Field Directors

Hi all, I'm curious what experiences people have had using peer recovery specialist positions as employer based internships? We have recently started an online BSW program and I am getting ready to work on placing our first cohort. Several of them currently work as peer support specialists and are interested in doing employer based placements. Our program in general is pretty supportive of employer based placements and we have good policies and practices about how we vet, approve, and support them. However, I'm really wondering about the element of being a peer that relies on using personal experience as a primarily intervention and how that could be in conflict with practice as a professional social worker, considering the need to be more intentional about when to self disclose or not as well as other potential interventions.

I would love to know if others have experience with this and if there are lessons learned that have been helpful.

Thanks!

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Lindsey Rinehart
Field Education Director
West Virginia University
Morgantown WV
304-293-3501
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Lindsey,

We have not had that experience; however, I suspect we might in the future, since our state has peer specialists in many of its facilities. The first thing I thought about when I read this is the philosophical difference between the social work and peer specialist roles. While there is some similarity in reciprocity, mutual respect, and so on, the heart of each role is different. Peer support comes out of shared lived experience, and ours comes out of professional training, a code of ethics, and a planned change process.

The other issue, in my opinion, is the ethical piece. Social work's professional use of self-disclosure is one intervention among many. We teach our students to choose it deliberately and only for the benefit of the people served. If self-disclosure were the student's primary modality, which is my understanding of the peer specialist role, then it runs counter to how we prepare social workers, and I am not sure the student is really practicing social work at that point.

The other concern is how the student would meet all of the competencies required for the practicum. Maybe I am missing something, but the peer specialist role is fairly niche and specific to the populations and facilities where these specialists serve. Anyway, those are my thoughts. I hope it works out, whichever avenue is chosen.

Best of luck.

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Rebekah Freese
MSW Practicum Director
Columbia College
Columbia MO
573-875-7533
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Original Message:
Sent: 5/31/2026 9:30:00 AM
From: Rebekah Freese
Subject: RE: Peer Recovery Specialist as employer based placement?

Lindsey,

We have not had that experience; however, I suspect we might in the future, since our state has peer specialists in many of its facilities. The first thing I thought about when I read this is the philosophical difference between the social work and peer specialist roles. While there is some similarity in reciprocity, mutual respect, and so on, the heart of each role is different. Peer support comes out of shared lived experience, and ours comes out of professional training, a code of ethics, and a planned change process.

The other issue, in my opinion, is the ethical piece. Social work's professional use of self-disclosure is one intervention among many. We teach our students to choose it deliberately and only for the benefit of the people served. If self-disclosure were the student's primary modality, which is my understanding of the peer specialist role, then it runs counter to how we prepare social workers, and I am not sure the student is really practicing social work at that point.

The other concern is how the student would meet all of the competencies required for the practicum. Maybe I am missing something, but the peer specialist role is fairly niche and specific to the populations and facilities where these specialists serve. Anyway, those are my thoughts. I hope it works out, whichever avenue is chosen.

Best of luck.

------------------------------
Rebekah Freese
MSW Practicum Director
Columbia College
Columbia MO
573-875-7533
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