My role in helping people go from hospital to back to the community

Today we hear from Jo who has recently joined our Next Steps team a volunteer Peer Support Worker. She tells us how the role is helping her with her own recovery. If you would like to do a similar role take a look at our current opportunities here. We would love to hear from you.

I have recently started a new voluntary job as a Peer Support Worker. I have needed mental health services for most of my adult life and I am really thankful for them.

I have been mostly well for two years now, and in October last year I was asked if I’d like to go on an eight week Peer Support Induction Course which was organised by the Watch Project and Open Mental Health. I really enjoyed the course: I Iearnt a lot and and we shared a lot.

At the end of the eight weeks we were introduced to our supervisors who would meet with us once a month, to see how we were doing and to let us know about any peer support roles that were out there. I was quite sure I didn’t want to jump into anything too quickly, so I just listened and thought about the opportunities.

Then one week my supervisor told us about a new project, the Next Steps team. This new team help people who are in In-Patient units make the transition to living back in the community. I immediately knew I wanted to be part of this project! I have been in acute wards for months at a time in the past, and in hospital there is a routine and a community, and when you get discharged it can be a real shock and very overwhelming.

If this service had been available when I was in hospital, I absolutely would have used it!

So, I have met my team and it really feels like we are all there because we are passionate about this work. Today we visited some of the wards that we will be working with. Even though the staff were busy, they made us feel welcome and made time to talk with us.

I’m really looking forward to starting this job. It’s been a long road getting to this point, but I’m so glad I’m here.