New PEER Support Act Officially Recognizes Recovery Specialists, Mandates Job Classification by 2026

This bill, officially titled the Providing Empathetic and Effective Recovery Support Act (or the PEER Support Act), is all about bringing professional recognition to people who use their own experience with mental health or substance use recovery to help others. Think of it as a major effort to standardize and legitimize the role of the recovery coach.

The Official Definition: Lived Experience Meets Certification

For those working in the recovery space, Section 2 is the big deal. It sets a clear, federal definition for a "peer support specialist." To qualify, you must have lived experience—meaning you’ve personally gone through recovery or you’ve been a primary caregiver for someone who has. But lived experience alone isn't enough; you also need official certification. This certification must be approved by the state where you work or deemed acceptable by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). The services provided must also align with established national standards, like those from SAMHSA and the National Association of Peer Supporters. This is huge because it moves peer support from a patchwork of local efforts to a recognized, standardized service, meaning people seeking help can expect a consistent level of quality no matter where they are.

Making It a Real Job Category

If you or someone you know works as a peer specialist, Section 3 is about job security and recognition. Right now, these roles often fall into vague administrative buckets. This bill mandates that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) must update the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system by January 1, 2026, to create a specific job category just for peer support specialists. Why does this matter? Official job classification standardizes data, makes it easier to track workforce needs, and is essential for establishing competitive wages and career paths. For the specialist, it means their job is officially recognized alongside nurses, social workers, and counselors.

The New Office of Recovery: A Central Hub

To manage this professionalization, Section 4 establishes a new Office of Recovery within SAMHSA. Crucially, the Director of this office must be someone with lived experience in recovery. This office will be the central hub for the peer support movement, focusing on training, education, and professional development. For states, this means a reliable source of technical assistance and program evaluation to help them build better recovery services. For specialists, the office is tasked with developing actual career paths—not just entry-level jobs, but long-term professional trajectories.

Tackling the Background Check Hurdle

One of the biggest practical hurdles for peer specialists is often their past. Because the job requires lived experience, many qualified candidates have criminal records related to their past substance use or mental health crises. Section 5 directs HHS and the Attorney General to conduct a study and report on state criminal background check processes. They’ll look at which crimes automatically disqualify someone and compare those rules to other health provider roles. The goal is to issue recommendations to states on how to set up background check systems that are safe, but don’t unnecessarily block qualified people from getting certified. For a person who has turned their life around and wants to help others, this could be the difference between a meaningful career and being stuck in a dead-end job.

This bill seems like a net positive for recovery services. It professionalizes a critical workforce, establishes a dedicated federal office run by someone with relevant experience, and attempts to remove administrative barriers that prevent qualified people from working. The main challenge will be ensuring that the new federal standards are adopted smoothly by state and local agencies, which will have to adjust their administrative processes and potentially their certification requirements to align with the new, federally recognized standards.