September 2023 Forum

The Peer Partnership Coordinators Forum is for organisations who are involved in delivering or considering peer support and/or service-user involvement, in Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire.

It is an opportunity to meet with others running peer support services, hear updates relevant to peer support, share best practice and see what information and resources may be available to help us in our roles.

The forum meets four times a year and offers opportunities for you to network, highlight the important work you are doing, as well as a chance to learn from each other. We also hope by having this forum we will contribute to the overall promotion and spread of peer support and service-user involvement locally across the VCSE sector.

Agenda

9:30-9:50 - Introductions and Check in

A chance for attendees to get to know other participants and what is happening in their peer support programs.

9:50-10:25 - Spotlighted Service – TBC

An opportunity to hear from an attending organisation about their program and discuss an issue they are facing to share knowledge and experience in how to manage obstacles and barriers to providing effective peer support.

10:30-10:40 - Break

10:40-11:10 - Best Practice – Training Opportunities for Peer Workers and Professionals

The Peer Partnership is launching a new training catalogue with multiple opportunities for training for both peer workers and staff involved in the management of peer workers including:

• Core Skills for Peer Workers
• How to Design a Peer Support Service
• Boundaries in the VCSE Workplace
• Recognising and Responding to Challenging Behaviour
• Group Dynamics and Facilitation
• How to Engage and Maintain Lived-Experience Voices in Your Services

The Peer Partnership would also like to hear from the forum about areas of training that they feel may be missing in supporting safe, effective and sustainable peer support in Bristol, North Somerset and South Glos.

11:15-11:30 - Discussion

What would help the peer support sector to thrive? Attendees will discuss what help peer support services might need to provide high quality peer programs.