Elysium recently announced a new collaborative project, which will bring expertise in peer-based and lived experience approaches as the organisation continues to embed lived experience roles and peer support values into the heart of its services. We spoke with Sue Denison, Elysium’s Corporate Expert by Experience, about the importance of these roles and the value they have for those who use services.
“Across Elysium, we have two experts by experience, myself and Lois Edmunds. I work corporately, and Lois works on a regional basis. We are supported by three Peer Support Workers currently who do excellent work supporting patients at Chadwick Lodge and Pinhoe View.
“Their work is different, as they do more work directly on the ward with the people we support on a day-to-day basis. In our roles as experts by experience, Lois and I, while we still work directly with patients, we also work more with the wider management and staff teams, as well as corporately.
“The work we are doing alongside With-You Consultancy is very exciting as it 
will help us build upon that foundation of peer support workers and experts by experience to build a support framework, creating more roles and further embedding them across Elysium.
“The role of a Peer Support Worker is to model recovery and inspire hope and encouragement that there is life beyond hospital, that recovery is possible. They can inspire based on their own understanding and empathy. They have been there. And you can also say that about us as experts by experience, who use our experience to guide strategy, thinking and planning.
“The Peer Support Worker is part of the team on the ward, and while they’re not involved in delivering care and support directly, they talk with service users, promote well-being, encourage, advise and demonstrate recovery, based on their own understanding. The Peer Support Worker might encourage people to spend more time in the community and help with their transition.
“We hear really positive feedback as experts by experience or Peer Support Workers that we are inspiring, which is wonderful to hear.
“The role of Peer Support Worker is so valuable because it is someone who is on the ground and works closely with people and helps them gather the momentum to be well. I was in and out of hospital as a service user for 17 years for periods between two weeks to two-and-a-half years. By the time I came to leave for good, I didn’t have anyone who could share with me that it was going to be okay and it was scary to think I was leaving. And that’s quite common, people can be reluctant to leave. You leave 24-hour support to go to very little. You’ve been in a ward full of people, and suddenly you’re on your own.
“If I had someone to sit with me and say, ‘I didn’t want to leave either, but I’m okay and life has turned out well for me’, that would have been so powerful. And that’s what Peer Support Workers can do in their role.”