Mental Health Peer Support Workers : Bridging Gaps, Building Bridges

In an era overshadowed by mental health challenges, this month's "Stronger Together" podcast by IMPACT Community Services is a call to action.

Host Tanya O'Shea challenges organisations, mental health experts, and community leaders. It's not just about recognising mental health issues; it's about taking action against the growing crisis.

We're joined by Jannene Thorn, Manager for Mental Health at IMPACT. Together, they highlight the crucial role of Peer Support Workers. These individuals, shaped by their personal journeys and compassion, bridge the gap between those facing challenges and the support they need.

Why is peer support so vital? And how can organisations leverage it for real change? We address these questions, emphasising the need for systemic shifts and shared responsibility. 

Are you struggling with your mental health or stuck on a waiting list? This episode will give you insight into navigating the mental health system, and how you can access support while you wait.

It's not just about recognising the mental health challenges; it's about taking proactive steps to address the escalating mental health crisis.

Thank you for listening to this episode of "Stronger Together" We hope you enjoyed the conversation and gained valuable insights.

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Transcript

0:03

Welcome to Stronger Together, a new podcast series presented by IMPACT Community Services. I'm Tanya O'Shea, Managing Director of IMPACT with a bachelor's degree in psychology. And hi, I'm Kate Buckland. IMPACT’s Communications Officer with over two decades of experience as a journalist and communications professional. IMPACT prides itself on helping people improve their lives. And in this podcast we’ll delve into a wide range of issues that affect our overall health and wellbeing and discuss the challenges that affect each one of us in the current social climate. The Stronger Together Podcast may contain discussions on sensitive topics that could be triggering or distressing for some listeners. Information on where to seek help and support will be provided at the end of this episode. Please prioritise your wellbeing while listening. Before we begin, we wish to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we live, work and meet. We pay our respects to the elders past, present and future, for they hold the memories, traditions, the culture, hopes and values, not only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. But for all Australians. Now let's dive into today's episode. Hi, my name's Tanya. O’Shea, welcome to episode three of our Stronger Together podcast. I am a little bit sad today, I’m missing our my wing woman, Kate. She's not quite feeling up to recording with me today, which is really sad. But fortunately I am joined by Jannene Thorn, our manager for mental health here at IMPACT Community Services, who has been leading some of the advocacy work that we have been doing here in our community around mental wellbeing and particularly around mental health services that are being provided within our community. Welcome, Jannene. Thank you, Tanya. Thanks for inviting me. This is exciting. I've never, never participated in a podcast before. And it's lovely for you to join us at. I was saying to Jannene earlier, I'm going to throw her right under the bus here, said, Oh, have you listened to our other two? She goes, No, I don't do podcast. So here we are. Hopefully she will actually listen to this one since she's featuring on it as our guest speaker, I will certainly give it a go. Love it. And that's the thing isn’t it Podcasts aren't for everyone. So Jannene, we have been doing a lot of advocacy around mental health and particularly around this clinical versus non clinical support. Now, can you tell us a little bit around the work that you've been doing in this space, the advocacy in particular? And what is this clinical versus non-clinical? What does that actually mean? Yes, Thanks, Tanya. So a little bit of background to start with this project come about because what we were noticing was in some of the the programs and the fundings that were coming out across the state and in our area, there was a big emphasis on the staffing for these programs actually being of a clinical level. So when we're talking about clinical workers, clinical programs, we're talking about people in the professions of such things as OT’s or psychologists, psychiatrists, your mental health nurses, it would be wonderful if our people in our community that needed that sort of support could access those types of services and clinical therapies. But unfortunately, all across Australia, as we know, there is such a staff shortage for people with those credentials. Our advocacy project is focusing on raising awareness, on the importance of our non-clinical workers, workers that come from all types of backgrounds. It could be a lived experience with mental health. It could be someone that has worked in the health system but has never gone on to get a mental health accreditation but has fantastic skills and knowledge and people abilities to be able to still work with the people. Our advocacy project is raising awareness on how important non-clinical workers can be in this industry. Non-clinical workers come from a wide range of backgrounds, all sorts of employment histories, and they've got the skills, also the knowledge in the mental health sector to be able to contribute to someone's mental health recovery or their journey to wellness and mental health, physical health. That overall well-being. That's what we want to strive for. That's what we know would be the ultimate for each of us. Absolutely. And non-clinical staff members have the skills and the expertise and the trainings and the people skills to be able to support people in early interventions and preventions, particularly around the six domains of life, all of the key domains that help us to to live our best life and to be as well as possible, such as participation and community. Your spirit, your cultural connections, your environmental connections, your physical health, and also your social connections. So, Jannene, we know that we all have the best of intentions and and in our life, it's sort of like a bit of a rollercoaster ride. Sometimes we sort of go up and down those ebbs and flows of life and sometimes things happen. You know, we get a little bit derailed from those great intentions that we have around, you know, meeting all of those domains that you talk about. And sometimes we need help and sometimes it's really challenging to be able to navigate the mental health system. And that's part of the advocacy work that you have been doing. So there's navigating. It's understanding to when do I when do I lean into that? When do I actually step up and go and put my hand up and go, I need help now. So if we if we're talking that, let's talk to that first. So let's talk about, you know, knowing when to put our hands up. There is increasing pressure. Doesn't matter what you listen to, what you read. We keep hearing about the pressure on our health care system. We know that those clinicians that you talked about earlier, they can't see people straight away. That's just not the reality for in life at the moment. So once you get your referral from your GP, you could be waiting months before you can actually see one of those clinicians. And the thing is I need help now. So if I'm going to put my hand up and I go, Righto, I need help now, how do I know, you know, when's that time to put my hand up? Every person's journey is completely different. So when that person is feeling that they've got the strength to put their hand up and say, I need the help now, then that is what they need to be doing. Absolutely. First thing that I could recommend for people is you’re feeling that you need the help. You're ready to go and accept some help. Ask for the help. You need to go down the networks and the pathways where you feel connected already. So it might actually be talking to your partner, it might be talking to your best friend and saying, I'm not coping. I need some help. Can you come with me? It could be going and talking to your employer, could be your GP, it could be a service that you've previously been connected with that you need to go and reconnect back with. And it's that trust and we've talked about it before, you know, those trusted few, those that small tribe of connections that we have. And sometimes, you know, for some people who might be a little bit lonely, who might be feeling a little bit isolated, it could be a neighbour. It could just be someone who you trust enough to go, Can you please help me? I need some help and I just don't know what to do next. But I know I need help. So that's the start, isn't it? That's going okay. I need to talk to someone. I know that I need a hand. I need and I found someone who I can disclose. You know, that trusted person. Let them know they might be able to support you. But what we know also is it can be difficult to understand. Where do I start? I've recognised that I need some help, But. But how do I get started? Jannene So what's next? So everyone will have a completely different journey. It could be simply making a GP's appointment, going in and chatting with the GP, taking that support person, that confidential person with you and saying to them, I need some help. Can you please put in a referral or get me on a mental health care plan so I can actually start taking some steps, some positive steps in starting to address the areas that I really would like to be working on. Beautiful. So start with our GP. A GP is always a great starting point. Absolutely. If you're unable to access your GP for a very large period of time because as we know that they are rather booked out, you can always access online services. You could also call other services that have the 24 hour support available as well. And it's a starting point for you. It's a proactive step to start moving forward. Great. So some of those other services, you know, if I was going to Google and and I wanted to get started just to reach out, what are some of those other services that you'd suggest? There’s lifeline, Lifeline is open to telephone support 24 hours a day. And there's also beyondblue and there's also the head to health site as well, which has got some great resources. So if you're not feeling about talking to someone directly, there are some short courses there are some tips and tricks that you can actually jump on right there. And then there's some little motivating challenges that you can give yourself as well. It's sometimes really hard to know when is the right time to step in there. But certainly what we do know from talking to people. So the anecdotal evidence is that when people want the help, they sort of need something right there. And then and that's the strong bit of the that's part of the advocacy that you have been doing and recognising that because we're seeing more and more people, which is great, we're seeing more and more people say, right, I'm ready. I want to get to take that next step. And they may not have a GP that they trust and they feel like they can go to. Sometimes they can't get into a GP immediately. So they're presenting to our emergency department. So they're coming to ED because they don't know where else to go. That's the reality of it. Again, coming back to, there's already a lot of pressure in our hospital system and health care professionals. So Jannene, there's already increasing pressure on our health care system, on our health care professionals before people turn up to the E.D., because potentially, depending on their level of severity, you know, of their symptoms and where they're at, they may not be able to see someone straight away or they may get referred into maybe another program. What would you encourage people to do? Well, there's a couple there's a couple of things there, Tanya. So we're talking about when will people know if they need to be presenting to the ED? A lot of people don't know because people feel things very, very differently. So some people might think, you know, that level of depression actually requires. I've got to go to ED, I've got a significant mental health concern going to the emergency department and presenting there is for people that are in significant crisis and people that are at immediate risk of harm to themselves or to other people. That is when a person needs to be presenting to ED and saying, I need the help. Absolutely. And that's a great tip for anyone supporting someone as well, because I know as a parent, as a friend, as a family member, you know, having other people around me when that emotional response is triggered and we go into that concern, you know, and care for that other person. And we just we just want help and we want help for them now. So about making that assessment around that immediate risk is important. It's almost like we're doing a bit of a risk assessment on that person at that point in time before we decide what we actually do next. So instead of just jumping in the car and presenting ED, that would be a suggestion that you would make around that immediate risk. Absolutely. Absolutely. And that that's the other component as well before a person presents to ED. It's about also educating our community to be able to pick up on these signs and to be able to do these risk evaluations themselves. We should be building the community's tool kit so they can use those tools when they’re seeing a loved one or someone that they care about or someone that they know who was struggling. They can pull those tools out and say, Hey, I can see that your mood has been really low lately. Have you thought about going for a walk? Have you thought about talking to an online service or talking to a phone counsellor, doing those early interventions before a person elevates to the stage of crisis where they are at potential risk of harm to themselves or others and needing to actually tap into the Queensland health system. So as a tool I guess that people could use around being able to do that assessment, and it's such a great point because as a community we need better education in this space. We need to be able to, you know, do that mental health first aid, if you like. We're all, you know, many of us are qualified in our CPR and our physical first aid, but having that mental first aid around, being able to make some of these calls is really important. So to be able to do that immediate assessment with someone, because you've made it really clear around it's so individualised, every case will be different. We can't just put a blanket rule over these things if we come back to your point around the non-clinical workers and how important they are when it comes to early intervention, talk us through some of the benefits of non-clinical support. Non-clinical supports are more accessible and they're often more cost effective as well. For our community members, non-clinical supports also take a holistic approach. Non-clinical workers are able to teach people those basic tips and tricks on how to stay. Well, it could be as simple as learning more about how your nutrition affects your mental health, how exercise can improve your mental health. The work that we do in the community with our non-clinical works is all recovery, recover focused and it's all strength based focus. So we work with the person on what they identify as the strength, keeping focus on what is going well in their lives will naturally start to fix the underpinning issues of what's not actually working well. So someone that might feel isolated. I have no ability to make friends or I lack the ability to communicate with others and I have no social life. Well, coming in to one of our social groups and just slowly participating in an activity, getting to know who else is in the room, slowly starting those conversations, building those social capacities can work wonders for people. It's that small early intervention piece, that prevention piece. And I think the key to that is slowly there is no rush. People take it in their own time. It's person lead around, as you said before, it's the journey, it's individualised. And I loved the term that you used before around people with lived experience, actually guiding other people through their own recovery journey and supporting them. Tell us more about people with lived experience actually working in this space. What does that look like? People attending people with lived experience is so vital to this sector. A person knowing what it is like to go through their own journey and the tools that they've used and being able to share those skills and impart on those tips and tricks to someone who's on their journey can be so invaluable. And the feedback that we've had from participants working with a peer worker has made the significant difference for them because often there's times when no words can actually describe what they're actually going through. And that peer worker completely understands that and knows that no words need to be labeled, no words need to be put on that experience. It can just be someone understands, someone gets it from the inside. The trust and rapport between those people, it must build very quickly, you know, in knowing that that person actually gets it, don't they? They know it because they've they've lived through it. They've had their own experience with it. And the thing with recovery from mental illness is that it's an ongoing recovery, isn't it? Absolutely. It is something that we need to be working on all the time. There are plenty of people that can say, oh, I've never suffered from a mental health condition. I've never had a mental health barrier before. It's not true. We're all affected by it one way or another. We've all had bad days, one way or another, and we've had to find whatever it is that's our superpower or our skill to be able to get ourselves out of that space and keep moving forward. Every person has had a connection with a mental health illness, and sometimes it's the stuckness, isn't it, when we when we get stuck there. Absolutely. And some people are stuck a little bit longer than others. So it's about reducing those stuck periods. Definitely. And what we do know from the work that we've done is people that are connected to a mental health support service will often have less periods of unwellness and they'll have longer periods of wellness. The toolkit gets bigger and stronger each and every time, and they can continue to draw on that. And that's the benefit of peer workers as well. Is their role modelling? Their role modelling exactly what it's like to go through that that journey and practice that wellness as well. So role modelling for people that are on their own journey is a significant tool in itself. So what I'm hearing is that we've got pressure on the health system. We've got clinicians who people can't get access to the clinical support that they need when they need it, because, you know, let's face it, the clinicians have already got a big load. So it's certainly not about labeling them that they're not making themselves available because they are, but there's just waitlists attached to that. And it sounds like the peer workers that you talk about are a potential solution to this issue. So are there peer workers available now? You know that I can link in to that. We can. If I had someone that I would like to refer in we've been to the GP, we've got the referral. However, we can't see their qualified clinician for several weeks. Is this something that we can be doing in the meantime? Some sort of support we can seek out from, say, someone with a lived experience, one of these peer workers that you're talking about? Absolutely. So we do have peer workers available and we also have other mental health workers that are not peer workers, but have a strong mental health skill set, but are not necessarily clinicians engaging with a peer worker or a non-clinical mental health worker whilst you are waiting to have a more therapeutic support through a clinician? Absolutely. Because what these people, these staff can bring to you is early intervention. They can start to help you build your toolbox. They can help you maintain where you're at and keep moving up until you can get that appointment with that clinician or that psychologist. Absolutely. So it's someone to be by your side during that waiting period, and hopefully they may even be able to reduce some of those symptoms before you will even need the clinician. We're not talking either or here. We're actually talking about a multi-disciplinary approach to the support that we're providing to people. It's a two pronged approach, definitely so non-clinical work and also that therapeutic component that is delivered by the clinicians needs to go hand in hand. What people learn at that therapeutic level is, is something that they can use to practice with the non-clinical worker. So it's that exposure therapy. So you've learned a new tool with your counselor or your psychiatrist, and you need that opportunity to be actually able to go out and practice that in a safe space. Then that is where a non-clinical worker would complement that service and they would be able to do that with them and also support them through that process and keep motivating them to keep practicing it. And Jannene, I'm super hopeful that there's more opportunity for people with lived experience to actually support other people if they think that this is something that they might even like to do. Now, obviously, and I'm thinking it's not obvious. I'm thinking that there might be some training or something that I would need to do if I could see this as maybe a future career path. And if I'm listening, I think, oh, I think that peer worker, you know, I've got a lived experience. I think that's something I'd like to to find out more about. So where do they start, if they'd like to, to start exploring what that might look like as a future career choice. So I'd be going and looking at some education facilities. So it might be something such as TAFE or any of the other education facilities that we have in the local area and just type in and search for peer work, have a look at it, see what's involved in actually going and getting those credentials. Whilst we know that you can't put a credential on someone's lived experience, what that training piece will help people do is be able to share their experience and their tools in the most safest, appropriate way for the people that are actually going through that journey. So Jannene, I'm super excited and hearing about the value of peer work and that lived experience. So has this been an integral part of your advocacy? And if so, what sort of conversations are you having about it? Absolutely. Absolutely. So we're banging that drum about the non-clinical workers and also contributing to the conversation about the importance of peer workers, the conversation about growing a peer workforce is all across Australia. Everyone is talking about we need to have more peer workers contributing to this industry. Studies, case studies have programs. Funding has all been developed around the benefits that can support the great outcomes for vulnerable people through peer work and growing a a workforce is vital. Absolutely. There's no one more skilled in a mental health journey than someone that has actually gone through their own journey. And I would imagine navigating the whole system. You know, I find navigating certain health systems can be really challenging at times, you know, And for me, you know, having a really good day and I still struggle with some systems I would imagine someone who's been through those processes in navigating the system, that would also be an amazing resource to have in just understanding. So what do I do next? How can I take the next step? Where do I need to go? Who do I need to talk to? So imagine if you're needing that support and you have no idea where to start or you've got five hurdles to jump through before you can actually get that support. That's in itself is a really overwhelming detrimental experience. Someone that has already been through this journey, who knows how to navigate it and get those doors opened a lot more easily that can walk beside you and understand where you're at can make that person's recovery turn around so much quicker. That's just giving me goose bumps. I can't imagine how powerful that would be for someone. And we've talked about that stuckness before and starting to take those really small steps and moving forward because we all like to feel like we're making progress, don't we? Absolutely. So, Jannene, in all of the advocacy work that you have been doing, I would imagine that there's some incredibly powerful stories that you would have to share. Would you be able to share one of those with us? Absolutely. I'm more than happy to share a story. So several months ago, we had a 40 year old gentleman who had walked through our doors here at the organisation and just went up to reception and he said, I need some help. I'm really not coping. So Reception had engaged one of our mental health workers to come down and have a chat with him. So they had a chat and they worked out what was going on and did some assessments and helped break it all down for him. So the worker non-clinical worker said, Alright, let's go and find you a GP. So they linked him up with the GP, got him in with the GP, they went with him for the appointment and the gentleman asked the GP for a mental health care plan because he just wasn't coping and he wanted to get some help. The GP had declined that mental health care plan and said, I don't know you, I need to spend a bit more time with you and get to know you to make sure that I'm putting you on the right mental health care plan, which is reasonable. That gentleman, he needed support straight away. He needed support quickly. He continued to work with the mental health worker and she helped him put some strategies in place, some practical things that he could do on a daily basis to help keep himself in a state the best state of wellness that he could possibly achieve, then went back to the GP several times and had those follow up appointments and the GP said, Yep, all right, we're going to put you on a mental health care plan now that I've got more of your holistic history. So they put him on a mental health care plan. The support worker helped the gentleman ring up for the referral and make his appointment. There was a three month wait before he could access clinical services. That gentleman had asked for help four months ago, and now four months down the track, after jumping through all of those hurdles and getting those doors opened, he's now told that he has to wait again, he was asking for help. The mental health worker continued to work with him, work on his goals, kept helping him build his toolbox and connecting him to other services and other immediate counseling services, such as those 24 hour phone counselors. He kept ticking off his goals, and by the time that clinical appointment came around, he felt that he actually didn't need that space anymore. So the experience that he had with our non-clinical worker, our mental health support worker, had actually provided him with those early interventions and helped build his toolbox with those preventing tools to not need that clinical support at that level. Well, it's from the very start of that in that he walked through the doors himself and just said, I need help. Can someone help me? So in knowing that he could just walk into a service and be able to seek some help. So that's very powerful in itself, isn't it? Absolutely. Taking that step. And it's about striking when the iron is hot, when the person is finding that courage to put their hand up to say, I need some help, I'm just not coping, then we need to be able to be proactive and reactive and say, well, we are here. What do you need? And I'm sure that story isn't a unique story. You know, when he's needed the help, he couldn't get it in the time frame. And this is where the peer support workforce aligns so beautifully because they can be working in the background with the person to address some of those immediate needs. Now, that's not going to work for everyone. We completely understand that. However, there's a percentage of people who that's going to work really beautifully for, and it meant for this person is that it freed up that spot for someone else. I'm imagining, because he went, Actually, I don't need the clinical support anymore. I've now got my toolbox. I now know what I need to do to keep moving forward and I've got the support that I need. Absolutely. Absolutely. So taking that pressure off of those additional systems when the person is able to seek support in other avenues, that's more appropriate for them. Definitely. And then leaving those other areas available for those people that are at a higher need, higher risk category. Beautiful. So, Jannene, I'm going to put you on the spot here because, you know, we've talked a bit about different avenues. If people would like help, we sort of said, you know, presenting to the ED isn't always the best option, depending on whether the person you know is acute and harm to self or harm to others. However, what we also know is that this isn't a 9 to 5 thing that happens for people, and sometimes services aren't open when people need them most. It's the middle of the night. It's the ruminating thoughts. It's when everything is dark and still we might be alone. And then these thoughts start to happen and and that might be exactly when we need the support. What do we do then? So is it the online? Is it go to ED? Is it connect to that trusted person? What is the best thing to do in those moments where you just can't walk in the door and seek out support? Absolutely. And if people identify that, that's the time where they feel that they're actually the most vulnerable or that is the time where those thoughts start to come into their heads, it's about having something right there in front of you that you can access straight away. So maybe it's a list of those 24 hour support phone lines. Maybe it's having a list of people that you can call in those hours. So it might be a family member or a friend or a neighbour or a sponsor of some sort that you can call and say, hey, I'm really not coping at the moment. Maybe it is jumping online and having a look at a self-help app or doing a short self-help podcast as well. So if you know that those are the times where you are at your most vulnerable, have some resources written down so you can go, you know what, this time tonight I'm actually going to call this number. I'm going to try this to see if that can help alleviate where I'm at. If a person is at the stage where they feel that they're actually going to hurt themselves, they need to go to ED. Absolutely. So there's a bit of planning that it sounds like we should all do really and having that emergency plan in place so that if something doesn't quite go to plan, if we know when we're most vulnerable, that we've got some sort of strategy in place for ourselves. So there's a bit of self care, self leadership that we're showing. So Jannene really wanted to congratulate you on the advocacy work that you have been doing, the conversations that you've been starting. It sounds like there is a real need for more peer workers on the ground to ensure that people are getting access to timely support if and when they need it. It's been such a great conversation. We've covered so much ground. However. Is there any key takeaways that you wanted to leave people with just to finish off today? Absolutely. And thanks for having me on this podcast too Tanya. Just continuing the conversations around mental health and mental health topics will always help reduce that stigma around mental health. This conversation and this advocacy is significantly important because we're raising the awareness of peer workers and the value that they actually have in this industry. Thanks, Jannene. A big thank you to stepping into this spot today. It was lovely to have you join me. It was such a good conversation and so many things to think about from a community perspective and how we do improve the access to services within our communities. So thank you for joining me. And because I know podcast isn't your thing. So thank you for taking, taking a new adventure and a new pathway. You know, that's great for our for our brain when we try new things. Absolutely. Thank you very much Tanya for having me. It was an experience and I'm sure I will be back in the future. I look forward to that. And thanks again to everyone for listening and for joining us. And we look forward to seeing you next time on our next episode of Stronger Together. Thank you for listening to this episode of Stronger Together. Sometimes the issues we discussed in Stronger Together may be triggering for some people. If you've been affected by the topics we have discussed today, please reach out for help. You can call Lifeline 24 hours a day on 13 11 14, or you can use the chat option on their website. If you live in the Wide Bay BURNETT region, You can also reach out to us at IMPACT Community Services. Go to impact.org.au and click on the make a referral button at the top if you wish to Self-Refer. We hope you've enjoyed today's episode and if so, please remember to hit the subscribe button. Until next time, remember, we're stronger together.