ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how peer support is enabled and arranged among female substance users. The concept of peer support is understood as any kind of advice, providing information and sharing of experiences that are intended to participate in other people’s lives. The data were obtained from seven group discussions and three individual meetings with 13 women through a health and social care project that aimed at reaching the most marginalised female substance users and to help them receive the social and health services they needed. Three main forms of peer support were found. First, there was ad hoc giving of and asking for advice or information and sharing experiences and empathy during the group discussions. Second, women described instances when they have helped each other in their everyday lives. Reciprocity was defined as an essential element of such help. Finally, women reflected on their experiences of acting as a peer supporter intentionally and in a more formal way. Unofficial support seems to give women safety that the official system often cannot provide, but it should not mean replacing professionals with unpaid peers in the welfare service system.
