Highlighting the Lived Experience of Families: Family Peer Support Services Initiative
To support personal recovery, any person with a mental illness should have access to a range of practices recommended by scientific evidence. The peer support are some of the services recommended by the Mental Health Commission of Canada for the reduction of the economic and social burden of mental illness. If peer support from families is poorly documented, peer support and mutual aid from users have been the subject of several studies. Based on two studies in which she participated, addressing the needs of families, and its experience as a non-profit support organization for families, the Quebec Society of Schizophrenia (QSS) has reflected on the family support problem upon entry in the health system as well as the involvement of families as peer support. This article presents the implementation pilot project of Family Peer Support services initiative, fruit of collaboration between QSS and University Institute of Mental Health in Montreal and the issues and recommendations of the first year of implementation.