November 28, 2022
News
Recovered people that experienced a mental health illness can become valuable sources of inspiration and support for those going through similar health problems. Such people, who choose to share their own recovery and treatment experience with those suffering from a mental illness, are called peer supporters. Caritas Czech Republic in Moldova trains peer supporters to strengthen the country’s mental health services system.
The healing power of peer supporters
Studies show that people who have recovered from mental illness have learned valuable lessons from their rehabilitation process and can become sources of support and hope for those going through similar problems.
As part of the project run in partnership with the Centre for Mental Health Development in Prague, Caritas Czech Republic in Moldova aimed to train nine recovered people to become peer supporters.
The future peer supporters were selected by Caritas Czech Republic in partnership with the Community Mental Health Centres from Calarasi, Straseni, Soroca, Floresti, Singerei and Balti regions in Moldova.
"I am ready to share my experience of recovery and treatment with others and I am happy to know that it will help someone," one of the future peer supporters told us.
A good peer supporter will always know how to keep the peer’s motivation alive, how to offer support through dialogue and how to be a source of inspiration.
"The peer supporter can be compared to a flower pot that has broken and is being repaired. After it’s repaired, the flower pot is often much more beautiful and valuable,” added another person ready to share his recovery experience.
Trained to become models of hope
Caritas Czech Republic kicked off the two part training course "Empowering Peer Supporters".
The first part of the course took place on 16-18 November in Chisinau. The second part of the course will take place in March 2023 in the Czech Republic.
The first training session introduced future peer supporters to the differences between clinical and personal recovery, assertive communication mechanisms, and the role that peer supporters play in the recovery process of a person going through a similar experience.
At the same time, the training supported recovered people to combat stigma and labelling that affects people who have experienced mental illness.
"Society believes that people with mental health problems cannot recover and labels them, but this is a big lie,” told us one of the participants of the course.
After completing the training course, peer supporters will be employed in mental health centres or other organisations providing care for people with mental health problems from Moldova.
Recovery - a unique and individual process
The training course allowed participants to share their own experiences of recovery and return to life before the illness.
Participants agreed that recovery is a complex process of restoring mental and physical health, but also that recovery is a deeply personal issue.
"Our role is to make others understand that only we can help ourselves and we need to find the inner motivation to move forward towards recovery," mentioned one of the trainers.
For peer supporters, recovery is about getting back to a life where they can feel useful and find harmony with other people.
The personal stories they have chosen to share are powerful sources of inspiration and motivation for the future of others peers.
The training course "Empowering Peer Supporters" is part of the project "Capacity Building for Ensuring Sustainable Changes in the Social Services System in Moldova"implemented by Caritas Czech Republic in Moldova and the Centre for Mental Health Development in Prague and funded by the Czech Development Agency and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic within the Development Assistance Program.
