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New Training for Peer Workers in Scotland

Peer Support working is an emerging role within the mental health sector drawing on the lived experience and expertise of people. SRN have taken the lead in promoting and supporting the development of Peer Working roles within Scotland.

This has included working with SQA (Scottish Qualifications Authority) to develop a PDA (Professional Development Award) in Mental Health Peer Support

along with comprehensive and high quality learning materials to support delivery of the course.

This new course is being run for the first time by Edinburgh College who are working with Collaborate to Educate, a peer led mental health learning organisation, to deliver the course to 20 individuals either working or volunteering in peer work roles. The course is being delivered in 3 hour sessions over 20 weeks and so far the students have been working on topics such as:

Key concepts of peer support

Boundaries, power and risk

Self-help and self-management

Use of language in recovery

The feedback from the course has been very positive. Students have welcomed the fact that the course has been developed specifically for mental health peer working and to be focused on putting knowledge and theory into practice. ‘It’s an opportunity to learn and grow in a unique and bespoke adult learning environment’ Students have reported that it has been both a challenging and rewarding experience which has resulted in them deepening their understanding of recovery and peer support and also reflecting more on their day to day practice as peer workers. ‘We are coaches, guides and examples of recovery’ Two of the students have been sharing a diary of their experiences and you can read about this here.