EXPAIRs – ORSPERE SAMDARRA NATIONAL OBSERVATORY PARTNERSHIP
IS LIVED EXPERIENCE A SKILL?
MUTUAL AID AND PEER SUPPORT
Online Study Day, January 21, 2022
PROGRAM
ROUND TABLE – LIVED EXPERIENCE AS A SKILL
- Which know-how inspire hope? The example of amputee peer support
Paul-Fabien Groud, Anthropologist, Post-doctoral fellow, S2HEP, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 - My migration experience: a resource to help my peers
Nagham Bajjour, ORSPERE Samdarra Peer Mediator - Recognize other people’s experience and help them regain balance in their pain
Fidèle Mabanza, Poet, trained in philosophy
ROUND TABLE – IF LIVED EXPERIENCE IS NOT ENOUGH, WHAT ELSE IS NEEDED?
- When emotion runs high, turn to peer support
Samir Boudrahem, Sociologist and Physical Therapy Trainer, Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences and Techniques, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 - Peerness: giving meaning to rare experiences, between peers
Eve Gardien, Associate Professor, Sociologist, ESO (UMR CNRS 6590), Rennes 2 University - Several guidelines for action
Nicolas Chambon, Scientific Director, Sociologist, ORSPERE Samdarra
Rationale
Today, many people are convinced of a direct link between lived experience and the ability to provide support for peers. It is thought that knowledge and skills are gained through lived experience. But nothing has yet been proven, nor the contrary. It is clear, however, that a wide range of effects are produced by people who declare themselves to be “peers”. Through their support, some peers enable others to get back on track, whilst others empty the support group simply by being there.
What enables individuals to act in a way that is relevant and useful to their peers? Is lived experience enough to develop skills or not? Surveys have revealed that some people who have experienced major challenges in their lives are especially apt in supporting their peers. Some can do this without being professionals, nor even volunteers. Others can use their skills to support their peers through a training program which enabled them to get the best out of their lived experience. Sometimes, although rarely, trained, and qualified people are not apt to support or help their peers.
In other words, there is no direct causal link between lived experience and the ability to support one’s peers, but lived experience is a must if a peer-to-peer relationship is to be built.
Two questions arise:
How does lived experience help to create the ability to provide support for one’s peers?
As lived experience is not enough, what other qualities, skills and attitudes are needed to support one’s peers?
The gradual institutionalization of peer support practices, and their scope of action, does not, in practice, answer the question of the link between lived experience and skills. Institutionalization through public policies in France, is in fact, multifaceted. Many interventions are developed, without the question of the link between peer support skills and life experience has been properly investigated, understood or scientifically proven. Certain sectors and institutions place a strong emphasis on lived experience, whilst others prefer a short training course, or a university degree which includes work placements and training.
For example, since 2017, the Housing First [1] program recommends that a peer worker is hired for each intervention team. The hiring requirements imposed by a 2016 decree for the Housing First program, are: experience as a mental health user and a minimum level III qualification. In other words, a two-year higher education qualification, or, failing that, a validation of acquired experience (VAE) within five years of taking up the post. The second option is most often chosen, meaning that recruitment is mostly based on lived experience.
Following the work of a stakeholder group, led by the French Inter-ministerial Committee on Disability (CIH) during 2019-2020, peer training is now being developed throughout France. For the moment, the four-to-five-day training program is open to people living disabling situations only. It is geared towards identifying and building on acquired experiential knowledge, developing a knowledge base of the field’s political and administrative organization, and internalizing the methods of peer intervention. In this case, priority is given to short-term training to back up lived experience.
The implementation of the professional Peer Health Mediator degree [2] and the Peer-Supporter [3] qualification reflects the firm choice of certain mental health sector actors to qualify through a training course lasting several weeks and a practical work placement. There is a high level of selection for entry to these courses, as there are few places available for a large number of applicants. Furthermore, concrete theoretical and practical work and the development of a professional posture are expected. Beyond the person’s lived experience, this option is clearly that of wishing to become a qualified professional.
Mention should also be made of the AQRP [4] in Quebec, which, since 2006, has been developing training for peers and training for employers and mental health teams. The peer training program runs for two weeks onsite and includes a 42-hour internship. Prior to the selection stage, applicants must meet a certain number of criteria, including: have experienced or be currently experiencing a mental health problem; be willing to share their lived experience in relation to their mental health issue and recovery; be in recovery for more than two years; be skilled in helping others; have relevant work or commitment experience, speak and write good French; and have a secondary school diploma or equivalent. In this case, whilst the training program and internship are short, the pre-selection and selection phases are more demanding than what is normally encountered in France. Moreover, the individual and his or her employer receive support once they have started the job. Lived experience is an important criterion but is only one of many.
Whilst competence is the in-depth and recognized knowledge of a field and gives the individual holding it the right to judge or decide on certain matters, competence is always limited and circumscribed. Dispositions and aptitudes acquired during lived experience do not mean omniscience. If people have experiential knowledge, in what areas are they competent, given that everyone has experiential knowledge? Are some skills cross-sectional to different types of experience? Does a peer support experience enable knowledge and skills to be created? Under what conditions does a peer support experience within a multi-professional team enable the development of peerness relationships?
This Study Day was not intended to assess or judge hiring criteria, or sector, institution, or employer choices. This scientific event was organized to understand, produce knowledge, and clarify the link between lived experience and the ability to provide support one’s peers.
[1] Public policy overseen by the DIHAL (French Inter-ministerial delegation for housing and access to housing)
[2] Bachelor’s degree in health and social sciences, Peer Health Mediators course, Sorbonne Paris Nord University
[3] Peer Support in Mental Health, Lyon 1 University
[4] AQRP: Quebec Association for Psychosocial Rehabilitation