Supporting Masculinities: Wounded Healing and Masculinity in Peer Support Organizations for People with Experiences of Criminality and Substance Abuse

The role of the “wounded healer” can have positive effects for former offenders as regards desistance and social (re)integration; however, research focusing on wounded healing/peer mentoring from a gender perspective is limited. Drawing fieldwork conducted in Swedish peer support organizations (PESOs) qualitative interviews with working five different PESOs, this study analyses how masculinity are performed narrated by 15 healers/peer mentors (men = 11, women 4, age range 19–60 y/o). It contributes to knowledge about gendered power dynamics showing that while do function capital work, some displays trigger trauma, negative consequences within PESOs.