Finding the right connections: Peer support within a community-based mental health service (original) (raw)
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Journal of Interprofessional Care, 2019
The insights of people who have experienced mental health issues are at the core of recovery frameworks. The inclusion of peer support workers in clinical care teams is crucial to a recovery-supportive focus. Peer support workers facilitate egalitarian spaces for non-peer staff and consumers to frankly discuss the lived experience of mental illness. This study was part of a larger evaluation study which aimed to explore the implementation of a newly formed community-based mental health team in SouthEast Queensland, Australia. The paper reports the role of peer support workers and answers two research questions: "How is peer support work constructed in an interprofessional clinical care team?" and (2) "How do interprofessional mental health clinical care teams respond to the inclusion of peer support workers as team members?" Three themes were identified: peer support worker' ability to navigate a legitimate place within care teams, their value to the team once they established legitimacy and their ability to traverse the care landscape. Ultimately, successful integration in interprofessional teams was dependent upon the ability of clinical staff to focus on unique strengths that peer support workers bring, in addition to lived experience with mental illness as a carer or consumer.
Journal of Health Organization and Management, 2020
PurposeOver the past decade, the push for recovery-oriented services has birthed a growth in the recruitment of peer providers in mental health services: Persons who live with and manage their mental health challenges and are employed to support persons currently using mental health services. The aim of this paper is to compare the responses of government and non-government organisations to the implementation of peer provision.Design/methodology/approachEmploying a qualitative study design, 15 people who supervised peer providers or who were strategically involved in peer provision were recruited using snowball sampling. Participants completed an in-depth interview that explored how peer provision services operated at their organisation and factors that shaped the way peer provision operates. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using Moore's Strategic Triangle. Synthesised member checking and researcher triangulation ensued to establish trustworthiness.FindingsThe way i...
Examining the potential for peer support work to enhance recovery-oriented practice
Peer support workers hold potential to contribute to recovery-oriented practice, aiding recovery for the worker and recipient. Peer support workers potentially offer empathy, role modelling and a unique ‘lived experience’ expertise that can connect strongly with users of mental health services and help shape more relevant, cost-effective services. There may also be real benefits for the peer support worker’s own recovery through increased confidence, feelings of self-worth, improved work skills and employability. As yet, however, there is limited evidence demonstrating the impact of peer support worker programs and little empirical understanding of how different models of peer support aid or inhibit recovery. Further, peer support worker programs have tended to place the impetus to adjust on the peer support worker themselves, with little recognition of the structural and organisational changes required to successfully implement effective peer support worker models. Peer support work is not just about a relationship between the peer support worker and service user. It is an opportunity for collaborative, participatory models of work within mental health services more broadly. This paper reports on the preliminary findings of a collaborative research study of Mission Australia’s efforts to introduce peer support within its Orange and Dubbo mental health services in partnership with the University of Newcastle. It introduces the organisational challenges for implementing effective peer support work programs and makes recommendations about the workplace policy and practice innovations necessary to enhance this type of program. Further, the paper reflects on the ways in which peer support might be articulated more clearly within a recovery-oriented practice framework.
Mental Health and Social Inclusion
Purpose Peer support is increasingly being introduced into mainstream mental health services internationally. The distinctiveness of peer support, compared to other mental health support, has been linked to values underpinning peer support. Evidence suggests that there are challenges to maintaining those values in the context of highly standardised organisational environments. The purpose of this paper is to describe a “principles-based” approach to developing and evaluating a new peer worker role in mental health services. Design/methodology/approach A set of peer support values was generated through systematic review of research about one-to-one peer support, and a second set produced by a UK National Expert Panel of people sharing, leading or researching peer support from a lived experience perspective. Value sets were integrated by the research team – including researchers working from a lived experience perspective – to produce a principles framework for developing and evaluati...
Peer support in mental health services
Current opinion in psychiatry, 2014
Considering international diversity in the implementation of mental health peer support and an increasing research interest in peer support work (PSW), this review focuses on priorities in current research and practice. With grassroots in informal services for people with mental health problems, peer support has been strengthened by the recovery paradigm in mental health policy, and there are steps towards integration in statutory services.
Lean on me: The potential for peer support in a non-government Australian mental health service
Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work and Development, 2014
This paper examines the challenges and opportunities for integrating peer support in mental health. After reviewing the contemporary literature, it considers how the findings of a recent qualitative case study, which examined the perspectives of mental health service users (n = 11) on service-user participation and evidence-based practice, might inform the introduction of a peer support program into a mental health service provided by a large Australian non-government organisation. While there is little empirical evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of peer support, the study revealed that service users valued the expertise of their peers and offered guidance for translating evidence into service models.
Qualitative study of peer workers within the 'Partners in Recovery' programme in regional Australia
International journal of mental health nursing, 2016
In Australia and internationally, Peer Workers are increasingly being incorporated into the mental health workforce. Underpinning this trend is the conviction that the inclusion of workers with lived experience in overcoming mental health challenges is central to transforming service delivery. Given there are few identified Australian studies into the experiences of Peer Workers, this paper reports findings from qualitative interviews conducted in a Partners In Recovery programme in one regional area in Australia. The interviews formed part of a larger mixed-method study evaluating Peer Worker roles in the programme. Thematic analysis of interview transcripts with Peer Workers and other staff employed in the programme (n = 22) was undertaken. Central to the five themes that emerged was the concept of lived experience expertise in overcoming mental health challenges. The themes were: (i) role variance, (ii) the challenges and opportunities for Peer Worker, (iii) the processes Peer Wo...
BMC Health Services Research, 2013
The provision of peer support as a component of mental health care, including the employment of Peer Workers (consumer-providers) by mental health service organisations, is increasingly common internationally. Peer support is strongly advocated as a strategy in a number of UK health and social care policies. Approaches to employing Peer Workers are proliferating. There is evidence to suggest that Peer Worker-based interventions reduce psychiatric inpatient admission and increase service user (consumer) empowerment. In this paper we seek to address a gap in the empirical literature in understanding the organisational challenges and benefits of introducing Peer Worker roles into mental health service teams.
Evaluating the Selection, Training, and Support of Peer Support Workers in the United Kingdom
Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 2013
This article describes the preparation, selection, training, and support of a group of people with lived experience of mental distress/illness and mental health service use to work as peer support workers (PSWs). The PSWs were recruited to provide support alongside conventional aftercare to service users discharged from acute psychiatric units in London, England. Training was delivered over 12 weekly, 1-day sessions from April to July 2010. Supervision and support were provided by a peer support coordinator and a training facilitator. The overall view of the training by those who went on to work as PSWs was that it was a valuable, challenging, yet positive experience that provided them with a good preparation for the role. A key area for improvement concerned the strength of emotional involvement and feelings PSWs had for their peers, especially in regard to ending the support relationship. Skilled, sensitive supervision and support is essential for the success of such roles.
Peer support in mental health services (Review)
Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 2014
Authors: Candelaria Mahlke (UKE Medical Center Hamburg) Ute Maria Krämer (King's College London and independent survivor researcher) Thomas Becker (University Ulm), Thomas Bock, UKE Medical Center Hamburg) Abstract Purpose of review: Considering international diversity in the implementation of mental health peer support and an increasing research interest in peer support work (PSW), this review focuses on priorities in current research and practice. With grassroots in informal services for people with mental health problems, peer support has been strengthened by the recovery paradigm in mental health policy, and there are steps towards integration in statutory services. Recent findings: Current issues include benefits of peer support, its efficacy and effectiveness. The value of peer support in formal and informal settings is discussed, and organizational change processes and the challenges in peer support implementation are discussed. Recent studies have identified the need for a clarification of roles, competencies and job structure and for adequate training and supervision. Along with reported benefits for consumer and PSW involvement in care revealed by mixed method studies, destigmatization at the personal and system level is a crucial PSW component. Summary: Various types of peer support merit further evaluation. Assessing the impact of peer support on service users, peer providers and organizations require complex intervention studies, using mixed methods designs with qualitative exploration of underlying processes and experiences to complement high-quality controlled trials.