Author Description

This is the first edition of this manual. It has been revised, expanded, and updated to meet the most recent demands for Peer Specialist training curricula in the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA). This manual is adapted from the 2007 National Association of Peer Specialists (NAPS) Training Manual, Third Edition, with permission from Steven Harrington, founder and CEO of NAPS. It has been developed through extensive input from peer support practitioners across the United States. The author of the original manual is also an experienced peer support specialist. The major modification in this DVA version has been to focus the content on the competencies expected of Peer Specialists and PeerSupport Technicians in the DVA. The competencies were developed by a DVA workgroup that synthesized information from the training programs and testing instruments of six prominent peer support specialist training and certification programs in the United States.This manual also contains DVA specific language and procedures.