Peer Support and Mentoring

Learning Points

Peer support and mentoring is important to everyone. It helps us through hard times, adds to the celebration in good times, and helps us relax in between. It gives us additional perspectives on ourselves and can help us move forward. It is used by schools, growing businesses, the military, learning networks such as this, and in everyday friendships. It is even used by gangs. Getting the right sort of peer support and mentoring for the people you work with is important to helping them overcome barriers along the pathway to work and to keep their confidence up once they are in work. It is an essential and often overlooked ingredient to helping people discover and achieve their potential. 

• By “peer support” we mean people in a similar situation working alongside each other to improve their own and each other’s situation and development. 
• By “peer mentoring” we mean someone who has been through a similar situation and succeeded working with individuals or groups to help them move forward along their own path.

 
This section explores the insights and lessons identified by staff, mentors and service users at five projects around Scotland. This work was funded by The Scottish Government and undertaken by Light on the Path. We would like to thank:

• John Smyth, Ross Hornal, Lorraine Reid and Brenda Wylie of Aberdeen Foyer
• Mandy Cummins, Maggie Smith, Sue Black and Jenni Wilson of the Orbit Approach at Dundee Association for Mental Health
• Keith Young, Tracy Dodds, Alan Blair of Next Steps
• Pamela Morris, Diane McDermott and Nigel Green of Community Renewal

Please click here to access the full 'If you could do it, so can I' - Peer Support and Mentoring Report