Evaluation of the Delivering for Mental Health Peer Support Worker Pilot Scheme: Dissemination Event
Thursday 19 November 2009
Dundee
The need to adopt and promote a recovery-based approach to mental health support was described in Delivering for Mental Health and later in Towards a Mentally Flourishing Scotland. In support of this, Delivering for Mental Health included a commitment to support the development of the Peer Support Worker role within mental health services in Scotland.
As a result pilot schemes were developed in five Health Board areas where Peer Support Workers were trained, and then employed, to fill new positions within NHS teams in a range of settings, including inpatient and community based services. These new workers, who were required to have a lived experience of a mental health issues, drew on their own experiences of recovery to deliver a range of supports, designed to assist individuals with their own recovery journey.
An evaluation was commissioned to assess the impact of the peer support pilot on service users, peer support workers and the wider service system as well as assessing the process of implementation at national and local levels.
The aims of this event are to:
• Disseminate learning arising from the evaluation.
• Consider how best to support the development of the Peer Support Worker role.
This event should be of relevance to anyone with an interest in the promotion of recovery focused practice, peer support or service user involvement. This could include, but is not limited to:
• Mental health service providers, planners and managers.
• Peer support workers and graduates.
• Service users and service user representatives.
For further details or to book, visit http://www.sdcmh.org.uk/events/forthcomingevents.html. Alternatively, contact Janine Bowie, Events Organiser, Scottish Development Centre For Mental Health (SDC), 17a Graham Street, Edinburgh EH6 5QN by telephoning 0131 555 5959, faxing 0131 555 0285 or e-mailing Janine@sdcmh.org.uk. For more information on SDCMH, visit www.sdcmh.org.uk.