Ruth Chandler

Another rather than other: experiences of peer support specialist workers and their managers working in mental health services

Purpose – The integration of peer support workers with lived experience of mental health problems into existing mental health services has been found beneficial in some ways. However, some peer support workers have experienced unique challenges in terms of role confusion and limited opportunities for networking and support. Qualitative research and evaluation regarding peer support worker integration is limited. This paper aims to address this issue.Design/methodology/approach – The current paper presents a qualitative evaluation of the experiences of two peer support specialist (PSS) workers and their managers within one UK mental health trust. The PSS workers and managers were interviewed individually using a semi‐structured format. Thematic analysis was applied to the interview transcripts.Findings – In agreement with prior research and evaluation, positive experiences and challenges were identified in relation to PSS employment, both for PSS workers and their teams. Overarching themes concern the PSS ...

Expectations and illusions: a position paper on the relationship between mental health practitioners and social exclusion

Over the last 10 years, the social inclusion agenda has been gaining momentum as a policy driver in mental health services. Prior to the seminal Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) report, Mental Health and Social Exclusion, there was a lack of awareness concerning the pervasive links between social exclusion and mental health problems. In the report, the SEU suggested that mental health practitioners themselves may actually be contributing to this social exclusion. This finding has been given limited coverage in both social inclusion literature and research. The current paper is a positioned commentary further exploring the relationship between practitioners and the social exclusion of mental health service users. A literature review was conducted in order to identify themes among factors which appear to moderate and contribute to this relationship. These factors are presented and implications for inclusive practice are explored.

Making recovery a reality for family and friends

Purpose – This paper aims to build on the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (now Centre for Mental Health) workshops by focusing on the recovery of family and friends in particular.Design/methodology/approach – There are already policy supports for the well being of family and friends but at present, their recovery has been overshadowed by the recovery of people who use services. Taking hope, agency and opportunity as key recovery tenets, we use life story work (LSW) to explore this gap and further a relational approach between people who give care, people who use services and people who provide them.Findings – The loop between existing policy and recovery oriented practice should be closed, suggesting LSW as a training platform to consider the humanity of family and friends as of equal worth to people who use services and people who provide them.Originality/value – The authors argue that without equal consideration and support, family and friends are at risk of becoming hopeless as their sense of agency...

Facilitating hope as protection against social disability and the development of an Early Youth Engagement model in first episode psychosis services (the EYE project)

Abstract presented at the 9th International Conference on Early Psychosis To the New Horizon, 17 November 2014, Tokyo, Japan