Let’s Celebrate…. PEER SUPPORT!

On Wednesday 13th July, a North East and Yorkshire Peer Support celebration event was held at Hilton City Hotel, Leeds, where people providing different health and wellbeing support got together; over 90 people attended from every part of the region. Attendees included those working as peer support workers, peer support service leads, those who work in healthcare services which benefit from peer support, and others supportive of the benefits that peer support can bring.

There were presenters sharing their work and talking about the positive impact that peer support and peer support workers could bring to mental health and community health services, in both NHS and voluntary sector organisations. There were presentations, interviews, facilitated group and panel discussions, and plenty of time to connect with people who are enthusiastic about improving care for people with mental health needs, learning disabilities and autistic people needing mental health support. And we had a resident artist for the day, who captured wonderfully some of the ideas coming out of talks and discussion.

What came across was such passion for helping people, enriched by people with lived experience, who could support others with that personal understanding. Education, training and career progression were themes, but also how to support peer support work in demanding services, and how to make this very valuable part of our workforce grow and thrive.

To find out more, contact Juliet McGilligan