Mental health rehabilitation utilizes authentic leadership in various careers, especially peer support services. Peer support services are intended for those undergoing mental health and/or substance abuse recovery, and they provide those in recovery with a mentor that has had similar experiences. A peer support specialist works directly with the impacted individual, and they formulate goals, offer mentorship, implement recovery empowerment, and serve as an advocate for not only their clients, but the entire affected population (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2022). The peer support mission, and core competencies that define the function of peer support services, can be explained and achieved through the attributes within the practical approach of authentic leadership, such as, purpose, values, relationships, self-discipline, and compassion (George, 2003; George & Sims, 2007, as cited in Northouse, 2021).
What exactly is the mission of peer support services? Peer support services strive to ensure that affected individuals, with mental health or substance abuse related disorders, do not relapse, but rather continue to grow through their recovery journey (Department of Health & Human Services, 2022). Similar to this mission, George (2003) claimed that “authentic leaders have a genuine desire to serve others, they know themselves, and they feel free to lead from their core values” (As cited in Northouse, 2021, p. 223). Authentic leadership focuses on values, service, growth, and genuineness, just as peer support services does. Peer support services introduces a leadership dynamic between client and peer support specialist, and it appears that peer support services utilizes authentic leadership principles to function and promote rehabilitation.
The practical approach of authentic leadership highlights leaders’ attributes (George, 2003; George & Sims, 2007, as cited in Northouse, 2021). The first attribute found in authentic leaders is purpose, where leaders can identify and understand their plan, often developing passion in the process (Northouse, 2021). Similarly, peer support specialists are recovery oriented, one of the core competencies, where the goal is to assist clients with reaching their full potential. Peer support specialists identify their purpose through their own recovery, and this leads to passionate work that empowers others who are faced with similar barriers (Department of Health & Human Services, 2022). Another attribute of authentic leaders is holding important values, where their actions translate and reflect such values (Northouse, 2021). Peer support specialists hold important values, because a core competency that they implement is person-centered thinking. Person-centered thinking is the belief that clients drive their own rehabilitation processes, where peer supports accompany them and offer insight to their recovery (Department of Health & Human Services, 2022). Moreover, a third attribute of authentic leadership is relationships, where leaders exhibit close ties with those around them, which allows them to gain strong rapport with followers (Northouse, 2021). A core competency of peer support services is being relationship-focused, where the client and peer support specialist are able to come together and formulate appropriate and effective rehabilitation practices (Department of Health & Human Services, 2022). Additionally, self-discipline is essential for authentic leaders, where leaders engage in motivated behaviors that lead to consistent leadership tendencies (Northouse, 2021). Similar to self-discipline practices, peer support specialists utilize trauma informed methods. Trauma informed methods promote the well-being of an individual in every aspect of their life in order to grow (Department of Health & Human Services, 2022). Finally, compassion is a key attribute of authentic leadership, where leaders can demonstrate responsiveness toward their followers, and this allows them to be vulnerable and assist their followers accordingly (Northouse, 2021). While there is not a specific core competency within peer support services that directly functions based on the compassion attribute, it is reasonable to believe that such compassion stems from the peers’ experience with similar struggles.
In summary, authentic leadership is essential within mental health rehabilitation. Through the practical approach to authentic leadership, one can understand the core competencies and primary mission of peer support services. Attributes, such as, purpose, values, relationships, self-discipline, and compassion are integrated into the frame work of peer support services, and thus authentic leaders are able to promote effective rehabilitation.
References
Northouse, P. G. (2021). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2022, February 23). Peers. SAMHSA. Retrieved April 18, 2022, from https://www.samhsa.gov/brss-tacs/recovery-support-tools/peers
This is a unique topic! I appreciate the application of leadership theory and application within the field of recovery. My uncle in currently in recovery so this provides a helpful model for how to approach topics of mental health and substance abuse (often co-morbidity issues) within the framework of leadership.
Authentic leadership is one theory that I really enjoyed reading about this semester, and wanted to write about but found it difficult to summarize and put into practical application as you have done here. Overall, I believe, as you have argues, that authentic leadership is neceesary to lead people through difficult times.
Recovery from drugs and alcohol dependence is no joke. These types of problems require a spiritual path, and something higher than oneself. Authentic self is a version of the higher self in my opinion and why I was drawn to your insights herein.
According to our readings, there is no single one way to describe authentic leadership and how it works. There is a mystery behind it. A power greater than oneself perhaps – a higher power. Right now there are three major ways authenticity can be used in leadership. But not one specific way.
George’s (2003) approach states that leaders improve their authentic leadership abilities by focusing on five dimensions. The theoretical approach states that authentic leadership can only occur if a leader has positive psychological capacities and has the right experiences that lead to the development of four components; self-awareness, internalized moral perspective, balanced processing, and relational transparency.
Overall, leaders cannot train to be authentic, they have to embody authenticity. If one wishes to recover from drugs and alcohol they must embody something bigger than themselves, step out of their instant gratification and submit to something greater than themselves. Only authentic leaders can serve the recovery community – and I appreciate your approach to this topic.