The right of a person to identify as a mental health peer is supported in Fife...there is no one journey alone that can have ownership of what defines peer support. Peer support transcends many definitions...it can be present in moments that humanness is both expressed and known...

...I know myself to be a peer and for me that is part of my definition of my own, unique expressed identity. (Sam's Peer)

In no way is this article claiming to be a full account of all the peer support and peer support development work that has been carried out in Fife. It is perhaps fair to state that it would be almost impossible to collate every account of development of peer support within Fife.

Rather this is one team's account of peer support through experience, discussions and information made available online.

No account of peer support would be complete without acknowledgment to the innovators, advocates and people active in sharing their vision of peer support within Fife in the past. No peer worker today can work in isolation of the knowledge of the journey that people took to raise awareness of peer support and to advocate that the role be widely available within Fife.

In the past one can only begin to imagine the different views of peer support as people began to speak more about the role. To be an advocate of the role at this time must have been challenging to say the least. Yet, people chose to be those advocates of the role, challenging people's perception of lived experiences and role modeling the positive aspect of employing peer approaches within services. 

Historically one can imagine there were services and professionals that recognised the value of peer support.However the services in place in the 50's to late 80's did not employ formalised peer support. 

It is perhaps fair to state that with the advent of Care In The Community approach in the 90's and subsequent supporting people out of hospital based care, that peer support began to have an anchor in service design and development.

Peer support has found and is developing it's footing within Fife. There is wide recognition through development work within Fife communities that peer support is a welcome and sustainable approach to supporting people. 

In Scotland there is peer support established in terms of people experiencing a shared journey of heart care, diabetes, cancer care and mental health. Within many schools and colleges a peer model of support is in place.

Foremost the peer support is informal in that people choose to share support whereby they are brought together in an informal opportunity such as meeting at a support group. It is also fair to state that services are acknowledging the value of formalised peer support as an approach of support.

Informal peer support will always occur within mental health resources and wider community, people will always offer support.

Formalised peer support in Fife is being developed and it is inspiring to acknowledge the work being carried out in mental health peer support.

At Sam's the embedded peer support has been progressed since 2019. This was facilitated by bringing the wealth of experience from the initial employment of peer support in the SAMH Fife Care at Home Service from 2014.

Employed, formalised roles are present in statutory and third sector in Fife. Sam's Fife is a peer led project and has a considerable number of employed peer workers in Fife. The peer workers are employed by the Scottish Action for Mental Health-SAMH.

A SAMH Fife Peer Worker's Own Journey

My journey as a peer worker in Fife has been shaped by the experiences of working with people from all walks of life, as the saying goes.

I tentatively started my career in peer working with a real passion in my heart to make a difference. I had been supported by peers on my journey and in all honesty I held them in really high regard. So much so that I thought I would never emulate their successful approaches. 

That's the beauty of peer support though, it inspires you. This is what happened with myself, once in role, the peer worker role opened doors of opportunity for progressing.

To say that I was inspired is an understatement. I absolutely welcomed the work with both hands, I welcomed that the role is being established in Scotland. To say that one's work inspires oneself to journey forward in self development is indeed a unique thing.

I acknowledge the hard work put in at the coal face of establishing peer support in Fife.

 People who offered a different perspective to the norms at the time. People who stayed strong through the challenges of progressing the formalisation of the role. People who through their insight saw the potentiality of peer support in services. Forward thinkers with a vision of a Scottish mental health sector where peer workers are established in role and recognised for the added value of utilising lived experience in role.

We all have mental health, for sure. In peer support we offer a support whereby there is understanding from the individual accessing support, that the peer has a lived journey of mental ill health and recovery. It is unique in that this is stated and part of the support.

It has to be acknowledged that people who are in support worker roles may have a lived experience in mental ill health and recovery, however it is not appropriate to share. This is because the role does not afford an opportunity to share this, as to do so would be out with the remit of that role.

Peers work to a framework of values that ensures that the support is recovery focussed through sharing a lived experience within the competencies of peer support practice and a strengths based approach.

This along with the sector leading Professional Development Award in Mental Health Peer Support, a Scottish Qualifications Authority qualification (SQA). Means there is recognition of learning through accreditation on the SQA framework of learning. This is a qualification that can be taken forward by peers as part of their continuous learning and development. 

To be supported with a peer worker can be the most inspiring, life changing and catalyst for self journeying... forward with a recovery. I was supported by peers and I am ever thankful for their place on my journey