Re-positioning Mental Health Experiences from Deficit to Asset. A Qualitative Study Exploring When the Idea of Becoming a Mental Health Peer Support Worker Takes Shape

Peer support is a recovery-oriented collaborative practice where individuals with lived experiences with mental health conditions engage in supporting others experiencing similar challenges. Becoming a peer support worker (PSW) includes a transition from being a service user to becoming a provider of care and personal roles and identity are challenged when adjusting to the new role. Through individual interviews, this study explored eight PSWs’ personal stories of mental illness, recovery, and when the possibility of becoming a peer support worker emerged during this process. Thematic analysis led to four themes: 1) Struggles in everyday life, 2) Landmark events, 3) Turning points, and 4) Finding your way. The PSWs told deeply personal stories of how mental illness had impacted their lives. The themes display when the initial idea and then the ambition to become a PSW emerged during the process of recovery. This study provides insight into how the PSWs at different times—and in different ways—became aware of the possibility of using their personal experience to support others. At an overall level, these findings represent descriptions of individual processes in which the PSWs moved towards re-positioning their lived experiences with mental health challenges from deficit to asset.