“One of Us”/“One of them”: negotiating peer support on a men’s mental health ward

Purpose The purpose of this service user narrative and viewpoint article is to describe interprofessional and interpersonal barriers to peer support on a men’s mental health ward over the course of a year from a lived experience perspective. Design/methodology/approach A reflective journal was kept and participant observation was conducted over the course of the year. Findings There is sometimes a fissure and binary of “Us” and “Them” on the ward. In other words, staff can sometimes perceive peer support workers to be “one of us” (a member of staff) or “one of them” (a service user). For service users, the opposite is sometimes true: “one of us” (a service user) or “one of them” (a member of staff). Peer support workers must bridge this gap and strive to be “one of us” with both these groups, which is no easy task. A good ward manager or peer team leader can smooth over interprofessional differences and support the peer worker in their efforts of care towards the recovery of people with mental health problems. Originality/value Little has been written on this topic in a mental health inpatient setting as most papers address community peer support work, which is very different from peer support in hospital. This paper addresses one of the first peer support pilot projects in hospital of its kind in NHS England so is quite innovative and perhaps even unique.