Supporting Peer Work Community Reports

Supporting Peer Work (SPW) is a community-guided participatory action research project that studies how so-called “low barrier” social service agencies treat workers with lived/living expertise — also known as “peers.” In 2021 and 2022, we interviewed 35 peers and 16 supervisors from the Greater Toronto Area and discovered that most agencies misunderstand peer work. Although many organizations say they value lived/living experience, they build mazes and set traps for peers, forcing them to follow policies and practices that undermine their unique knowledge and skills. Peers are subject to discrimination, neglect, and double standards that block them from making positive change at their organizations and in their lives.  

Peers have the wisdom and expertise to lead organizations to transformative new practices, but only if they are resourced and supported on their own terms. Based on our findings, SPW demands that, in addition to providing peers with a living wage and more control over their working conditions, organizations must shift workplace cultures which currently encourage or enable direct discrimination against Black and Indigenous peer workers; enforce narrow and inappropriate standards of “professionalism”; and promote criminalizing and classist ideas about drug use.

To learn more about our research and demands, and find reflective questions designed specifically for agencies looking to support peers, please read our reports, designed by The Public, below:

Supporting Peer Work - Full Report

Supporting Peer Work - Summary Report

Supporting Peer Work - Brief Overview

Questions for Agencies