Mentoring Initiative Fosters Recovery Through Peer Support
Peer recovery support specialists (peers) can transform the lives of people struggling with substance use. They fill gaps in care through connection and by offering alternatives to crisis and emergency services. By directing individuals toward treatment instead of activities that might result in incarceration, peer support promotes justice system diversion.
More than 81,000 people in the United States died from opioid overdoses in 2023. Altarum played a critical role in reducing these numbers through its work in peer recovery support services (PRSS), in collaboration with the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). The collaboration was part of the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP).
Peer support programs connect people to the treatment and resources they need. Peers come directly from the communities affected, receive specialized training and are certified through their states. They provide non-clinical support services, working directly with individuals dealing with substance use challenges.
Peers help break the cycle of addiction by modeling recovery, sharing coping strategies, and providing information and resources. For those newly released from incarceration, peer support helps them establish new routines, connect them to resources, and build new friendships. By guiding individuals through the recovery journey, peer support reduces recidivism.
BJA And Altarum: Empowering COSSUP
COSSUP provides resources and technical assistance to help state, local, and tribal governments, as well as community organizations, combat opioid and other substance use. Recognized by BJA and others as a national PRSS expert, Altarum has managed COSSUP since its inception in 2019. We have successfully partnered with more than 400 grantees to deliver training and assistance.
COSSUP’s PRSS Mentoring Initiative pairs organizations new to peer integration with experienced peers to foster peer-to-peer learning, networking, and the sharing of best practices. These efforts help grantees integrate peer support into their substance use disorder intervention and treatment strategies, maximizing the reach and effectiveness of peer recovery efforts. Evidence shows that peer support plays a pivotal role in advancing BJA goals, including minimizing substance use disorder harms, reducing overdose fatalities, and mitigating the impact on crime victims.
Since its launch in 2019, Altarum has supported more than 100 participants across 29 organizations. We’ve received consistently positive feedback and have set a national standard for mentorship in peer recovery.
Our Approach: Connecting Mentors and Mentees
Each year, Altarum selects mentor sites through an application and interview process. These sites serve as models for individuals, teams, or early-stage programs looking to start or enhance their PRSS programs.
In 2024, our mentoring initiative collaborated with 28 sites across the country, covering communities from Idaho and California to North Carolina. We’ve worked with recovery community organizations, health networks, local police departments, rural and tribal communities, prisons, and peer-led nonprofits, serving hundreds of individuals.
This mix is essential: What works in one community may not work in another. Peer support must be adaptable to meet the unique needs of rural areas, tribal lands, and urban communities. It’s important for organizations to connect with their peers with comparable experiences, and it’s important for these activities to occur in a structured environment.
That’s why Altarum’s approach includes activities that promote an array of learning methods and domains; we tailor services and training to the specific needs of each organization. This is especially important for criminal justice organizations, which manage individuals with substance use challenges differently and require specific knowledge, skills, and capacities for program implementation.
“Through this mentoring initiative, we thoughtfully pair organizations based on their program type, stated goals, and area of focus,” explains Joanna Lowry, Project Manager, Community Health. “We then facilitate the learning experience by providing structured plans and meetings that culminate into an action plan the organizations can use to begin their work.”
Focus Areas
Behavioral HealthChanging Lives: Recent Success Stories
Here are just three of the many programs Altarum supported:
Hendersonville, NC, and Akron, OH: A mentee from Akron partnered with a mentor site in Hendersonville, the Hope Coalition, to set up a new recovery community organization. Inspired by the loss of a son who died of an overdose, the mentee and her husband transformed a log cabin into a walk-in recovery center, featuring a salt cave for holistic healing. Today, the programs offers connection to peer services, community education, grief and family support, recovery groups and recovery activities.
Virginia Department of Corrections: Certified peer mentors—including inmates—provide support through probation, parole offices, and correctional facilities. Virginia has served as a mentor site for the Colorado and Wyoming Departments of Corrections. They, too, are focusing on integrating peer services to better support efforts for substance misuse.
Winthrop, MA Police Department: Lieutenant Sarko Gergerian and Winthrop Director of Public Health and Clinical Services Meredith Hurley are expanding traditional law enforcement roles through community-based recovery efforts. By prioritizing rehabilitation over incarceration, they are fostering stronger community relationships. Their collaboration led to the development of the Winthrop CLEAR (Community and Law Enforcement Assisted Recovery) program. CLEAR models ways the community and police work together to support recovery. Through recovery-oriented community policing, CLEAR shows that anyone can achieve recovery.
In 2024, Gergerian and Hurley expanded their impact by partnering with the Navajo County Sheriff's Office. By sharing their own lessons learned, Gergerian and Hurley have supported the sheriff’s office in identifying goals for their own program.
Hands-on: Making Connections, Building Capacity
Our training and technical assistance services enabled governments and community organizations to build the capacity to advance and promote recovery. Participating programs developed skills and training needed to ensure sustainability without reliance on government funding.
Our impact is hands-on.
Altarum liaisons coordinate meetings, facilitate communication, and document key insights. By streamlining logistics and resources, we enable full engagement between mentors and mentees. Our liaisons monitor progress and refine support, acting as a bridge between mentees, mentors, and TTAC. They offer guidance and troubleshooting, ensuring alignment with BJA objectives. Our liaisons also coordinate virtual calls to facilitate meaningful discussions and identify each mentee’s needs and priorities.
This is the epitome of taking our hands-on impact from policy to practice. Our liaisons’ efforts—both virtually and in-person—ensure that each mentee organization walks away with relevant, memorable experiences and an actionable workplan to improve their PRSS programs.