Healing Through Helping Services: Insights from Peer Recovery Workers in Malaysia’s Community-Based Drug Treatment Program

Azahah Abu Hassan Shaari

Abstract


Recovering individuals employed as peer workers in community-based drug treatment organizations offer unique experiential insights. This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of these individuals—specifically their motivations, challenges, coping strategies, and social support mechanisms—associated with their dual roles. It aimed to better understand how helping others contributes to their own healing journey. A qualitative phenomenological approach was employed, with 30 recovery workers in Malaysia recruited through purposive and snowball sampling across several community-based treatment settings. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Three main themes emerged: (1) Spiritual Anchoring, (2) Lifelong Recovery, and (3) Transformative Service. Findings reveal that religious practices, peer connections, and narrative meaning-making play central roles in sustaining both recovery and professional engagement. This study offers valuable insights into the therapeutic potential of peer work in Malaysia and the broader Southeast Asian context, where cultural norms, religious values, and communal ties significantly shape recovery experiences. It underscores the importance of culturally responsive and structured support systems to safeguard peer workers’ well-being and highlights the need for greater recognition of their contributions within evolving social work and addiction recovery landscapes.


Full Text:

PDF

References


Abu Hassan Shaari, A., & Waller, B. (2022). Self-help group experiences among members recovering from substance use disorder in Kuantan, Malaysia. Social Work with Groups, 46(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/01609513.2022.2057393

Austin, T., & Boyd, J. (2021). Having a voice and saving lives: A qualitative survey on employment impacts of people with lived experience of drug use working in harm reduction. Harm Reduction Journal, 18(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-020-00453-5

Bassuk, E. L., Hanson, J., Greene, R. N., Richard, M., & Laudet, A. (2016). Peer-delivered recovery support services for addictions in the united states: A systematic review. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 63(63), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2016.01.003

Best, D., Irving, J., & Albertson, K. (2016). Recovery and desistance: What the emerging recovery movement in the alcohol and drug area can learn from models of desistance from offending. Addiction Research & Theory, 25(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/16066359.2016.1185661

Brown, L. D., Tang, X., & Hollman, R. L. (2014). The structure of social exchange in self-help support groups: Development of a measure. American Journal of Community Psychology, 53(0), 83–95. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-013-9621-3

Castedo de Martell, S., Moore, M. B., Wang, H., Holleran Steiker, L., Wilkerson, J. M., Ranjit, N., McCurdy, S. A., & Brown, H. S. (2025). The cost-effectiveness of long-term post-treatment peer recovery support services in the United States. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 51(2), 180–190. https://doi.org/10.1080/00952990.2024.2406251

Chang, J., Shelly, S., Busz, M., Stoicescu, C., Iryawan, A. R., Madybaeva, D., de Boer, Y., & Guise, A. (2021). Peer driven or driven peers? A rapid review of peer involvement of people who use drugs in HIV and harm reduction services in low- and middle-income countries. Harm Reduction Journal, 18(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-021-00461-z

Cosden, M., Sanford, A., Koch, L. M., & Lepore, C. E. (2016). Vicarious trauma and vicarious posttraumatic growth among substance abuse treatment providers. Substance Abuse, 37(4), 619–624. https://doi.org/10.1080/08897077.2016.1181695

Doukas, N., & Cullen, J. (2009). Recovered addicts working in the addiction field: Pitfalls to substance abuse relapse. Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687630802378864

Dugdale, S., Elison, S., Davies, G., Ward, J., & Dalton, M. (2016). Using the transtheoretical model to explore the impact of peer mentoring on peer mentors’ own recovery from substance misuse. Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery, 11(3), 166–181. https://doi.org/10.1080/1556035x.2016.1177769

Eddie, D., Hoffman, L., Vilsaint, C., Abry, A., Bergman, B., Hoeppner, B., Weinstein, C., & Kelly, J. F. (2019). Lived experience in new models of care for substance use disorder: a systematic review of peer recovery support services and recovery coaching. Frontiers in Psychology, 10(1052). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01052

Fraser, H. (2004). Doing narrative research. Qualitative Social Work: Research and Practice, 3(2), 179–201. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473325004043383

Hennink, M., & Kaiser, B. N. (2022). Sample sizes for saturation in qualitative research: a systematic review of empirical tests. Social Science & Medicine, 292(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114523

Jones, T., Sells, J., & Rehfuss, M. (2009). How wounded the healers? the prevalence of relapse among addiction counselors in recovery from alcohol and other drugs. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 27(4), 389–408. https://doi.org/10.1080/07347320903209863

Krakouer, J., Savaglio, M., Taylor, K., & Skouteris, H. (2022). Community‐based models of alcohol and other drug support for First Nations peoples in Australia: A systematic review. Drug and Alcohol Review, 41(6), 1418–1427. https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.13477

Krawczyk, N., Negron, T., Nieto, M., Agus, D., & Fingerhood, M. I. (2018). Overcoming medication stigma in peer recovery: A new paradigm. Substance Abuse, 39(4), 404–409. https://doi.org/10.1080/08897077.2018.1439798

Larson, F., Masri, N., May, J., & Farrell-Moore, D. (2025). Peer recovery support services for individuals receiving medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder: benefits and barriers. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 267, 111862. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2024.111862

Medley, A., Kennedy, C., O’Reilly, K., & Sweat, M. (2009). Effectiveness of peer education interventions for hiv prevention in developing countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis. AIDS Education and Prevention, 21(3), 181–206. https://doi.org/10.1521/aeap.2009.21.3.181

Naslund, J. A., Aschbrenner, K. A., Marsch, L. A., & Bartels, S. J. (2016). The future of mental health care: peer-to-peer support and social media. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 25(2), 113–122. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/epidemiology-and-psychiatric-sciences/article/future-of-mental-health-care-peertopeer-support-and-social-media/DC0FB362B67DF2A48D42D487ED07C783

Nixon, S. (2020). “Giving back and getting on with my life”: Peer mentoring, desistance and recovery of ex-offenders. Probation Journal, 67(1), 47–64. https://doi.org/10.1177/0264550519900249

Novotná, G., Dobbins, M., Henderson, J., Jack, S., Sword, W., & Niccols, A. (2015). Understanding the link between personal recovery experience and program delivery decisions of administrators working in addiction agencies serving women in Canada. Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery, 10(1), 41–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/1556035x.2015.999618

Nowell, B., & Albrecht, K. (2018). A reviewer’s guide to qualitative rigor. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 29(2), 348–363. https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muy052

Raynor, P. A., Pope, C., York, J., Smith, G., & Mueller, M. (2017). Exploring self-care and preferred supports for adult parents in recovery from substance use disorders: Qualitative findings from a feasibility study. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 38(11), 956–963. https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840.2017.1370520

Rhodes, T., Ndimbii, J., Guise, A., Cullen, L., & Ayon, S. (2015). Navigating the poverty of heroin addiction treatment and recovery opportunity in Kenya: Access work, self-care and rationed expectations. Global Public Health, 10(7), 867–880. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2015.1046385

Sadiron, N., Kamaluddin, M. R., Nasir, N. C. M., Sulaiman, W. S. W., & Khairudin, R. (2023). Faktor psikologi dan keparahan penagihan dadah dalam kalangan penagih dadah di Semananjung Malaysia (The psychological factors and the severity of drug addiction among drug addicts in Peninsular Malaysia.). Akademika, 93(2), 3-16. https://doi.org/10.17576/akad-2023-9302-01

Scuka Rousseau Shaver, Forsyth, O., & Dionisius Meritus. (2023). Effectiveness of therapeutic community rehabilitation program for drug abuse in social institutions. Law and Economics, 17(3), 203–217. https://doi.org/10.35335/laweco.v17i3.45

Thacker, N. E., Minton, C. A. B., & Riley, K. B. (2021). Marginalized counselor educators’ experiences negotiating identity: A narrative inquiry. Counselor Education and Supervision, 60(2), 94–111. https://doi.org/10.1002/ceas.12198

Vilsaint, C. L., Tansey, A. G., Hennessy, E. A., Eddie, D., Hoffman, L. A., & Kelly, J. F. (2025). Recovery housing for substance use disorder: A systematic review. Frontiers in Public Health, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1506412

Von Haenisch, C. (2011). How did compulsory personal therapy during counselling training influence personal and professional development? Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 11(2), 148–155. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733145.2010.485693

Yan, Z., Wang, T., Chen, Y., & Zhang, H. (2016). Knowledge sharing in online health communities: A social exchange theory perspective. Information & Management, 53(5), 643–653. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2016.02.001


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


ISSN: 0126-5008

eISSN: 0126-8694