Peer Support for Entitlemens: When Experience Meets Professional Knowledge
“Entitlements Peer Support Program” is a unique program designed to assist people with mental health challenges in realizing their entitlements and accessing essential information in the field of mental health. The program is based on a belief in the right to equality, support, and dignity for all people with mental health challenges, and promotes their full integration into the community.
The unique approach: peers supporting peers
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A source of inspiration and hope
The peers combine extensive professional knowledge in the field of rights with lived experience, thereby serving as a source of inspiration and offering hope to individuals with mental health challenges, their family members, and professionals.
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Familiarity with the system
Drawing on their personal experience, the peers help individuals with mental health challenges and their families become familiar with the system.
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Providing practical tools
The peers provide individuals with practical tools for coping with the personal and bureaucratic challenges involved in claiming their benefits, such as self-advocacy.
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Mediating unique needs
Firsthand familiarity with the challenges enables the peers to communicate the unique needs of individuals with mental health challenges to professionals and service providers.
Who are the peers
The peers are men and women with experience in coping with mental health challenges, strong verbal skills, the ability to learn and process content effectively, and the ability to speak in public and deliver messages clearly.
The peers are employees of the Community Centers Association. Their recruitment involves a selection process, a training program, and a job interview. To be accepted for this role, they typically provide employment references from previous workplaces that demonstrate suitable qualities for the position.
Lectures and meetings: practical inspiration
Research shows that when peers share first-hand accounts of their personal recovery journey through rights realization, they serve as a source of inspiration, role models, and motivators for action. Meeting with peers helps reduce stigma, which can sometimes be a significant barrier to exercising one’s rights.
Target audience of the service
Individuals with mental health challenges and their families.
Referral to the service
Through various rehabilitation professionals within the framework of the rehabilitation basket.
Meetings between peers and the audience
The meetings take place throughout the country, with peers traveling to the communities for which the service is intended. During these meetings, they combine experiential activities, open dialogue, practical tools, and responses to questions. The content is carefully adapted in a culturally sensitive manner to each audience and its specific needs.
Cost of the service
The service is provided free of charge.
Helping you claim your full benefits
In the “Entitlements Peer Support Program,” people with lived experience will help and support you in claiming your full benefits.