Training Gaps and Workforce Development Needs: Peer-Focused Findings from the Pacific Southwest Region

Background and Purpose

The behavioral health workforce serving individuals with substance use disorders (SUD) is diverse in role, credential, and training background, yet training and technical assistance (TTA) systems have historically been designed around licensed clinicians. Peer support specialists represent a growing segment of this workforce and play a critical role in SUD recovery, yet their distinct training needs and workforce development barriers remain understudied. The Pacific Southwest Addiction Technology Transfer Center (PSATTC), serving HHS Region 9, conducts annual regional needs assessments to inform TTA planning. This study reports findings from the 2024-2025 PSATTC Regional Needs Assessment, with attention to workforce composition, training gaps, and implications for peer support specialist development across the region.

Methods

A cross-sectional online survey was administered between December 2024 and February 2025 and 451 surveys were analyzed. Respondents represented professionals from across the behavioral health service continuum in California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii, Guam, and Pacific Islands. The survey assessed self-reported expertise in SUD treatment and recovery support, confidence in applying evidence-based modalities, interest in additional training, organizational resource gaps, and barriers to accessing TTA. Role in behavioral health was assessed via a multi-select item; peer support specialists comprised approximately 8% of the analytic sample (n=36). Descriptive analyses were conducted for the full sample, with present attention to peer specialist- relevant workforce development findings.

Results

The overall sample was predominantly female (70.5%), with nearly half reporting more than 11 years in behavioral health. Peer support specialists (n=36, 8.0%) represented a meaningfully distinct subgroup within the sample: typically operating without licensure, outside clinical treatment roles, and with educational backgrounds more likely to reflect some college or vocational training than graduate preparation. Areas where peer specialists are more centrally positioned, including recovery support services, overdose prevention, and psychoeducation related to substance use, showed moderate to high confidence across the full sample, with meaningful proportions still expressing interest in additional training. Nearly a quarter of respondents (23.1%) reported never having access to naloxone or other overdose prevention resources, a finding with direct relevance to peer specialists working in community settings. Organizationally, updated training materials (38.3%), mental health and wellness support for providers (34.3%), and peer support networks (30.1%) were among the most commonly cited resource gaps. Qualitative interviews with 12 regional experts reinforced these themes, with participants identifying co-occurring disorders, workforce trauma, and the need for trauma-informed organizational culture as central to retention across all role types, including peer support.

Conclusions and Implications

Regional needs assessment data from HHS Region 9 reveal persistent training gaps and access barriers across a diverse behavioral health workforce. These data signal important workforce development considerations: peer specialists are present in the regional workforce, face the same structural TTA access barriers as licensed providers, and are explicitly named in the PSATTC priority agenda for targeted foundational training. Social work researchers and TTA systems should invest in needs assessment methodologies that adequately capture peer specialist perspectives and develop TTA infrastructures responsive to the full workforce continuum, from peer support through advanced clinical practice.