The peer support movement has developed into an essential component of modern-day health and wellness treatment, and its history is fascinating. Its current mainstream acceptance might make it feel like a modern invention, making this patient-driven revolution in mental health care easy to take for granted, but its roots stretch back over two hundred years.
History is fascinating. Its current mainstream acceptance might make it feel like a modern invention, making this patient-driven revolution in mental health care easy to take for granted, but its roots stretch back over two hundred years. Let’s start in France in the late 18th century with Jean Baptiste Pussin, Governor of the Bicétre Hospital in Paris. He’s credited with employing recovered patients to assist in the care of patient
In utilizing peoples’ lived experiences and empathy to assist in the care of others, Pussin helped create a moral treatment movement in opposition to what was the mainstream reliance on isolation when treating mental health.
Unfortunately, despite the efforts of moral treatment advocates in numerous countries, the treatment and care options for those suffering from mental health illness was still predominantly bleak throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. As the profession of psychiatry expanded throughout the 1800’s, state hospitals and asylums proliferated and the ideals of moral treatment gave way to more authoritarian institutions.
But the essence and power of peer support persisted. Alternative care models continued to evolve despite the troubling practices in large-scale hospitals and institutions. The practice ―and efficacy of― therapeutic treatments involving peers gained traction in numerous scenarios, notably in treating addiction and recovery.
The most well-known example is Alcoholics Anonymous, founded in 1935 as a peer-to-peer support group dedicated to helping alcoholics achieve and maintain sobriety. But even before AA there were numerous peer-to-peer support groups in the second half of the 1800’s and early 1900’s, including the Washingtonian Society and Boston’s Emmanuel Clinics and the Jacoby Club.
Modern peer support in the United States solidified as a mental health resource in the 1960’s and 70’s, when thousands of patients suffering from serious mental illness were released from state hospitals back into communities without adequate support infrastructure in place to receive them.
In theory, a well-resourced and properly staffed network of local care centers could indeed provide effective treatment to patients in a community setting.
This sadly didn’t come to pass.
Insufficient foresight went into long-term planning around structural issues of funding, training and the role of medication. The result was thousands of patients in need and communities under-equipped to properly help them.
The heart of peer support has always been an organic reaction to a deep human need, and what happened next kept in line with that spirit. Former patients organized independently and sought avenues for recognition, respect, and control over their own wellness. The peer support movement of the 1970’s coalesced around a collective desire to share experiences and break away from institutionalized treatment norms, while focusing on establishing sustainable peer communities.
As the 1980’s progressed, peer support evolution continued. What had begun as a disparate network of local organizing groups attained newfound attention and recognition from mainstream health circles.
The 1980s saw peer movement leaders forming partnerships with the mental health system, which not long before had been the prime adversary of peer support organizing. This fusion ―polarizing within the movement at the time― created new funding streams that enabled a range of treatment activities and initiatives, paving the way for a modern mental health landscape in which peer support is an integral element.
Now peer support is a ubiquitous presence across the spectrum of treatment and recovery programs, in the form of self help and support groups, peer-run services like community run organizations and community centers, and trained peer employees who work in more traditional mental health positions as advocates, counselors, and case managers.
Just as important is societal change. Attitudes around mental health, addiction and recovery have evolved tremendously over the past 50 years, informed in no small part by the expansive cultural and clinical impact of peer support.
Just as important is societal change. Attitudes around mental health, addiction and recovery have evolved tremendously over the past 50 years, informed in no small part by the expansive cultural and clinical impact of peer support.
Regardless, whether it’s face-to-face, on the phone or online, peer support will continue to adapt to the wellness needs of people looking to get better. Its history is varied, but its future looks assured.