Peer recovery support specialists are increasingly recognized as a critical piece of the puzzle guiding people through addiction recovery. And robust collaborations between McLean County's court system, community health providers and Heartland Community College are positioning the region as a state leader in modeling a path that keeps people out of prison and focused on recovery.
Ashley Duncan, of McLean, grew up surrounded by addiction. She said she didn't realize it until her mom sought recovery. And she didn’t fully register her own addiction until she lost custody of her two oldest daughters.
That wasn't rock bottom.
Duncan was single and fighting to get her daughters back. Then she was introduced to a harsher drug and a toxic relationship. She said that’s when her life started falling apart.
“I lost my place to live. My mom was actually back in active addiction with the same drug. We started using together,” she said.
Her mother’s health declined. She suffered strokes and developed dementia, and would eventually die as a result of prolonged drug use.
“I was living in El Paso at the time, and I came to Bloomington to take care of my mom,” she said. “And when I came back to Bloomington, I got in so much trouble.”
That was 2023, but this isn’t a story about that.
The short version is Duncan was facing serious prison time.
“I was going to take the time because I wanted the easy way out,” she said. “And then the state’s attorney did me the biggest favor I could actually ask for, because he got me Drug Court. That’s where my recovery journey started.”
McLean County's Drug Court is an alternative to conventional probation which provides wraparound support for people whose struggle with substance abuse has contributed to criminal behavior. In exchange for attending treatment and other accountability measures mandated by the court, the program is a way to divert people from prison and help build healthy habits and a community—to hopefully avoid reoffending.
Drug court is where Ashley Duncan met Liliane Kiamana, known as Lyly, or “Momma Lyly,” for short.
Kiamana is a recovery support specialist at Chestnut Health Systems. These are professionals who help guide people through drug court and rebuilding their lives. That could mean helping navigate community resources, gain housing or employment, offering accountability in getting to appointments on time, or just being a sounding board.
“First thing is to respect the person,” Kiamana said. “If you respect the person—if you put in your mind you’re not here for judging the people—because nobody’s perfect. Everybody makes mistakes. You learn. You move on.”
Key to recovery support specialists' role as part of the care team is that they are not therapists. They can share input with the drug court, but don't have to. They're simply there to help.
Another key: Support specialists have lived experiences with addiction, either through personal experience or, in Lyly Kiamana's case, through a loved one.
Heartland Community College in Normal was the first in Illinois to offer a college-level recovery support curriculum. Director Sonja Workman said the program's popularity has ballooned since it launched five years ago.
“They actually have to attest that they have lived experience with either a substance use disorder, a mental health condition or a co-occurring disorder,” Workman said, adding peer’s ability to share their own story is central to the work they do.”
It's an attractive option for people who have struggled with addiction and are looking to enter a profession, with low barriers for entering the program and a pathway toward an in-demand job.
Responding to increased demand, Heartland added additional classes and an internship for the program, which can be completed in about a year, but takes longer for some.
And Workman’s leadership was recently recognized when she was awarded the college’s 2026 Outstanding Part-Time Faculty Award. She’s simultaneously pursuing a PhD in psychology.
Risks, rewards and role models
Community psychologist Justin Bell studies peer recovery support at Chestnut Health Systems' Lighthouse Institute in Chicago. He said some employers take for granted that peer recovery specialists aren't credentialed or regulated. And they have a past—that’s kind of the point.
“On the one hand, people are recognizing that sometimes the training process is so fast and the barriers so low that peers are coming into the workforce somewhat unprepared for what they’re prepared to do.”
On the other hand, he said, professionalization in jobs like addictions counseling, which now requires a college degree, has led to wiping out most of the lived experiences in that role.
But Bell isn’t opposed to peer support specialists having a few additional training requirements.
“There’s also the fact that peers are doing a very hard job, but research has shown that they actually don’t get paid well,” he said.
Bryan Hinman, associate director of court treatment programs at Chestnut Health, supervises recovery support specialists in Bloomington-Normal. He said they play two very important roles.
“It’s someone that is walking with me and supporting me,” Hinman said. “Ideally, [clients] can come and talk to a peer specialist about anything.”
That’s different from a licensed practitioner, who has strict limits on when, where and how they interact with a client.
“We may intervene differently; we may have a different perspective,” said Hinman, who is also a licensed therapist.
“The other main thing… is modeling,” he said. “They have a template of a model of how they can get there. They can see it.”
There's also the real risk of burnout and blurred boundaries among peer support specialists, which could compromise their own recovery path.
Workman said acknowledging that risk is part of the training aspiring peers get at Heartland Community College. And one of the biggest hurdles graduates face is continually reminding employers of their value.
Workman said pay is improving. And while drug courts are common across Illinois, McLean County is uniquely primed for collaboration with close access to Chestnut, the Center for Human Services and Heartland Community College.
Running a specialty court can be labor and time-intensive and require buy-in from county stakeholders. Workman said McLean County’s judges, including outgoing Chief Judge Casey Costigan, and Court Services Director Suzanne Montoya “get it.”
“And when someone gets it in the community, they’re able to continue to propel the work in a positive way,” she said. “…which then we see has positive outcomes—not just for the recovery support specialist, but for the community and for the people that they serve.”
For Ashley Duncan, it wasn't always smooth sailing, but she is now doing great.
She's been clean and sober for a year and is still working through the stages of drug court. She does CrossFit and lives on a farm in McLean. She's in a healthy relationship and engaged to be married. She's continuing to rebuild relationships with her children.
“I can’t even explain to you what happened and how it happened,” she said. “I just know that when it does happen, you can feel it: the change, the shift in your body and your mind to want to be better.
Part of being better, she says, is telling her story and supporting others on their roads to recovery. Eventually, she hopes to become a peer recovery support specialist, too.
