• An individual may be either a peer support specialist or a peer wellness specialist and who, based on a similar life experience, provides supportive services to an individual who: (a) Is not older than 30 years old, and (b) Is a current or former consumer of mental health or addiction treatment; or (c) Is facing or has faced difficulties in accessing education, health, and wellness services due to mental health or behavioral health barriers.

  
  

• An individual who: (a) Has expertise or experience in public health; (b) Works in an urban or rural community, either for pay or as a volunteer in association with a local health care system; (c) To the extent practicable, shares ethnicity, language, socioeconomic status and life experiences with the residents of the community where the worker serves; (d) Assists members of the community to improve their health and increases the capacity of the community to meet the health care needs of its residents and achieve wellness; (e) Provides health education and information that is culturally appropriate to the individuals being served; (f) Assists community residents in receiving the care they need; (g) May give peer counseling and guidance on health behaviors; and (h) May provide direct services such as first aid or blood pressure screening.

• A birth companion who provides personal, non-medical support to women and families throughout a woman's (or person's) pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum experience.

• A person in addiction recovery who provides support services to people seeking recovery from addiction.

• An individual who may be either a peer support specialist or a peer wellness specialist who, based on similar life experiences, provides support services to and has experience parenting a child who:(a) Is a current or former consumer of mental health or addiction treatment; or (b) Is facing or has faced difficulties in accessing education, health, and wellness services due to mental health or behavioral health barriers.

• A person with lived experience of mental health who provides support services to other people with similar experiences.

• An individual who provides information, assistance, tools and support to enable a patient to make the best health care decisions in the patient's particular circumstances and in light of the patient's needs, lifestyle, combination of conditions and desired outcomes.

• An individual providing services to another individual who shares a similar life experience with the peer support specialist (addiction to addiction, mental health condition to mental health condition, family member of an individual with a mental health condition to family member of an individual with a mental health condition). A peer support specialist shall be: (a) A self-identified individual currently or formerly receiving addictions or mental health services; (b) A self-identified individual in recovery from an addiction disorder who meets the abstinence requirements for recovering staff in alcohol or other drug treatment programs; (c) A self-identified individual in recovery from problem gambling.

THW Worker Types to Match:

• Community Health Worker (CHW)

• Peer Support Specialist (PSS)

  • Family support (FSS)

  • Youth Support Specialist (YSS)

  • Adult Mental Health Support Specialist (MHSS)

  • Adult Addictions Support Specialist (PSS)

• Peer Wellness Specialist (PWS)

• Personal Health Navigator (PHN)

• Birth Doula