paraprofessional

A person who is trained to assist a professional: for example, an assistant to an educator.

While these were years of rapid growth, with increasing involvement of paraprofessionals, peer counselors, and, as Rosen says, "good-hearted gay people who wanted to be supportive to their gay brothers and sisters," the atmosphere was still that of a community peer counseling center rather than a professional mental health center or alcoholism treatment center per se.

Of or relating to this assistance.