How Peer Work can help your mental health recovery
A Peer Worker can:
Support your recovery journey
Share their recovery experience purposefully
Help you navigate the mental health system
Validate your experience and make you feel less alone
Educate you about healing
Advocate on your behalf
Make you feel seen and heard
Who can become a Peer Worker?
Peer Work originated in Finland in the 1980s. Nowadays, it is a common type of mental health support in Australia that can be accessed by people in hospital and community settings. A Peer Worker is a person with a history of mental health challenges and recovery. It is common for a Peer to have some kind of formal education, whether a Certificate, a Diploma, or a Degree in a Mental Health field, but it's not mandatory. Anybody with a passion for community service and experience with mental health recovery can become a Peer Worker.
What is the role of a Peer Worker?
A Peer supports you by drawing on their own experience of navigating not only mental health challenges but the mental health system as well. Interaction with the mental health system can be daunting and frustrating. Having someone who can help you learn the ropes can be very handy and speed up your process of getting from point A to point B.
What is the difference between a Peer and a psychologist?
The main difference between a Peer and other mental health professionals (psychologists, counsellors, or psychiatrists) is that a Peer is allowed and encouraged to share their personal experiences when supporting people. Appropriate training teaches Peers to share their experiences purposefully, ensuring they aren't using the relationship dynamic to dwell on their hardships and traumas. Everything a Peer shares with the person they support is meant to uplift, validate, encourage and empower.
How do I find a Peer Worker?
You can find a Peer Worker within most NGO and not-for-profit mental health providers, as well as the Government sector (like NSW Health in Australia). You can also access Peer Support through private providers such as independent Peers, coaches, or through websites like Mable or Like Family.
Some people identify as Peer Workers without being employed by an organisation and provide independent coaching sessions based on Peer Work principles: purposeful disclosure, recovery orientation, strength-based practice, trauma-informed care, mutuality and respect.
How do I become a Peer Worker?
Many organisations hire people without formal education in the mental health field and provide them with training to ensure the best practice. This is one of the ways to become a Peer and learn all there is to know about the mental health system.
Another option is to start with formal training, like Certificate IV in Mental Health and get exposed to the industry through placements.
Some people have been doing this kind of community work for years without having a label that identifies them as mental health workers. They can be bloggers, influences, public figures or neighbours passionate about the cause and reducing stigma. One doesn't have to be a mental health professional to contribute to the community's wellbeing.
What are the downsides of Peer Work?
The main downside of being a Peer is the inevitable immersion in the world of trauma and suffering. I applaud people who work as Peers full-time because that is an impressive commitment to serving others. A Peer Worker must work out a way of lessening the effects of other people's problems on their mental health and overall wellbeing.
Another pitfall of being a Peer Worker is associating your self-worth with the work you do. Because currently there is no clear pathway for career development for Peers there is a risk of staying in the role past its due date and losing yourself in the process. When your value as an employee is tight directly to your mental health recovery, it can be hard to separate your identity from the traumas of your past. It is important to be able to identify when you have outgrown the role and branch out your identity.
For people accessing Peer support, it's good to keep in mind the fact that a Peer is not a psychologist and cannot replace therapy and other forms of treatment. Over the years, Peer support has shown its effectiveness and enormous benefits for people living with mental health challenges, but it is only one piece of the puzzle. It is your responsibility to make sure you are accessing the right kind of support and addressing the issues in a way that is uniquely suited to your circumstances.
Conclusion
Peer Worker is a profession that benefits people accessing support, people with a history of mental health challenges, and the entire mental health system. While there are limits to the approach a Peer can take, it has proven to be one of the most effective ways of supporting people.
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