culturally appropriate
peer support

"I can’t think of anything that wasn't covered or discussed that wasn't real or important"

Winston

PDP Participant

the peer support course

The course

Each Oxytocin-learning course combines interactive learning sessions, webinars, presentations and self reading. Our programmes are designed to equip participants with a lucid understanding of composite attributes to flourish as a culturally appropriate ‘peer supporter’. The course has been designed for anyone living or supporting others with a recent or past mental health challenge or diagnosis.

Lessons and topics are geared toward equipping individuals, groups and organisations with relevant and culturally appropriate knowledge concerning:

How to effectively navigate services as a service user or professional worker.
How to build positive relationships with service users, professionals and other community services.
The empowerment of peer support workers by providing them with the skills and tools to be better informed about available mental health treatment options and wider support services.
Providing the skills and tools to be better connected and informed about available mental health treatment options, wider community networks and support services.
Strengthening of communication skills so that those being listened to have the experience of really being heard.
Health Education England (HEE) guidance for peer support competencies are incorporated throughout the course.

“Nations reel and stagger on their way; they make hideous mistakes; they commit frightful wrongs; they do great and beautiful things. And shall we not best guide humanity by telling the truth about all this, so far as the truth is ascertainable?”

W. E. B. Du Bois

Expectations

On completion of the peer support training participants will be able:

To identify and name common terms and symptoms of mental health challenges frequently experienced with the African Caribbean communities with accurate up-to-date research and data.
To identify and name common treatments modalities currently available for those with mental health challenges within the African Caribbean community.
To provider pragmatic and emotional support through a new supportive framework.
Recognise and monitor positive actions, policies and resources within the African Caribbean community.
To present accurate information to service users and a peer supporter whilst dispelling any prevalent myths and fantasies surrounding prescribed medications, consultant psychologist and the subsequent cause of mental health challenges within the African Caribbean community.
To articulate the strengths of their own lived experience that will support them when working with the people they serve.
To feel more confident in the journey of recovery “from surviving to striving to thriving.
To demonstrate self-compassion and mindfulness that model the possibilities of self-transformation.
To embrace African-centred approaches to self-identity and peer support.
To identify your own biases, be aware of your own assumptions, and how they might impact upon your ability to connect, and the importance of this for cultural competency.
To have an improved understanding of the range of identities that may experience bias in their life journey linked to ethnicity, religion, faith, class, sexual orientation socio-economic status, gender identity, and the lived experience of the interaction of these identities.
To enhance diversity and inclusion through culturally competent peer support and mentorship.
To incorporate an understanding of diverse cultures into the support offered to the people you support.

Just for you

A great deal of care and consideration has been taken in the design and applicability of the course material. Therefore this Oxytocin course has been specifically designed for anyone who provides emotional, practical and educational support to the African Caribbean community. This includes health professional, nurses, school teachers, support workers, mental health advocate, substance misuse workers and law enforcers who liaise with members of the African Caribbean community.