Peer support workers’ conceptions of drug users and the implications for service provision

Abstract

This paper explores how independently organised peer support workers conceptualise drug users to determine how they deliver their service. The work is undergirded by Spiro’s critique of the social view that conceptions of the human are fixed, and his contention that sometimes the concept of the self is set aside for utilitarian purposes. A literature review indicates that different conceptions of the drug user as the ‘psychological self’ and the ‘social self’ are variously held by public health, peer support workers employed by public health and independent peer support workers. An ethnographic account thereafter investigates how independently organised peer support workers prioritise three conceptions of the ‘social self’: drug users are hurt by social exclusion; they can benefit from shared experience; they can achieve social inclusion with peer support. The paper concludes with a discussion on the implications of using social conceptions of drug users in the provision of service and signals considerable scope for investigating how independent organisations of peer support workers attend drug users seeking recovery.