Safe, Kind and Supportive
The priority of Peer Support Plus CIO is to establish and maintain a safe, kind and supportive environment2 where every Peer3 engaged in learning to better manage their mental health, and every Peer Support Plus Volunteer3 can flourish3.
A key part of ensuring a safe, kind and supportive environment is that everyone involved with Peer Support Plus aspires to our Guidelines for Behaviour1. Anyone may propose additional Guidelines for Behaviour. Examples have included: reasonable adjustments for disabilities, room lighting, mobile telephone silence, eating and drinking during sessions, habitual disruptive late arrivals and frequent early departures. Additional Guidelines must be agreed by the Group to whom they apply, and periodically reviewed to ensure they remain relevant.
We aim to ensure that every session of every Support Group3, Workshop or Course3 we offer is co-facilitated by two Peer-facilitators3, one of whom may be a trainee.
When you first engage as a Peer with Peer Support Plus, you will be invited to attend a two-hour Introduction to Peer Support Workshop3 where you will experience what it feels like to attend one of our Groups3 and learn about the policies and process we use to maintain a safe, kind and supportive environment. If you have recently attended an Introduction to Peer Support workshop at Leeds Mind then you won’t need to attend our introductory workshop, but one of the Peer-facilitators from the Support Group you want to join will call you for a chat.
After you attend an introductory workshop but before joining a Support Group, its Peer-facilitators may want to meet, Zoom with, or call you for a chat to gain some general insight into your personal journey through life, how you hope Peer Support might help, and what reasonable adjustments you might need to help you fully benefit. The chat is not an interview but designed to help you decide if joining a Support Group would be the right move for you right now. Our door is always open and it’s okay to leave and okay to come back. A chat or Initial conversation with Support Group Facilitators1 might take up to 30 minutes.
We always name-check before anyone joins a weekly Support Group in case an existing Group member has had a personal, social or business relationship with the prospective member that would make it difficult for both of you to participate in the same Group.
Peer-facilitators’ Role
Peer-facilitators are primarily responsible for process – shepherding Peers through each Group session and maintaining a safe, kind and supportive environment where difficult feelings may be shared in confidence.
Peer-facilitators are also actively learning to self-manage and maintain their own mental health. You should regard Peer-facilitators and other Peers as your equal.
All Peers share in facilitation to the extent that everyone is responsible for ensuring their own Behaviour aspires to Guidelines for Behaviour1; and, at an appropriate time in the Group session, Giving Voice3 to their thoughts and feelings about improving the conduct and safety of the Group.
Timekeeping is an important element in Peer-facilitation. It ensures there is an equal opportunity in every Round3 of sharing for each Peer to contribute. The larger the number of Peers present, the less time there will be for each Peer to share their lived experience. Those who choose to share may need to be concise, and some may say Pass3 if they feel they can’t add significant value.
Why Peer Support Plus can help me learn to better manage my mental health
- I accept responsibility for my own behaviours.
- I am an expert in my own distress.
- I can learn from my own and others Lived Experiences3.
- I can take control over, and responsibility for, my own wellbeing.
- Only I can do it – but I don’t have to do it alone.
Confidentiality
What is said in The Room3 stays in The Room – except when we need to follow our Safeguarding Policy1, which describes our legal duty to disclose any concerns surrounding child safety or adults at risk.
This means that if we have concerns for your safety, or for the safety of others, we are legally required to communicate our concerns and any related data to third parties – for example, a Mental Health Crisis team, the appropriate Adult Safeguarding or Channel Vulnerability Assessment Team and, if appropriate, the Police – for advice.
Peer Support Group session structure
- Welcome, Group administration, housekeeping, notices, etc.
- Round of Good News3, giving preferred names if any member present is unfamiliar.
- ‘Who would like to Take Time3’ today?
- 2x Taking Time / Checking in3, each with a Round of Sharing if wanted.
- Comfort / refreshment break.
- ‘Would anyone else like to Take Time today’?
- 2x Taking Time / Checking in, each with a Round of Sharing if wanted.
- Summary of any housekeeping actions arising, for example: confirm next meeting date, time and venue; the Group may agree to guarantee an opportunity for a Peer to Take Time or Check in at the next meeting; Peer-facilitators may promise to distribute a technique handout referred to; Peer-facilitators may promise to seek news of an absent Peer; etc.
- Round of ‘Something I am taking away’ from this session.
Rounds
We speak in Rounds to guarantee everyone has a chance to speak and be heard (or pass). When sharing, it is vital that Peers:
- feel safe
- maintain Trust3
- feel able to risk disclosing difficult feelings
- maintain personal boundaries and don’t share more than they are comfortable talking about
- are kind to themselves and others
- do not Judge3
- do not interrupt, except when a timely question is essential to ensure clarity
- do not have side conversations
Taking Time
The part of the session where a Peer can choose to voice something to the group. It is important that Peers can trust each other and can risk describing difficult feelings arising from lived experiences while maintaining safe personal boundaries.
They might talk about: something that has been on their mind recently; something that has been suppressed for a long time; something they would like to hear different perspectives on; or perhaps to update the Group about something previously shared; or something they might want to celebrate; etc.
If sharing is wanted by the Peer who has taken time, a Peer-facilitator will reflect what has been shared, then negotiate and agree with the Peer on a question around the feelings they expressed. The Peer-facilitator will invite everyone to share, in a Round, their lived experiences when similar feelings were evoked – describing what helped them and what did not.
When the Round is complete, the Facilitator will offer the Peer who has taken time an opportunity to reflect verbally on the sharing. The Peer may choose to say something, or to pass.
Risk of triggering difficult feelings
It is impossible to predict what feelings and experiences a Peer will voice. Sometimes these may trigger difficult feelings in others. It is often possible to sit with a difficult feeling, but it helps to know that it is okay to leave and okay to come back.
Silence isn’t bad
When a Peer-facilitator offers opportunities to Take Time, or when a Peer is Taking Time, or someone is sharing in a Round, it isn’t unusual for there to be silence in the room, which can sometimes last a few minutes. For some people, silence can feel uncomfortable and a little odd, evoking an urge to ‘fill the gap’, but silence is positive and gives space for Peers to gather their thoughts, or just sit with difficult feelings.
Keeping in touch
If you are unable to attend a session or intend to leave a Group, please let us know as soon as you know. See our Peer Engagement Policy1.
Open-ended Peer Relationship
Provided you continue to be eligible to benefit as defined by our charitable Objects3, (see Constitution1), your Peer Relationship1 with Peer Support Plus will be Open-ended3. By Open-ended we mean that you can continue your Peer Relationship1 with us until you feel ready to manage your mental health without support from Peer Support Plus and move on. See our Peer Engagement Policy1. It’s okay to leave and okay to come back, but please contact us first especially if it’s been a long time since you attended a Group, as we may need to complete a fresh name-check.
Why we discourage social contact outside your Support Group
Peer Support Groups work because Peers have the freedom to share difficult feelings and lived experiences confidentially with people who aren’t living in their lives.
We always name-check before a prospective member joins a weekly Support Group in case an existing Group member has had a personal, social or business relationship with them at some time.
When you meet another Peer unexpectedly in public when others are present, do not greet one another openly because the others present may not be aware that you are both learning to better manage your mental health.
You may know about experiences and feelings that others in the social setting may not, so there is a risk you might inadvertently or innocently break trust by betraying a confidence.
Peers have attended each other’s performances, fundraisers, weddings, funerals, etc., and sometimes a Group may arrange a celebratory or seasonal gathering. Some Peers may interact in other Peer Support or Wellbeing settings but never discuss anything said inside the Support Group room outside.
If you need to discuss in another setting difficult feelings that arose for you during a Peer Support Group, Workshop or Course, please focus on discussing those feelings and do not disclose names, or information that might inadvertently identify any other Peer.
How our Groups are funded
Peer Support Plus Groups are £ FREE to Peers. Donations3 and responsible fundraising activities are always welcome. We seek small grants when available. Learn more on the Donate page of this website.
To learn more about the charity Peer Support Plus CIO please read our Objects in Constitution1. Anyone who supports our Objects can become a voting Member3 of the charity, electing Trustees, etc. Membership of the Charity is £0 a year. Learn more by reading our Membership Policy1.
Contact us
If you would like to learn more about becoming a Peer or Volunteer at Peer Support Plus, please let us know how we can contact you or meet you for an informal chat. Contact us
Notes
1 available on our Documents webpage.
2 To learn more about how we do this, please read our Guidelines for Behaviour1, Safeguarding Policy1, Health and Safety Policy1, Privacy Policy1 and Peer EngagementPolicy1 on our Documents webpage.
3 See The words we use1 on our Documents webpage or our About Mental Health webpage.