Exploring Peer Specialists' Experiences With Spirituality in Their Work: Recommendations for Future Directions.

Objective: Spirituality is part of recovery for many people with lived experience of mental health issues, including those who become peer specialists and utilize their own recovery experiences to facilitate the recovery of others. This research explores how peer specialists view spirituality in their work with their peers and the factors that impact conversations in this area. Method: Eleven peer specialists participated in individual qualitative interviews. Inquiries were made about their own experiences of spirituality and how these were used to support others. Additional questions probed factors that facilitated or served as barriers to their ability to engage in such conversations. Data were subjected to thematic analysis. Results: Peer specialists experienced well-being, hope, and self-acceptance through spirituality. Use of spirituality in peer support was influenced by their personal spiritual journey, specifically because they understood its value to recovery. Barriers to use included fear of rejection and lack of formal support. The number one facilitator was their personal experience, but they suggested the need for training and guidelines as important future facilitators. Conclusions and Implications for Practice: Results indicate that at least some peer specialists are thinking about the role of spirituality in their work but express some struggles with such activities. There appears a need for guidelines on how to use spirituality in peer support, better definitions of the competencies peer specialists need, and more attention to training and supervision in this area—possibly to maximize the benefit of the lived experience that many peer specialists bring to their work. Impact and Implications: This qualitative study investigated mental health peer specialists' experiences of using spirituality in their work, including facilitators and barriers to having spiritually oriented conversations with peers. Findings indicate that peer specialists find value in using spirituality in their work but need additional support, especially through training and encouragement from organizational leadership, to increase confidence and skills in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]