Mental health peer project wins Public Health Wales praise

A Mental Health Foundation-run support project in Wales has been awarded the national quality mark by Public Health Wales.

The Self-management and Peer Support project gives people living with mental health problems a sense of control over their own lives as well as enabling them to help others.

“The panel was particularly impressed by the way that the training empowered so many of the recipients to not only manage their own condition but to feel sufficiently confident that they in turn could become mentors in the scheme,” says Public Health Wealth.

The Big Lottery-funded project was hailed as breaking new ground and “providing an excellent example of prudent health care in action.”

“Self-management and peer support offer people the best chance to support themselves and each other,” explains project lead David Crepaz-Keay. “It has already benefited many hundreds of secondary mental health service users and this award should encourage everyone responsible for mental health and wellbeing to encourage its widespread implementation.”

Emily Wooster, Head of the Mental Health Foundation in Wales adds: “I’m delighted that Public Health Wales has suggested this project could be more widely disseminated and replicated. Our role in innovation and promotion of best practice continues to go from strength to strength – we are now using this model and adapting it to different population groups in Wales.”