What is peer support?

Find peer support wherever you are at www.elefriends.org.uk


Three groups involved in our Side by Side programme explain how peer support helps them.

Find out more about peer support at: www.mind.org.uk/peersupportinfo

What is peer support?
"Peer support is about people sharing their experiences. I feel it’s really about people being encouraged to have better quality conversations, not just here, but elsewhere in their life."

"People just come with their problems, or sometimes people just talk about general things and then start to talk about your problems."

"We listen to them, we empathise, if they’re having problems, any maybe we say, ‘Well, I’ve encountered something like that.’ It’s about people feeling that it is safe here to have those conversations and that they can have conversations with other people."

Every group is different but you'll always feel supported by others.

"We are a group that can come together, discuss common issues, and discuss health issues if that’s what they want to discuss."

"We’re not an athletics group, we’re a community support group. We do our session round the lake, come back in, have a tea or coffee, and you start talking."

"So people come along to sessions and will be alongside people similar to them, people different to them, and they come together with an interest in the outdoors."

Who is peer support for?
"I’ve learned that a lot of people out there are walking around acting like everything is fine, yet experiencing some mental health issues."

"I meet a lot of people that are very low, very depressed, very low self-esteem and confidence."

"Being somebody who has been on the dark side in life, you doubt yourself all the time and you don’t measure up to anybody. Everybody is better than you."

"When I first came here I was so scared. I didn’t know anybody, I wouldn’t talk to anybody."

"If any member of the community has an issue, we try to support."

What difference does it make?
"I know from my own experience the difference it makes, talking to somebody who’s actually gone through that journey of experiencing mental health or life stresses, and the understanding that you get from that person."

"Sharing 15 minutes with someone, somebody giving you one-to-one, can really lift you."

"Talking and expressing your emotional feelings and thoughts, that will help another person."

"I’ve come out my shell, I love it here."

"This was a life turning point for me, because I thought it was just going to be about them, and yet it was going to be about me too."

"We have the potential of reaching out to those people who need us. It’s all about transforming people’s lives to the positive."