Consumers as mental health providers: First-person accounts of benefits and limitations

Abstract

Community support programs are increasingly establishing paid service positions designated exclusively for consumers. Project WINS (Work Incentives and Needs Study), a hybrid case management-vocational program for individuals with severe mental illness, used consumers as peer support specialists (PSSs) to supplement professional roles. Semistructured interviews were conducted with PSSs about 12 months after their employment ended. They identified substantial personal benefits specific to consumer-designated roles (e.g., a "safe" employment setting with accommodations) and general benefits from employment. Problems described were just as numerous, encompassing attitudes toward assigned peers and costs to their own well-being. Critical commentary addressed program operations (structure, supervision, and training needs) and problems in the mental health system. The authors discuss the changed sense of self that service provider roles can create for consumers and suggest that mental health administrators provide anticipatory socialization for this service innovation throughout their agencies and ongoing supports for consumers in their new roles.

Care at a Distance : On the Closeness of Technology

“…This practice is more common in mental health care, at least in the Netherlands, England and the US. See Dixon et al 1997;Mead et al 2001;Mowbray et al 1998;Boevink 2006a. Patients in mental health care have organised themselves as professionals using experiential knowledge.…”

New ways of working in mental health services: a qualitative, comparative case study assessing and informing the emergence of new peer worker roles in mental health services in England

“…44 Repper and Carter 17 conclude their review by highlighting the importance of dedicated training and support for the peer worker role. v. Valuing the peer worker role Mowbray and colleagues 49 note that peer workers may experience feelings of being part of the team, but also of lower status in comparison with other members of the team. In order to adopt meaningful consumer participation, it is suggested that a power shift is required in the realm of practice.…”

“…There has, however, been some evidence that suggests there are boundary issues between peer workers and service users, where sharing personal information and intimate stories could be understood in terms of friendship rather than professional relationship. 49 Peer workers may also be concerned about being responsible for others' well-being where they feel that service users have become overly dependent on them. 51 Previous research undertaken by the team on the evolution of new peer worker roles in mental health NHS trust services supporting mental health self-care 23 indicated an additional set of issues which might impact on peer worker role adoption:…”

Support management in schizophrenia: a systematic review of current literature

“…100 Accordingly, a safe place is established where patients can cope with their common problems and concerns related to their disabilities resulting from the illness, which in turn reduces social isolation. [101][102][103][104] Peer support groups should not be confused with self-help groups or self-help therapy in which the mental health professional has a more active role. 41 Only a handful of studies have focused attention on the effectiveness and feasibility of this psychosocial treatment for psychotic patients.…”