Support from someone who understands what it's like to be young and struggling.
Mental health challenges can make adolescence feel even more complicated. A young person may feel misunderstood, isolated, discouraged, or unsure how to talk about what they’re experiencing.
Youth Peer Support gives young people ages 12 through 17 the opportunity to work with a trained peer support specialist who can draw from their own lived experience with mental health challenges and recovery.
At Calm Waters Counseling, Youth Peer Support can work alongside counseling and other behavioral health services to help eligible teens build confidence, develop practical skills, become more involved in their treatment, and work toward their own recovery goals.
What Is Youth Peer Support?
Sometimes it helps to talk with someone who has been through their own challenges.
Youth Peer Support is different from counseling. A Youth Peer Support Specialist is a trained and certified professional who has their own lived experience with mental health challenges or recovery during their youth.
That experience allows them to connect with teens from a different perspective than a therapist, parent, teacher, or other adult in their life. The goal isn’t to tell a young person what to do.
Instead, Youth Peer Support helps teens recognize their strengths, develop their own voice, build practical skills, and feel more hopeful about the future.
How Can Youth Peer Support Help?
- Build confidence and self-esteem
- Develop coping and problem-solving skills
- Set goals and build healthy routines
- Improve communication and self-advocacy
- Strengthen social skills and positive connections
- Become more involved in their mental health care
- Build independence and hope for the future
Develop hope for recovery and the future
Peer support is about helping young people become more active participants in their own lives and mental health care.
What Does Youth Peer Support Look Like?
Practical support built around the young person's goals. Youth Peer Support may take place one-on-one or as part of a group, depending on the services available and the youth's treatment plan. Support may focus on areas such as:
Building Confidence
Teens can work on recognizing strengths, developing a healthier sense of self, and becoming more comfortable expressing what they need.
Setting Goals
A peer specialist can help turn larger goals into smaller, more realistic steps and provide encouragement along the way.
Developing Coping Skills
Youth can practice healthy ways to respond to stress, difficult emotions, conflict, and other challenges.
Finding Their Voice
Young people can learn how to communicate their needs, ask questions, participate in treatment decisions, and advocate for themselves.
Building Healthy Connections
Peer support can encourage positive relationships, community involvement, and the development of a stronger support system.
Staying Engaged in Recovery
Progress isn't always easy or predictable. A peer specialist can provide additional encouragement when things feel frustrating or difficult.
Youth Peer Support and Counseling Work Together
Youth Peer Support does not replace therapy, but the two services can work together. A counselor focuses on mental health treatment and therapeutic goals, while a Youth Peer Support Specialist uses lived experience, encouragement, and practical support to help teens build confidence and apply skills in everyday life.
For Example:
In counseling:
A teen and their counselor may work through anxiety, depression, trauma, or other mental health concerns.
Through Youth Peer Support:
They may practice coping skills, build confidence, speak up for their needs, and work toward personal recovery goals.
Youth Peer Support at a Glance
What’s the Difference?
Counseling is provided by a licensed mental health professional. Youth Peer Support is a non-clinical service provided by a trained specialist who brings lived experience with mental health challenges and recovery.
Helping Youth Find Their Voice
Peer Support encourages teens to ask questions, communicate their needs, identify meaningful goals, and become more involved in decisions about their mental health care.
Who Is It For?
Youth Peer Support may benefit eligible teens ages 12–17 who need additional support with confidence, coping, motivation, relationships, self-advocacy, or greater independence. The Calm Waters team can help determine whether the service is appropriate.
Youth Peer Support & Idaho's YES System
Behavioral health support for Idaho youth.
Youth Peer Support is one of the support services available within Idaho’s Youth Empowerment Services, or YES, system of care.
YES is Idaho’s children’s mental health system and is designed to help young people and their families access appropriate behavioral health services and supports.
Youth Peer Support is generally intended for eligible youth ages 12 through 17 who have a mental health diagnosis, serious emotional disturbance, or qualifying co-occurring conditions.
The Calm Waters team can help families understand whether Youth Peer Support may be appropriate and what steps may be required to begin services.
Medicaid & Youth Peer Support
Youth Peer Support is available as a behavioral health benefit for eligible Idaho Medicaid members ages 12 through 17. Other state-funded options may also be available in certain circumstances.
Coverage and eligibility depend on the young person’s individual situation and current program requirements.
Our office can help you understand available services and determine the appropriate next step.
Frequently Asked Questions About Youth Peer Support
Idaho Youth Peer Support is designed for eligible youth ages 12 through 17.
No. Youth Peer Support is a non-clinical service. Peer specialists do not provide psychotherapy or diagnose mental health conditions. They provide recovery-focused support using specialized training and their own lived experience.
Yes. Lived experience is an important part of the Youth Peer Support role. Specialists have personal experience with mental health or co-occurring challenges and recovery and receive specialized training before providing Youth Peer Support.
Youth Peer Support is part of a broader behavioral health system and is generally connected to a young person’s mental health needs and treatment. Calm Waters can help determine what assessment or clinical involvement may be required.
Youth Peer Support professionals follow applicable privacy, professional, and program requirements. Because services involve minors, parents or guardians may have certain rights or responsibilities related to care. Our team can explain how this applies to your family’s situation.
Youth Peer Support is centered on the young person. Parents and caregivers may still be involved in the broader treatment process depending on the youth’s age, needs, treatment plan, and applicable requirements.
Youth Peer Support is specifically designed for ages 12 through 17. Other behavioral health and family support services may be available for younger children. Contact Calm Waters and we can help you understand what options may be appropriate.
Could Youth Peer Support Help Your Teen?
Start with a conversation. You don't need to understand every part of Idaho's behavioral health system before asking for help. Tell the Calm Waters team a little about what your child is experiencing. We can help determine whether Youth Peer Support or another behavioral health service may be appropriate and explain the next steps.
