Veteran Peer Specialist, Virginia Veteran and Family Support

A Veteran Peer Specialist is a person with a mental health or co-occurring condition, actively engaged in his or her own recovery, who has been trained and certified to help others with these conditions, identify and achieve specific life and recovery goals.



Peer Specialists serve as role models by sharing their personal recovery stories, showing that recovery from mental illness is possible. They teach goal setting, problem solving, symptom management skills and a variety of recovery tools. They empower by helping others identify their strengths, supports, resources and skills. They advocate by working to eliminate the stigma of mental illness and  act as community liaisons by identifying social supports in the community and encouraging the expansion of local community resources.