Peer support,
peer strength
Empowering people with their own personal health experiences by giving them the tools to support others
Increase your reach, impact and connection with the people you want to help
The pandemic underlined the challenges of loneliness, stigma and disconnection for everyone.
Many of our traditional health interventions have had limited impact on these.
Peer support is an approach that has been overwhelmingly proven to increase feelings of hope, connection and belonging.
What is Peer Support?
Peer support involves people or groups supporting one another based on shared experiences of health challenges.
What makes a peer support programme excellent is the use of Peers’ lived experience as the fundamental basis when connecting with and supporting other people experiencing similar challenges.
How we can assist you
No matter what stage of a project life cycle your organisation is in, we can provide you with customised support that focuses on your organisation’s needs and requirements.
Examples:
Support to launch a programme or project involving peer support for any organisation type.
Quality assurance and evaluation of peer services and peer roles.
Provide sustainability planning to increase peer support staff retention and quality of service delivery.
Recruitment and hiring consultation, ensuring high quality of peer supporters.
Bespoke training and leadership development – contribute to the design and shape an approach that best suits your organisation.
The benefits of high-quality peer support services for organisations
Meet the needs of disconnected communities.
Improve the sustainability of activities.
Increase capacity of community to help themselves.
Create meaningful employment and voluntary opportunities for the community served.
Help transition people from NHS programmes.
Greater retention of peer support staff.
Better team working and improved workplace readiness.
A proven and effective solution to helping employees with their mental health.
Affinity networks where members feel safe to share and feel equal.
As international experts in peer support programmes, we have significant experience supporting organisations
to launch, modify and/or evaluate peer support services in the following sectors:
Addictions / substance use / harm reduction
Mental health (hospital/clinics/community)
Youth services
Human trafficking and sexual exploitation
Housing and homelessness
Employee mental health
Immigrants and refugees
Justice and crime
LGBTQI+
Older people
The benefits of high-quality peer support for individuals
Increased knowledge, skills, and confidence to manage health challenges
Feelings of hope, empowerment and connection
Improved quality of life and emotional resilience
Increased sense of connection and less loneliness
Self-reported greater levels of recovery
Reduced impact from substance use
Less self-stigma
Greater self-esteem and confidence through making a positive impact on others
More feelings of equality in relationships
Gaining helpful knowledge from other peers
Access to an International Network
Hundreds of Peer Supporters are part of the Habitus network
“Every story a peer shares is like sending a lifeboat out into the ocean
to all those people that are struggling in silence.
Peer support pulls them into the boat and helps
them realise that they are not alone.”
— Peer Support Worker