Celebrating Global Peer Support Day
As we celebrate Global Peer Support Day, we reflect on the power and importance of peer support in mental health recovery. Today, we are proud to feature a special reflection from Danny, a Peer Support Mental Health Training Lead at Imroc, who shares his personal journey and evolving perspective on peer support. Below is Danny’s own words:
“Since first being supported by a peer support worker 12 years ago, and then myself training as one 10 years ago, I have had to define peer support in mental health hundreds of times, often with a focus on keeping it short and snappy.
”A peer support worker is someone with significant lived experience of mental health challenges trained and employed to utilise their empathy and experience to support others in their recovery journey.”
That’s the definition I learned and memorised 10 years ago. I have evolved over the past 10 years; the peer support movement has, too. And it’s important that our definitions reflect that. We should not be too rigid, creating room for peer support to grow, and allowing individuals to define it with language that feels authentic to their experience.
One constant aspect in our definitions is the need for good quality training. Peer support is not easy. Because relationships aren’t easy, safety isn’t a given; it’s skillfully crafted. Because storytelling isn’t easy; storytelling is an art, and art takes practice. Because systems aren’t easy to navigate and they aren’t easy to work in.
Imroc recognises through its training pathway that peer support doesn’t sit in a singular pocket with a sole, unshifting focus. We offer training for people sharing life experiences as part of a non-lived experience role (often in community spaces), training that looks to give peer support workers in the statutory and voluntary mental health sector the best possible foundations, training to ensure that peer support workers receive values-informed supervision, training to add leadership skills to the peer support skill base for those moving into leadership roles, and training for teams that challenge them to think about their readiness and suitability to work with peer support workers. Beyond this, we have developed and delivered bespoke peer support training for various organisations across the UK and the world.
Whilst I still grapple with the perfect definition of peer support, as the brave new world dares to ask whether mental health challenges are really the right way to frame an experience that doesn’t happen in isolation, as we tangle with the duality of recovery, a term that represented a great leap forward from the ‘old ways of kill or cure’ but for many still represents the same values, one definition I hope we can agree is that peer support workers have had a significant and enriching impact for countless people when they’ve been needed most.”
Imroc’s Commitment to Peer Support Training
As Danny eloquently outlines, peer support is not static—it requires ongoing learning, empathy, and skill. At Imroc, we are proud to offer a diverse range of training programs designed to support peer workers and organisations alike.
Explore our training programs here, and discover how peer support can empower individuals, improve services, and transform mental health care.
On Global Peer Support Day, we acknowledge the invaluable work of peer support workers around the world and thank Danny for sharing his personal reflections on this critical work.