THE POWER
of Peer Support
Debbie Wiebe
S
ocial isolation for people who struggle with mental health
challenges can be common to the experience, which in
turn has a substantial impact on wellbeing, recovery and
community participation.
Recognizing this, both in herself and others she worked
with as an Independent Living Support worker with CMHA Calgary Region, put Debbie Wiebe at the forefront of the peer
support model advocacy movement more than 15 years ago.
“What I discovered through my one-on-one relationships
with people in the community, was that socializing and being
around people was important to wellness. People tend to
isolate when they are not doing well,” Wiebe says.
To facilitate connectivity with those she worked with, Wiebe
became what she calls a “friendship match-maker,” connecting
individuals to each other based on their personal interests.
The idea behind this novel way of approaching support for
people with mental health issues was to not focus on the
diagnosis or the illness, but rather to help people connect in
their wellness. Wiebe describes it as focusing on what comes
out of the struggle, not talking about the struggle.
The early work of Wiebe quickly moved from a five person
informal support network to eventually become a hallmark
program of the CMHA - Calgary community support work.
The Peer Options program now connects approximately 100
20
people a week, and in doing so provides opportunity for
individuals experiencing mental illness to connect and learn
from one another.
As the program has grown here in Calgary, so too has the
concept across the country with many different players in the
mental health recovery community recognizing the value of
peer-based support.
This growing acceptance was accentuated with the 2013
release of the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s (MHCC)
Guidelines for the Practice and Training of Peer Support.
Wiebe sat on the Peer Leadership Group that provided input,
direction and guidance to the development of the MHCC Peer
Support Guidelines.
“What we wanted to do was to bring credibility to peer
support,” Wiebe explains.
Wiebe says the guidelines and the optional peer support
accreditation process helped to recognize the contribution
of peer support as a truly viable option for individuals at all
phases of their recovery.
“On the recovery journey, people often reach a point where
they want to give back. The peer support model is a means
for them to do that again.”
Canadian Mental Health Association – Calgary Region
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