Right support at the right time
Mental health charity, Penumbra, has launched a two year strategy setting out plans to cement its place as the leading mental health peer work organisation in Scotland.
Some 20% of Penumbra staff members are currently employed in mental health peer support roles using insight from their lived experience of mental ill health and recovery to support people accessing services.
The strategy sets out plans to increase this to 30% by 2023 and embed lived experience across services.
The charity’s also aiming to increase their support reach. Currently, the charity supports 2500 adults and young people at any one time, and over 6000 people accessed services in 2020/21. The planned growth would see over 7500 adults and young people accessing their frontline support services by 2023.
Penumbra’s right support at the right time mantra is echoed throughout its vision, and talks about the importance of valuing the social care workforce.
Chief executive, Nigel Henderson said: “As pioneers in the mental health peer work movement in Scotland, we know that lived experience of mental ill health and recovery offers a unique and hopeful perspective on supporting people who access our services.
“Currently 20% of our colleagues are employed in peer support roles and we’ve now set out our ambitious plan to cement our place as the leading mental health peer support employer organisation in Scotland by embedding lived experience of mental ill health and recovery across our services; our aim is to have 30% of our colleagues employed in a variety of peer work roles by 2023.
“The visibility of mental health and wellbeing in the media and increased public awareness of the importance of prioritising our mental health and wellbeing during the last 18 months presents significant new opportunities to work with partners to develop person led service provision and policy. It’s also given the public an understanding of the important space social care workers occupy. Our workforce are our greatest strength. Together they deliver exceptional support, and we want to continue to develop new roles and opportunities to enable their careers to grow and thrive.
“A focus on recovery, lived experience of mental health recovery, and innovation will continue to inform all that we do as we continue to reach more people through the right support at the right time. Our HOPE® framework for mental wellbeing remains the foundation of our approach and is actively underpinned by our values of courage, compassion, curiosity and collaboration.
“We believe our strategy offers a bold and hopeful vision for mental health recovery.”
