Peer Integration in our Healthcare System
Peer Support services are never intending to replace mental health services that already exist, they are created to compliment them. By having the lived experience perspective included within a participants’ care, participants are able to receive compassion, empathy, coping strategies rooted in personal experience, and they are able to be in the driver's seat of their own recovery, which are vital elements of someones’ well being.
The same way that there are various forms of physical health care all contributing towards the common goal of maintaining physical health, there are various forms of mental health care that should all be contributing towards the common goal of supporting mental health. In order for this to work, all services need to be aligned in the objective. After a car accident, an orthopedic surgeon may set a broken bone, the cardiologist might make sure there’s no damage to the heart, and a physiotherapist works on rehabilitating the muscles after the bone has healed. In mental health, a psychiatrist might make sure that the participant has medication to help stabilize chemical imbalances, the therapist may engage in CBT to help the patient with strategies for changing their thoughts and behaviours, and a Peer Support Worker for receiving validation, compassion and encouragement and a sense of community. In both situations, in order for this to work, we need all members of the care team to communicate and complement the work that each person is doing, which can be challenging with Peer Support simply because it is the newer of the approaches and there are often perceptions of duplication, or encroachment of work being done by other members of the participants’ care team.
The solution to this, is to ensure that each individual clearly understands and has an appreciation for the role of the other, to ensure that each individual is working well within the scope of the role, and clear communication between all. It is not possible to introduce Peer Support into an organization without doing substantial work with all members of the team. The same way a cardiologist needs to be aware and open to hearing the recommendations that were made by the physiotherapist, the clinician and the social worker need to be aware and open to hearing about the recommendations that were made by the Peer Support Worker, and vice versa. There needs to be an authentic interest in valuing lived experience as an approach to mental health care, and an understanding as to how this valuable perspective compliments the alternative perspectives involved.
