At A Path To Follow, we support the mental health and well-being of young people and families through a unique peer support model, using lived experience and personalised care to help navigate mental health and foster resilience. With a team who hold a unique blend of qualifications and experiences as service users, carers and professionals in the sector, this service was founded to support young people and families in a way the current system does not. We envisage a connected community where young people and families support each other in their mental health journeys. We hope to support families to achieve this by keeping young people connected to community via pairing them with workforce peers who have living/lived mental health experiences. We seek to support families with mental health advocacy and peer support to make their mental health journeys less isolating and ensure their voices are authentically heard in a service system that finds it hard to listen. The service is flexible and personalised according to a family’s needs, using an Intentional Peer Support framework to guide best engagement and support of peers. Young people, from approximately 11 years of age are connected to the community by pairing them with a living/lived experience Youth Peer Support Worker. We meet them where they are and walk beside them as they determine their own paths forward. Service navigation, advocacy, referral guidance, emotional and practical supports are provided to parents and families in their Family Peer Advocacy and Peer Support Program. Whole of family challenges are also supported with our Single Session Family Consultation Service, where practical plans are discussed, set and reviewed as families journey through complex life situations. This support can be ongoing or short term in helping families to navigate a complex service system.
