Family peer support has its origins in Australia and America and in-depth studies show how families benefited from interactions with professionals and how this partnership offers a better range of interventions for families when they are needed most.

Bealach Nua (now incorporated into the Family Peer Support Service) undertook research into a different modality of mental health support.  Family members who have used peer support can attest to its person centred approach to care and support.  This methodology from the 2006 Irish Mental Health Policy Document A Vision for Change recognised the need to support families with their recovery when a loved one was unwell through an integrated care approach. Sharing the Vision- A Mental Health Policy for Everyone replaces the policy above. You can access it here

The model of care adopted in 2015 when this innovative project was initiated, fits with a blended model of peer support.  From its inception, staff have been utilising the Meriden programme ‘Caring for Carers’ framework as a resource. (read an introduction here).

This is a strengths based approach that supports families to focus on their recovery.  In 2015 Dr. Gráinne Fadden, then Director of the Meriden Family Programme provided the Meriden training in Mayo.  Family members, service providers and professionals who attended this training, identified a need for a family peer support service.  During the formative years of this new family service, social workers Veronica Burke and Catherine Walsh from the HSE played a pivotal role in ensuring its continuation and success with the support of families. The first family peer support worker was Maria McGoldrick and many others have worked in the role down to the present day staff members.

In 2015, Dr. Mark Garavan at the Galway Mayo Institute of technology (now Atlantic Technological University) undertook a qualitative evaluation that showed:

• Families ability to cope increased twofold
• Increased levels of satisfaction with the provision of information around responding to their family members needs
• That the family peer support model offered something unique in terms of relational empathy
• Families had the opportunity to network with other families and share experiences and build resilience
• Families felt valued, that they were no longer alone and isolated, listened to and understood

In 2018 clinical psychologist Denise Brett, in collaboration with the Bealach Nua team did a quantitative evaluation of the service provided using a research and clinical tool called the ‘Carers Wellbeing and Support Questionnaire’.  In her work she analysed 29 pre & post Carer Wellbeing & Support questionnaires.  The average time between pre & post questionnaires completion was 4.9 months (range of time between all responses was 2-12 months).

The mean or average age of participants was 58 years and the average length of time caring for a loved one was 13 years.  64 % of the participants were caring for their offspring, 64% were living with the family member they were supporting and 36% of those they supported had a diagnosis of psychosis.  There was a 66 % increase in the wellbeing of the family member from when they started the individual work at Bealach Nua to when they finished with the service.

There were significant increases between pre and post intervention in the following areas:

• Satisfaction with role as carer (88%)
• Relationship with person you care for (100%)
• Relationship with family and friends (90%)
• Emotional wellbeing (66%)
• Own safety (29%).

There was a significant difference between pre and post measures of total support with an increase of 34%.  The evaluations also identified issues such as tackling stigma and engaging men in the role as family peer support workers. We now have male and female family peer support workers in our service.

Opportunities for families to meet and establish informal networks of support have been developed.

Over the last number of years numerous families have accessed support and information. In 2020 the Family Peer Support Service was expanded to the Community Healthcare Organisation Area (CHO2) comprising of Galway, Mayo & Roscommon and this service continues to expand into other CHO areas.  In 2022 the Family Peer Support Service was rolled out nationally by the HSE.

Bealach Nua, contributed greatly to the national development of family peer support and today family peer workers are trained to QQI level 8 in mental health supports from Dublin City University (DCU) and Atlantic Technological University (ATU).