This article examines a special peersocial support program, which provides support to high-risk
dually diagnosed chents. A pilot study of 10 randomly selected clients in the study group, and
51 in the comparison group, who had been in community care 1 year prior to this investigation
was carried out. Service was provided for a 6-month period Findings suggest that coupling peer
social support with intensive case management is associated with positive system outcomes. The
number of crisis events of the comparison group far exceeded that of the study group. The number
of hospitalizations was dramatically lower for the study group. Chents in the study group
reported improved quality of life and perceived their physical and emotional well-being as
improved over the course of the study. This pilot study indicates that peer support has a potential
of improving system and clients' outcome; however, further replication is required.
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