Sunday, November 9, 2008

Peer Support Workshop

Just imagine walking into a room of complete strangers, most of whom are younger than you, and divulging your most personal life details and allowing open questioning in response. How comfortable would you feel? How comfortable would they feel? Now imagine talking candidly from personal experience about one of society's most stigmatized afflictions: mental illness. Now how comfortable would you and your audience feel?

The considerable contributions of Peer Support Workers have been recognised for a number of decades but only recently has financial backing begun to viably support this movement. From a generalized perspective, the principles of peer support make perfect sense. In life generally, we gravitate towards people who we feel understand us and can share our life experiences. This is particularly the case if you have been through a traumatic life experience. In such situations, even the people that really want to understand what you have been through or are going through (which is probably the minority), struggle to comprehend in a tangible way. Whether an individual has experienced cancer, spinal cord injury or mental illness, connecting with someone who has undergone a similar experience is likely to be, in most cases, a comforting and spirit-boosting experience. Peer support workers are further along in their rehabilitation or recovery and offer tangible signs of coping's most powerful ingredient: hope.

Some of the most meaningful and instructive sessions during the OT program so far have been when we have interacted with 'real' potential clients (as opposed to written case studies). Part of the OT's skill set is the way in which we interact with people. You can read all the books and research papers dedicated to exposing the 'lived experience' of having a life changing illness or injury, but hearing it straight from someone's mouth is so much more powerful. Attending the Richmond Mental Health Consumers and Friends Society workshop was one of these powerful learning experiences. Students from different health care disciplines were invited to attend and the format was like the scenario described above. The peer support workers took turns to tell their story - their experience of living with mental illness and their road to recovery. The stories were touching and they showed great humility and insight. Yet the overriding tone that threaded through the stories was one of recovery and hope - a sense that no matter how low someone had felt during the worst times, there was a way back. Often the route was not a direct highway back to the same place they were before, but rather a winding country road to a different place, sometimes a more settling place. Either way, the fact that there is a route and it had been found is what's important. We discussed the stigma associated with mental illness, the non-linear recovery path, aspects of spirituality and the importance of occupation in facilitating recovery. All of the peer support workers are currently employed by Vancouver Coastal Health and in many cases this was their first paid position after experiencing mental illness. In life, you have got to love win-win situations and this is one of those situations. The peers provide an invaluable service by representing a beacon of hope and offering support and practical advice from a unique empathetic perspective to their clients. The peers in turn have meaningful employment and some financial renumeration - huge stepping stones in the recovery process. They are skilled employees with rights and responsibilities. Empowerment. They help to foster positive change in their clients and gain great satisfaction from their work. How many people can say that about their respective professions?

I felt very privileged to have been involved in this experience. I have so much respect for the peers for telling their illness and recovery stories for the benefit of our learning. By speaking up, the peer support workers are on the front line in the battle against societal stigma associated with mental illness. Throughout the session, I was reassured to hear the messages we are taught at school resonate in the peer's stories: the small steps towards recovery, the need for a mix of medication and occupation, family involvement, hope, spirituality, empowerment and the list goes on. Hearing these themes being discussed helped me to realise that I am on the right track in my learning. Phew! In ten month's time, when I graduate, I'm not sure I'll feel fully competent to help people along the rehabilitation path. However, I will feel, thanks in part to this experience, that I have a better idea of my approach to supporting recovery.

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