Developing peer support worker roles: reflecting on experiences in Scotland
| Date | 18 August 2010 |
| Pages | 36-41 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.5042/mhsi.2010.0443 |
| Published date | 18 August 2010 |
| Author | Simon Bradstreet,Rebekah Pratt |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Mental Health and Social Inclusion • Volume 14 Issue 3 • August 2010 © Pier Professional Ltd36
of development supported by the Scottish Recovery
Network (www.scottishrecovery.net) has seen the
creation of a number of peer support worker roles as
one part of a wider programme of work to promote
and support recovery.
Peer support workers are people with personal
experience of mental health issues and recovery, who
are trained, and then employed to work in support
of others in recovery. They can operate in a variety
of settings, but in Scotland and the UK many are
attached to community mental health teams or inpatient
settings, where they complement the skill set with the
lived experience of mental health issues and recovery.
Peer support workers can be described as modelling
recovery within teams, offering a lived example of the
possibility of progression and growth – both for people
using their services and for other team members. They
work in a way that embraces key recovery concepts
such as focusing on strengths and hope. Of central
importance is the peer support worker’s ability to
develop supportive relationships where the appropriate
Understanding peer support
‘The most help I got was from the other people
in the ward who had gone through similar
experiences... The nurses, they’re great but
you find, or I find ... the best people that
helped me were other people that had been
through psychosis, had some little pointers,
were grounded, that’s the thing.’ (Brown &
Kandirikirira, 2007)
For many years, people using mental health
services have described the importance of support
from others using the same service. This type of
informal support can offer ideas and knowledge not
necessarily gleaned from service providers. The idea
of harnessing this shared experience as one means
of promoting and supporting recovery, through
the development of specific peer support worker
roles, is now gaining prominence in Scotland, the
UK and internationally. Since 2005, a programme
Developing peer support
worker roles: reflecting
on experiences in Scotland
PEER SUPPORT
Simon Bradstreet
Director, Scottish Recovery Network
Rebekah Pratt
Deputy Director, Scottish Primary Care Mental Health Research and Development Programme, University of Edinburgh
Abstract
This article describes the development of peer support roles and programmes in Scotland, and includes
findings from an evaluation of a peer support worker pilot scheme. The evaluation assessed the impact of the
pilot on service users, peer support workers and the wider service system, along with considering the issues
involved in implementing peer support programmes.
Key words
Peer support; Mental health; Service users; Scotland
10.5042/mhsi.2010.0443
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