Peer Support Worker
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Interview with a peer support worker
Sunday, 04 March 2007
TheMHS?
Me: So thanks so much for agreeing to be interviewed Paul, I appreciate your time.
PN: That’s okay Sumitra.
Me: So can you tell us what a peer support worker is?
PN: Sure. The role of a peer support worker is to support, assist and mentor consumers of mental health services. They are recovered consumers of mental health services themselves, and they need to be at a stage of stability in their illness.
Me: So how did you get into it yourself?
PN: Well, I was actually told about it by my keyworker at the time. I was a CSI worker (Community Support Inc. – NGO that places consumers as support workers for other consumers when contracted by mental health services) at the time, and before that I was in IDSC (Intellectual Disability Services Council, now Disability Services) helping people with intellectual disabilities. She suggested I apply, so I applied, and I was lucky enough to be given an interview, then lucky enough to get the position. I started out at Club 84 (day rehabilitation programme) running groups, then to 1G (inpatient unit). I have been working as a peer support worker now for almost 8 years and I am in the current position of Peer Support Worker Coordinator. I became full time last year. There are thirty peer support workers around Adelaide, I support and supervise and mentor ten of those people working in ten acute inpatient units across the metropolitan area. Unfortunately the one in Brentwood (statewide secure unit) has been our first resignation – not due to the nature of the work but because of the hours, she found it a bit too much. I mentor, support and coordinate all the workers. Once a month we have a mentoring session from someone from Carmen Franke from Baptist Community Services, and we get the chance to talk about whatever issues have come up. I’d like to say that she brings with her lots of experience of working within community services.Me: So have you encountered any problems at all?
PN: Oh well, we have come across some resistance from some staff where they have felt like we might be taking over. Oh I run groups and now peer support workers run groups so what’s going to happen to my job? I’ve managed to handle it by talking to staff and saying that peer support workers are meant to work in the team in their current structure.
We’re here as extra staff, not as a replacement. And in fact we can enhance the professional’s work.
Me: Can you give me an example of that?
PN: Yeah, I can try….for example if there is someone who is sort of resisting treatment then we can talk to them and say look these medications and the treatment might be good for you, and it might carry more weight because we’ve said it, because we have a mental illness too. And if they see that we are part of the team, then they trust it a bit more you know?
Me: So people have been worried about peer support workers taking over their job, I would have thought they might have had some reservations about working with consumers?
PN: Oh like working with people they might have treated before? Yeah we had a bit of that. Or people becoming unwell I suppose. I mean I don’t know if you know Sumitra, but I personally have a Ulysses Agreement that I have signed about my treatment. We have encouraged, it’s not mandatory, but we encourage the workers to have one. Some of them have one, but some are opposed to it, including some staff actually.
Me: Why?
PN: Oh they say that not everyone has to have an Agreement – and there are staff members who have mental illnesses who don’t have Ulysses Agreements, so what’s so different about peer support workers?
Me: Would you mind telling us a little about your illness Paul?
PN: Yeah yeah. When I first became unwell in 1988, I was diagnosed with schizophrenia, then in ’89 that was changed to schizoaffective, then in ’91 or ’92 that was changed to bipolar disorder and that’s the label that’s sort of stuck. I take my meds, and I’m on quite a heavy regime of vitamins to give me some energy because there are some side effects of sedation there, so I feel quite lethargic. But I try to stay well with getting enough sleep, and I try to eat well, and I keep well with my vitamins. I also do a little MSE on myself every morning. I do a self evaluation. I’m quite sensitive to my mental state. It’s almost like on auto-pilot, I don’t even think about it, I just do it.
Me: What you’re talking about sounds like self-actuation, or taking responsibility?
PN: Well yes – responsibility. That’s really important, I mean before you can do anything – I mean you have to acknowledge that there’s a problem. If you can’t even admit that there’s a problem then you can’t do anything about it. For the first 5 years or so I would decide to take little holidays from my medication. I mean I was on my medication all the time – and all the time was except for when I wasn’t taking them. Every time I ceased my medication I would get unwell and need to be admitted to hospital in a very unwell state, and needed hospitalisation in order to recover and restart my medication regime. Until I realised there was a problem, and I had to do something about it.
Me: Do you think that having a peer support worker to help you in those first 5 years would have helped?
PN: Absolutely! You know I remember when I was ill, all the people I saw were always ill and always in hospital, so I thought yeah you have a mental illness this is what you have to look forward to. What’s the point waking up in the morning you know? Hope is the most important thing for people at that time. It’s so good to see someone who has a mental illness who has recovered, because you think you’ll never be able to do what you want. And now I can do anything I want. And I’m really active in advocating for patients to achieve what they want.
Me: Well that’s great Paul! Thank you so much for your time Paul. Good luck with it.
PN: No trouble Sumitra, thanks.
So there you have it, Paul Nestor. Let’s hope that more people like him will get the chance to infiltrate our ranks and effect the change that is so desperately needed in our tired, cynical ranks. Here’s to recovery, not reactivity.
Sumitra Shankar