Survey of Peer Support Specialists: Professional Activities, Self Rated Skills, Job Satisfaction, and Financial Well being.
As the certified peer support specialist (CPSS) workforce matures, their roles evolve, leading to gaps in knowledge about their activities. This study aimed to address these gaps through a survey on CPSS activities, self rated skills, job satisfaction, and financial well being. The project team recruited a community advisory board of CPSSs to lead survey development. A survey link was e mailed to all known CPSSs in the state of Michigan (N=1,128) yielding 394 respondents (35% response rate) of whom 319 were included in the analysis. The highest skill self ratings included sharing recovery stories (rated very strong by 80% the lowest included vocational support (rated very strong by 33% More than 75% were satisfied with their workplace supportiveness; less than one half were satisfied with their promotion opportunities. When asked if they could generate adequate funds to address a common financial shock, 115 of 301 respondents (38% were "certain" they could not, suggesting financial vulnerability. These results support developing career ladder opportunities for CPSSs.
Psychiatric services