I actually work for a mental health organisation, Second Step, as a peer support worker.
She helped me find a way out and to create a meaningful life for myself. My newfound friend continued to because of the trauma she had experienced, that she would never achieve anything. She was a woman I met at university, who after a family murder was thrown into a child psychiatric hospital. She almost gave up at the time -but she had the tenacity and determination to fight back against these predictions and construct a life for herself that was truly meaningful and worthy of admiration. For me my recovery, my hope, came initially, not from the medical support I received -far from it -it came instead from someone who had similar experiences to me.
Most people I have met who have had a spell in a mental health hospital have also experienced the social exclusion and discrimination which go with it.
Time to Change Campaign and their efforts to battle such stigma and feel privileged that every day I work with people to find new and exciting ways to find what gives them hope, inspiration and the energy for life. Normally, for me it has become a big part of my life. Peer support is little known outside the world of mental health and drug and alcohol services. Not only have I experienced the power of peer support, I have also become a peer support worker myself.
These relationships are about sharing -ideas, experiences and recovery. Messages of hopelessness were drip fed to me so regularly and so consistently that at times I lost all belief that my life will be different. And so it’s this anticipation of mutuality, now this sharing that is so powerful and for me truly amazing. This is the case. It was the start of a lifelong friendship. In that institution, I too had begun to consider that I would never be able to lead the life I wanted -to go to university, to have a family, to work in the media.
For the uninitiated, a peer support worker is someone who has progressed in their own recovery, who identifies themselves as a peer and is willing to support other people with their mental health problems.
This is an important part of what makes my role sustainable. My supervision with her helps me to troubleshoot problems that can arise when I’m working with complex boundaries. Therefore the therapeutic relationship between peer workers and their clients can often build quickly and deeply. For me it’s worth it for the difference I can make, It’s not always easy to declare yourself openly as having lived experience. It also helps me to tackle any discrimination I might encounter. Therefore this sharing type can help people move forward more quickly, it requires trust.