Learning from and engaging with people who have experience with SUD or are in recovery is an important part of reducing stigma. Peer recovery support specialists (PRSSs), sometimes referred to as peer support specialists or simply “peers,” are individuals who have experience in SUD, recovery, and sometimes justice involvement and receive training and certification to help others who are experiencing similar situations. PRSSs can lead recovery groups, mentor and advocate for people in recovery, provide services and trainings, educate the public and policymakers, participate in committees and workgroups to help inform criminal justice agencies’ policies and practices, and more.¹ The shared experiences between a PRSS and a justice-involved individual can make their interactions more meaningful and comfortable than with police, a judge, or other criminal justice stakeholders. By sharing their own lived experience and practical guidance, peer support workers help people develop their own goals, create strategies for self-empowerment, and take concrete steps toward building fulfilling, self-determined lives for themselves.² Similarly, criminal justice agencies should incorporate peer voices into training around SUD, as studies have shown that combining factual information with stories and personalized information from people with lived experience is twice as effective as education alone.³