THE first cohort of Oxford Health’s new mental health peer support workers are now completing training, as a new study this week offered support to the scheme.
The study published in The Lancet said that care from peer support workers with ‘lived’ experience of mental health conditions may help reduce the likelihood of readmission for people who have recently left acute mental health care.
More than half the people admitted to acute care in the UK are readmitted within a year.
Peer Support Coordinator for Oxfordshire Will Gibson, said: “Everybody’s experience of poor mental health is different and each person brings with them their own unique insights and knowledge.
"Peer Support recognises the potential value of these experiences.
“There’s increasing evidence that employing people who have experienced mental health problems to support others, alongside clinicians, encourages this way of thinking and working."
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