New Book Available -- Peer Support: An Alternative Approach

Peer support in mental health grew out of a movement that challenged the structures, practices, and theories of traditional mental health service. Many years later it is being internationally recognized as a significant factor in people’s recovery… but in our efforts to succeed we cannot lose sight of what makes peer support different than other kinds of “help.” Trauma informed peer support challenges the roles and identities that have been created for us and suggests that through our ability to redefine power and meaning we can move well beyond personal recovery and into mutual transformation and real social change!

Intentional Peer Support

If I could write a poem about hope,

I’d call it Intentional Peer Support.

It would be about connection, worldview, mutual responsibility, and

moving towards not away from.

If I could write a poem about social justice,

I’d call it Intentional Peer Support.

It would be about inclusion of vast and different personal stories, our views, cultures,

values, experiences, knowledge, uncommon and common sense, our ideas.

If I could write a poem about relationships,

I’d call it Intentional Peer Support.

It would be about challenging ourselves to see and think differently

to learn and grow together.

If I could write a poem about compassion,

I’d call it Intentional Peer Support.

It would be about acknowledging and sharing our power

while still daring to be powerful.

It would be about sensitivity, self definitions and self determination.

If I could write a poem about listening differently,

I’d call it Intentional Peer Support.

It would be about tuning into one another,

suspending what we think we know

in order to discover what we didn’t

It would be about a commitment to be patient

with the process of relating and each other.

If I could write a poem about community,

I’d call it Intentional Peer Support.

It would be about prioritizing our relationships

in the family and in our communities

as we define our families, as we remain apart of community.

If I could write a poem about vision,

I’d call it Intentional Peer Support.

It would be about a new vision of interacting with peers

forgetting what we don’t want, envisioning what we do,

living well in the present, and creating a better tomorrow

If I could write a poem about Intentional Peer Support,

It would be about social change

I’d call it social change.

Selina Welborn

©November 2007