Stories of change
Buddies Peer Support Services
What:Buddies is a one-to-one peer support service for people admitted to a mental health acute inpatient unit.
Why:Bring hope to service users.
How:Loneliness, helplessness and confusion are reduced through connecting with peers in diverse activities, provided by volunteers in hospital settings and community.
Target:Service users who have been admitted in an inpatient unit.
Where:Wellington.
"One of the great things in the concept of recovery is being proactive."
Denis Duerr, Buddies coordinator
The profile
Buddies is a peer support service operating under the umbrella of Case Consulting Ltd. Volunteer service users act as buddies for previous and current service users admitted to hospital.
Buddies main focus is visiting inpatients of Ward 27, Te Whare o Matairangi, at Wellington Hospital. Once service users are discharged, Buddies keep in contact with them to bring hope and provide social support to them in the community. Volunteer buddies engage service users in various activities, ranging from wellness group meetings to karaoke. These activities are run as part of the hospital visits. Additionally, Buddies work in the community providing educational and entertainment activities to service users and their families/whanau. The goal for these activities is to create a support network and to enhance the recovery of service users.
"They can see that there's going to be life after intensive care unit. They can see this in the people that are coming to see them."
Buddies volunteer
The organisation provides training and support for people taking on the role of a buddy, taking into consideration their personal well-being and encouraging their interest in helping other service users.
The beginnings
The concept for Buddies was developed in 2002 by KITES in Wellington. It aimed to address the difficulties experienced by service users who have been admitted to hospital and have higher needs of social support. A Buddies advisory group was formed and a proposal for funding was presented to the funders of Capital and Coast District Health Board (CCDHB). The proposal was not successful at that time. The Buddies advisory group then approached Case Consulting, a limited liability firm, to act as an umbrella group for the organisation. At the time they became involved with Buddies, Case Consulting had five years experience running a number of mental health related endeavours.
"For me it is about hope"
Buddies volunteer
Case Consulting developed a service plan, presented the concept to the CCDHB and this time the proposal was accepted. One of CCDHB's contractual requirements was that volunteers would receive specific training before engaging with inpatient service users. With the help of the advisory group, Case Consulting employed a Buddies coordinator and a peer advisor in 2005.
The volunteer buddies undergo 13 three hour sessions of basic training and attend further seminars and workshops once they are ‘qualified'. The volunteers begin to visit the hospital about four weeks after they begin their training. In their first weeks they are mentored by a more experienced buddy or by the coordinator of the service. At the beginning of 2009 there were 18 volunteer buddies in the organisation, coming from a range of ethnic, gender, sexual and educational background. Twelve of the volunteers work actively with their inpatient peers at any time.
The process
Buddies support inpatient service users through one-to-one contact and engaging them in various activities. The organisation also works with consumers living in the wider community who could benefit from such a support.
Hospital support involves visiting inpatient service users and running various activities within the hospital. Activities have included wellness and coffee groups, karaoke, origami, indoor bowling, BBQs and walks. A fortnightly afternoon group takes people out of the ward to go to the beach, café or other public places. The wellness groups aim to have fun as well as improve coping skills and self-awareness skills by teaching people about triggers and early warning signs.
One-to-one inpatient contact includes ward visits, conversations with service users and ward staff. Sometimes just being there for the other person becomes a support in itself.
Buddies also organise community activities which include parties, BBQs, picnics, writing groups and movie visits. These are open to inpatients, service users and their families and friends. Most of the time, these activities are run by a trained buddy.
Ideas for new activities are generated by the whole organisation. The volunteers brainstorm about what might help their peers. Future plans include gym days, sports days, weight management and hairdressing events.
"There has never been any serious tension between us and the staff."
Denis Duerr, Buddies coordinator
Step by step
- Medical professionals, families or friends refer people to Buddies. Service users get in contact with Buddies through word of mouth, or by self-referral.
- The service users are invited to come along to the coffee group on Tuesday and to get an understanding of what Buddies support is about. This gives people a chance to talk to the volunteers and get "the feel" of the group.
- The buddy volunteers and peers are linked together based on common interests, hobbies, location and compatible personalities.
- The buddy/peer relationship is monitored by the coordinator to make sure everything is going well.
- The buddy and the peer each receive an allowance for travel and expenses.
- The process of establishing good relationships can take some considerable time because of the complexity of issues that both the buddy and the peer face. However if the buddy and the peer are not benefiting from the relationship the process can start again, with a different partner.
"We might have changed the world just a little bit but that's something better than nothing, isn't it."
Buddies volunteer
The unique approach
- The main characteristic of Buddies is provision of peer support in an in-patient setting, bringing hope and empowering service users who have been admitted to the mental health unit.
- All Buddies volunteers are carefully chosen, based on traits such as capacity, reliability, safety, honesty and suitability. The volunteers are then put through a comprehensive training course, to enable them to:
- know about and observe privacy legislation
- work to a code of conduct that includes respecting boundaries
- respect peer rights to freedom of religion, opinion, thought, sexual orientation, gender, and any other human right
- assist with accessing advocacy services
- be honest and assertive in their communication
- know about and observe healthy and respectful relationships
- know about strategies for crisis situations.
- The service is very proactive, seeking variety of opportunities for engaging the inpatients and providing support complementing the efforts of clinicians.
- The volunteer buddies and hospital staff work together to provide adequate support to the inpatient service user, bringing together clinical skills and peer support.
"There is life after sickness"
Buddies volunteer
The results
The service was evaluated by Temp Solutions in 2006. The evaluation involved asking service users about how well supported they were by their buddies and what they gained from it. Overall Buddies service users found the peer support to be very valuable and contact with individual buddies particularly helpful. Buddies volunteers that were interviewed found their involvement worthwhile because of the positive effects their support had on inpatient users. They also commented that it strengthened their views on the positive effects of social inclusion. Spontaneous comments from staff members at Te Whare O Matairangi about the Buddies peer support volunteers were also very positive.
More specifically, Buddies service users perceived that having such as a support in the hospital improved their quality of life, improved mental well-being and helped with building a support network. The Buddies volunteers also reported improved general improvements in life and bringing closure to some of their personal experiences, improved mental well-being and increased knowledge about support options in the community.
Temp Solutions proposed evaluation of Buddies should be integrated with discharge interviews at Te Whare O Matairangi, where service users comment on the service they have received from clinical and support staff.
Anecdotal evidence indicates that service users and volunteer buddies improve their responsibility toward self and others through their work with the organisation. Service users progress from being supported in the inpatient unit to becoming volunteers themselves and supporting other fellow users. Some of the volunteer buddies get jobs through the references they request from the coordinator of the service, leading to improved reintegration in the community.
The lessons learnt
- Peer support works and brings hope to service users in need.
- Service users describe their recovery as unique process with many possible pathways.
- Peer support service needs strong financial and organisational support.
- Financial control and responsibility are necessary to provide adequate peer support.
- Periodical evaluation can bring robust results, improve quality of service, and provide means to generalise and disseminate peer support in inpatient settings.
"I cannot turn my back on myself anymore."
Buddies volunteer
More information
Contact
- Dennis Duerr at buddies.wn.@paradise.net.nz, phone (04) 385 2104, cell. 021960060.
Website
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BUDDIES, peer support to inpatient service users. (PDF)
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Page last updated: 7 November 2008