Participant experiences in peer- and clinician-facilitated mental health recovery groups for veterans.

Abstract

Peer and clinician facilitators offer different strengths in the promotion of mental health recovery.

A Systematic Review of the Attributes and Outcomes of Peer Work and Guidelines for Reporting Studies of Peer Interventions

“…Peer work has demonstrated effectiveness for recoveryrelated outcomes, such as feelings of hope, empowerment and agency, selfesteem, self-efficacy, self-management of difficulties, and social inclusion (13)(14)(15). Peer workers have been found to be helpful in engaging service users with complex needs and those who may be reluctant to use services (16,17). Despite these findings, few studies have addressed issues of fidelity to core peer work principles and aims, making comparisons of peer programs difficult (10,13).…”

Like a Blanket Over a Fire: Group Work and Spiritual Repair in Military Trauma

“…If established, this sense of belonging created a safe environment for the sharing of one’s stories. Like all such groups, it is comforting, and liberating, to understand that one is not alone (Beehler, Clark, & Eisen, 2014; Blair, 1943; Dreikurs, 1959; Gakkoucis & Kaufman, 1988; Paster, 1945; Walker & Nash, 1981). In those cases where specific content and powerful feelings had been repressed, the outpouring of emotion produced a sense of catharsis (Ackerman, 1946; Egendorf, 1975; Frick & Bogart, 1982; Schwartz, 1945; Sherman, 1943).…”

Implementing a peer support programme in a regional mental health service: A personal journey

“…Peer support workers are increasingly employed by mental health services in the UK, US, Sweden, New Zealand and Australia in a wide range of roles, services and settings (Moran et al, 2013;Landers and Zhou, 2011). Examples include: ■ Working with psychiatric inpatients (Bouchard et al, 2010) ■ Facilitating recovery groups for veterans (Beehler et al, 2014) ■ Conducting peer support groups in inpatient settings (Sledge et al, 2011) and the community (Stant et al, 2011) ■ Working alongside mental health professionals while conducting case management (Rivera et al, 2007) ■ Being involved in research and evaluation (Mayes, 2010;Kara, 2013). Peer support programmes have been established internationally and have been appraised in qualitative literature as being beneficial for service users.…”