Māhuri Tōtara 2023
Support workers from all around Aotearoa New Zealand gathered in Wellington for Māhuri Tōtara, the national support work...
For the full experience please download a modern browser. Click here to find a modern browser or discuss with your IT department.
For the last two decades I have worked in mental health and addiction in a variety of roles that have personal experience of mental health needs and wellbeing at the heart. I love what I’ve been able to be part of.
I’m using peer in this blog as a blanket term that includes lived experience, consumer, service user, peer and peer support workforce roles. The peer workforce consists of people who have lived experience of mental health and addiction needs, recovery and wellbeing who want to use our experiences and learning to create and be part of effective options and support for people like us. We want to change our landscapes into kinder, more understanding and effective healing places.
Mental health and addiction peers are the same but different.
Our treatment paths are different.
Mental health treatment traditionally starts under a medical model that includes medication, hospitalisation, symptom focus, risk management and can include forced treatment and restrictive practices. Many of our workforce roles started within a rights and social justice based paradigm.
Addiction treatment rarely starts with medication and most often begins with choices to do with self-exploration within therapy and therapeutic groups and self-selected rehabilitation options for recovery. The addiction workforce has historically included many people with their own lived experience of addiction and has a fine tradition of peer support.
We both experience overwhelming distress and emotional pain, losses and rollercoasters, severe stigma and discrimination, loss of rights, navigating bewildering complex systems of support, being caught in justice systems, way too many self-ended lives and early death from treatable physical health problems.
Currently the peer workforce fits within the ‘unregulated, unregistered and non-clinical’ mental health and addiction workforce. These all describe what we are not - clinical, regulated or registered. Surely it would be preferable to describe what we are - maybe the pro-wellbeing workforce? In this way we are part of the mental health and addiction support workforce. We are part of an assortment of options.
All peer workforce roles are defined and underpinned by values intrinsic to the consumer rights, self-help and recovery movements spanning mental health and addiction. We have our own competencies, developed in 2014 by peers for peers - Competencies for the mental health and addiction consumer, peer and service user workforce (Te Pou o te Whakaaro Nui, 2014). Within the competencies there are six core values:
These values provide a strong foundation for peer work.
Peer workforce roles include, but are not limited to, the following:
There is a huge variety of peer work resources, responses and services in New Zealand and around the world. Many of these are delivered by mainstream providers. The difference for the peer workforce lies in the values and the way peers work using their own experience.
I am often asked what is the difference between a peer support worker and other support workers that have their own lived experience?
The support workforce is a mighty workforce that makes an enormous difference in people’s lives every day and often knows the people they support better than any other service provider. Thank you so much for what you do. Be proud - you are awesome and important.
In this blog I want to take a moment to honour the peer workforce that is a workforce of courage and generosity.
It takes courage and strength to own and be ‘out’ with your lived experiences within a world that still sees us as different, potentially dangerous and as lesser people. As erroneous unwanted stereotypes.
It takes courage to go back into the places we have been that have sometimes harmed and traumatised us.
It takes strength to look at severe distress when your core being remembers exactly how that feels.
It takes courage to say no, this isn’t right and push to inform, challenge and change our worlds.
It takes generosity to turn all those experiences into sharing positive opportunities for other people.
I’m so proud to be part of such an extraordinary workforce.
Te Pou has a wide range of evidence-based resources and tools to help the mental health, addiction and disability workforces.
Learn MoreTe Pou works alongside mental health and addiction services, and disability organisations to understand their priorities and workforce challenges.
Learn More