-2012.