Support Buddies - peer support in action - new report published

Kelly Hicks, Adult Social Worker of the Year 2011, has written about the development of Support Buddies.

Support Buddies is a system of mutual support provided by members of the Personalisation Forum Group. The Personalisation Forum Group were awarded the Great British Care Award (Putting People First) in 2011 for their work. They are a group of different people from Doncaster, many living with very complex mental health problems, but people who often feel the system does not give them what they need. In the process of striving to achieve Personal Health Budgets or Direct Payments the group came together and began to support to each other.

By providing support to each other, instead of waiting for services that often arrived too late, people found support that was not only often more effective than traditional mental health services, but support that was more empowering for the giver - as well as the receiver. The support buddy system creates a simple exchange of gifts of time, attention and wisdom that has made everyone stronger.

Clare Hyde MBE, Director of The Foundation for Families, writes: The PFG has gone one step further than most peer groups and has become a dynamic, awareness building, fund raising, award-winning force majeure. A group of people have become a community where the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.

Download this new publication from the Right Hand Side menu.

If you want to find out more contact Kelly Hicks on +44 7908 616182

Or visit the Personalisation Forum Group website: www.pfgdoncaster.co.uk