A consumer wants to use their experience with managing their mental illness to help others. How can the Peer Support Specialist help the consumer to accomplish this goal?

• A. Assist the consumer by providing encouragement, direction and support of their advocacy desires.
• B. Encourage the consumer to become a public speaker in order to share their experience.
• C. Provide the consumer with a list of agencies that would be willing to have the consumer present.
• D. Refer the consumer to their mental health provider for further direction.

Answer: (A)

The idea being tested is how a Peer Support Specialist help a person use their lived experience to support others through empowering, student-led advocacy. The strongest approach is to assist the consumer by providing encouragement, direction, and support for their advocacy desires. This fits peer support principles because it respects the person’s autonomy, helps them set and pursue their own goals, and offers practical help to turn intention into action—whether that means planning steps, finding opportunities, or connecting with resources. It focuses on building the person’s confidence and capabilities so they can engage in advocacy in a way that feels authentic to them.

Encouraging a consumer to become a public speaker can be valuable for some, but it shouldn’t be imposed or assumed as the path. The peer specialist’s role is to support whatever advocacy route the consumer chooses, not to force a specific role.

Providing a list of agencies that would be willing to have the consumer present presumes a particular activity and bypasses the process of exploring the consumer’s own goals and readiness. It’s more about directing someone to a single option rather than helping them develop a tailored plan for advocacy.

Referencing a mental health provider for further direction is important for clinical or treatment needs, but it doesn’t address helping the consumer advocate for others or use their lived experience in the community. The peer specialist’s primary aim here is to empower the consumer’s self-advocacy and connection to opportunities, not to route them into clinical direction alone.