Being a peer specialist is hard work. Before becoming a peer specialist, I was employed in another entry-level mental health position, in a day treatment program.
Although work in the day treatment program was challenging, I have found that my work as a peer specialist is even more so. Perhaps because the peer support program is new, and helping to establish a new program is always tough; perhaps because there are few established tools and protocols to help peer specialists do their jobs; perhaps because my job responsibilities as a peer specialist are more varied; perhaps because I do more in-depth work with my peers in my current position; perhaps because I never have a “typical day” or set schedule as a peer specialist; or perhaps because I have to tell my own story over and over (and over) in this position (that can be emotional!)…. whatever the reason, or combination of reasons, I’m finding the peer specialist position to be challenging.
Stress can be a huge contributing factor to bringing out symptoms of mental illness. There’s evidence that people with mental illnesses produce more cortisol in their bodies when they become stressed, and that it takes them longer to return to “baseline”–or “normal”–levels of cortisol in their bodies....
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