A search on what peer led services are out there in New Zealand at the moment brings up all kinds of links. There are big community organisations/NGOs (such as Pathways, Richmond New Zealand) that provide peer services as part of their larger package of care and there are smaller groups throughout the country with various target groups.
I was quite interested to find out however that there is a national network called Balance NZ that is a consumer run initiative that works as an umbrella organisation to regional peer led networks and targets people living with mood disorders. Balance NZ is a very new initiative, which sprung out of recommendations made following a peer support forum in 2009. I think that's awesome! It's really exciting to see that the peer led service movement is really taking off in New Zealand and as peer-run services really sits well with the Recovery Approach that government policy is pushing, I think the sector is well-poised to really develop and grow and spread far and wide! :) You can see a list of all regional services here.
In my next post I will talk about "recovery" and try and explain why I think peer led services sit well with this approach to service delivery (which we in NZ are adopting)... Stay tuned!
Meanwhile I've put in a link to more information about the peer support forum from the Te Pou website and also, there are videos of peer supporters talking about their stories as well, I can't embed them but here is the link.
No comments:
Post a Comment