TRUE LIFE: For me, volunteering was a big part of my recovery

Who is better placed to empathise with distress than someone who’s found themselves in the same place – then made the journey out of it? This is the thinking behind a new project at Willow Tree House, run by national charity Together for Mental Wellbeing, which provides supported accommodation in Swindon for people with mental health issues, helping them to make their way to leading fulfilling and independent lives.

Samiha Abdeldjebar has recently been appointed peer support co-ordinator in Swindon, and she is keen to hear from local people who would like to be volunteer peer supporters – people who have themselves experienced mental distress and can offer empathy and encouragement to others.

“We would like to hear from people who have lived experience of mental health problems who could support their peers,” she said. “It has been proven to have really good outcomes, in increasing hope, confidence and motivation.”

Potential volunteers might have their own history of using mental health services, though that is not essential. Lived experience of mental distress, however, is at the heart of the role.

“I have lived experience myself,” Samiha said. “For me, volunteering was a big part of my recovery. I was a service user representative and I was still in quite a bad way when I started. It helped me with confidence. It’s beneficial to the supporter as well as the supported.

“It’s based on mutuality and equality. Someone might have a tip for me too.”

She explained: “Peer support has existed since time immemorial. It was part of Civil Rights, when people were not happy about how they were treated in institutions. This used to be an independent movement, and now mental health services have woken up to the benefits of it.

“Peer support really helped me. When unwell in hospital, I had the support of others in the hospital. When in recovery I used to go to a MIND drop-in. I am close to my family and friends, but it is good to talk to a peer group. That’s something that has helped me, so I am very passionate about it.”

Leah Hadley-Thomson, a tenant at Willow Tree House for nearly two years, said: “When I was unwell early last year everyone was so supportive, and I’ve come along since then.

“I’m coming to the point when perhaps at the beginning of next year I will be able to move on.”

She added: “Talking is like a therapy in itself. It helps. I have mental health issues – I have schizophrenia. If you have problems and you bottle it up, you can blow. Talking is like a release. It can help clear your mind.”

Leah explained that peer supporters could have particular insight: “They understand me more than someone who hasn’t been through it.”

Willow Tree House is a supported housing project for adults aged 18 to 65 who have a primary diagnosis of mental health problems. Up to 16 people can be accommodated in self-contained one-bedroom flats, with seven staff to support them. The charity aims to motivate, enable and support the tenants towards recovery, social inclusion and greater levels of independence. Staff can help with emergencies, but they also offer support when it comes to living skills and helping them find work or volunteering. Each tenant has a keyworker, but peer support is another important element – through sharing recovery experiences. Each person has the choice of working with a peer supporter, who can help them make strides forward in their recovery.

Manager Samantha Gorman said: “We support people to be independent, and to live in the community, to gain the basic skills they may have lost.”

The nature of that support varies from person to person, senior recovery worker Loice Sipepa explained.

“It depends on the individual. They might need support to go shopping or cooking, a doctor’s or dentist’s appointment, or taking medication.”

Samiha is planning to recruit between six and ten peer supporters and would like to hear from people interested in the role.

You would need to apply, have an interview, then take a four-day training course, to help develop coaching and communication skills, and how to share your story.

The volunteers then go on to, with guidance from the peer support coordinator, to help someone in a way that is led by them and suits the volunteer’s strengths and skills.

That might include, for example, sharing skills and techniques, or identifying local services and activities locally.

Volunteers must be active listeners, respectful and non-judgemental, as well as tactful and trustworthy.

Together for Mental Wellbeing is the UK’s oldest community mental health charity. It was formed in 1879, and the charity’s name and role have changed over the course of its history.

Since 2000, Together has expanded the range of its services, opening a crisis house, running several Supporting People programmes to help those with mental health problems living in the community, and begun working with offenders in courts and with probation services in London.

The charity works with around 4500 people each month in some 70 locations and gives people the opportunity to set their own goals, while offering support to achieve them.

Their Pathways services help people who are in frequent contact with emergency services or at risk of entering the criminal justice system, to support them in avoiding future crises.

Together’s specialist mental health practitioners also help vulnerable people in court and police stations to access secondary services. They also prepare reports to give vital information to the judiciary to help them make decisions about bail and remand. Together’s advocacy services, which support people in having a voice when it comes to important decisions about their care, have flourished and now runs in a number of community and hospital settings. Throughout its long history, the charity has put the people it helps at the centre of everything they do.

The service in Swindon is a partnership between Together for Mental Wellbeing, Bromford Corinthia Housing Association and the Avon and Wiltshire NHS Mental Health Partnership.

To find out more about the peer support roles in Swindon, contact Samiha, peer support coordinator, on 01793 497565 or email samiha-abdeldjebar@together-uk.org.