Which principle ensures power and influence are shared between the peer and the person served?

Which principle ensures power and influence are shared between the peer and the person served?

• A. Professional Authority
• B. Centralized Decision Making
• C. Equally Shared Power
• D. Unilateral Guidance

Answer: (C)

Equally Shared Power means the peer and the person served both influence decisions that affect recovery. In a recovery-focused relationship, power isn’t held by one side; it’s shared so the person served can lead goals and choices while the peer offers support, information, and lived experience to aid progress. This collaboration respects autonomy, builds trust, and enhances engagement because the person served remains central to their plan, with the peer acting as a facilitator rather than a director. This fits well because it embodies empowerment and mutual respect, which are core to peer recovery work. By contrast, professional authority places control with the professional, centralized decision making shifts power away from the person served, and unilateral guidance is one-way and ignores the person’s voice.

Equally Shared Power means the peer and the person served both influence decisions that affect recovery. In a recovery-focused relationship, power isn’t held by one side; it’s shared so the person served can lead goals and choices while the peer offers support, information, and lived experience to aid progress. This collaboration respects autonomy, builds trust, and enhances engagement because the person served remains central to their plan, with the peer acting as a facilitator rather than a director.

This fits well because it embodies empowerment and mutual respect, which are core to peer recovery work. By contrast, professional authority places control with the professional, centralized decision making shifts power away from the person served, and unilateral guidance is one-way and ignores the person’s voice.