The purpose of this website is to provide information for family members and friends who need supports and guidance for themselves when someone they love is experiencing a mental health challenge. When mental health impacts the family, it is important to have access to supports that empower the family to manage the challenge in the best possible way.

In the recent past there has been a cultural shift in how mental health services are delivered in Ireland to a more holistic person centred approach.  What this means is that recovery takes place across many parts of your life, such as where you live, getting a job or finding friends and this involves many outside groups of people.  These groups alongside the Family Peer Support Service (which was piloted in Mayo in 2015 and known as Bealach Nua/ New Way) provide access to recovery orientated services for families.

Family peer support workers are aware of the needs and concerns of families when a loved one is going through difficult times and also of the need to focus on their own self-care.  This is because all of the family peer workers at Family Peer Support Services have their own lived experience of mental health challenges in their own family.

Through this site we hope you will have a better understanding of the Family Peer Support Services.  This site is replete with self-help tips and information and you will also find some short videos on this topic and you can also listen to the experiences of family members.

We know mental health challenges can impact on family members and friends differently and we provide information about this. The site also looks at issues such as confidentiality/information sharing, multi-disciplinary teams, rights and entitlements, podcasts on recovery and what family recovery denotes.  We have a section too where you can meet Our Team.

The site provides useful information for families and professionals in areas such as medications, diagnosis, complementary and alternative medicines which together provide people with a person centred and holistic approach to care and recovery, in line with the National Framework for Recovery in Mental Health.

Our Family Peer Support Service are grateful for the contribution of families in bringing this website to life and appreciate the testimonials from family members who have used family peer support services.  We acknowledge the contributions and support for this project from health professionals working in statutory and community settings.

The guiding principal for this site is to be as inclusive as possible, for example by keeping paragraphs short, using inclusive colours, fonts and highlighting (italics and bold) to assist people with dyslexia, colour blindness and vision impairment. An accessibility tool to aid users of this site is located at the bottom right side of every page.

As you see from this site, there are numerous supports and information for families and anyone who is interested in mental health service delivery for families and their loved ones.  Mental health challenges can have a ripple effect on the whole family and the right information and supports can instil and keep Hope alive.

In addition to Family Peer Support the Health Service Executive (HSE) also provides support to service users through its Peer Support Service.  You can find out more about this service from any member of the multi-disciplinary team.  You can listen to a peer support worker talk about their role at this link.

Throughout this site, we primarily refer to the term family member for simplicity purposes but please note that supports provided by the family peer support service are available to an adult sibling, parent, spouse/partner, son / daughter, friend and extended family member. To find out more click on this link.

We see this website as a starting point rather than an end point in supporting families to support themselves when a loved one has a mental health challenge.   The evidence clearly shows that when families are supported this may have a positive effect on all the family.

Family members and family peer workers have chosen the positive affirmations throughout this website.

Family Peer Support Service Website Launch 28th June 2024