Peer work, which is seen as one of the futuristic ideas in Mental Health, can only bank on the support which peers provide. Understandably we who have gone through the mental health system, do not have the sort of resources mainstream psychiatry has- for spreading our message of hope, courage, recovery without one another’s active support and knowledge sharing. We can only rely on one another, peer-hood and the possibilities that our collaboration can bring to spread a message of hope among others. If you agree with this in principle, please share among your networks.
The future of Mental Health cannot succeed until we all own it as our own,our due, and something we need to build in different ways- even to offer a ray of hope to a languishing person, family or group is help. The future also lies with us for we can leverage the following resources for the empowerment of our peers:
Pathways to recovery: There are multiple ways people can recover, and counseling with recovery oriented professionals is chiefly among those. Yet if professionals do not have any idea how to assist someone towards recovery, they can only offer pharmaceutical solutions, with no permanent outcomes, and a lifelong dependence.
Peer Interaction- The idea of recovery basically originated when someone recovered and decided to help others. Her name is Judi Chamberlin of the United States. This happened in the 1970’s. Ever since then thousands of people are supporting one another in different settings towards recovery- by dialogues and support. Our’s is one such venture.
Peer assisted support or peer-led work is the future of mental health, according to global evidence. At Bright Side Family Counseling Center we understand this well and attempt to leverage peer knowledge in recovery towards the wellbeing and recovery of scores of people, all over India. We also work in several overseas locations. Our work is done in-person and via the internet in all locations, for we cherish the scope that technology has created for us to reach one another seamlessly.
Advocacy - Most people do not believe that recovery is possible. So advocacy of recovery is important for us, to let people know this is possible, and within reach of everyone, anywhere- if only they would take the first steps towards it.
Knowledge sharing- We are all the time sharing ideas, which appear anywhere in the world to help people understand themselves and their situations better. Wherever feasible we will keep sharing research and other ideas.
Family Support - The effects of a mental illness diagnosis on the entire family of the individual diagnosed can be huge. We understand this from our own lived experiences. Therefore we work towards family support, so that everyone knows what is going on and how we can support someone more effectively, gently and efficiently.
Individual Counseling- Though the individual who suffers is at the heart of all our efforts, at times we also involve families in understanding what is going on. This is what we have found in years of doing this work at a smaller scale and now as we put ourselves out in the public domain, we would like to bring to all families, with no pressure for anyone to get involved, if they are not up to it.
The Pathway to Recovery - We are sharing some resources about the counseling we offer and other ideas around recovery. Please click here to read several of these ideas.
We do not look at people as diagnostic categories, and therefore it is their truth we believe in. As people with lived experiences of psychosis ourselves we know when someone is telling something what their experiences could have been.
We do not judge anyone, because everyone has so much potential, which is severely compromised when they become psychiatric patients. We never think someone cannot do better than what they are doing currently. Therefore we do our most to enable them to unwind and become calmer, centered and more at ease with themselves and the world around.
We do not think recovery is only for a few special people, and not everyone. We believe everyone can recover, if only the situations around them become less onerous. We work towards that, adapting our methods and offering person-focused discussions
About the Founder
Prateeksha Sharma, the founder of this venture, is a peer-therapist-researcher and teacher, in addition to being a classical musician. She has a long background, spanning nearly three decades, of understanding psychosis and recovery from multiple positions, viz a patient, researcher, therapist and observer. She has recovered from bipolar disorder, and brings her knowledge of recovery from that perspective, further consolidated by her doctoral research in the area of recovery in/from psychosis. Her writing about herself is freely accessible on the internet, and downloadable on ResearchGate or Academia, by clicking on either of these links.
On quora she responds to queries on mental health issues - here. We are also in the process of setting up a community, both on facebook and quora to discuss recovery and ideas in that direction. Please stay tuned for further.
Kindly note: There is enough knowledge about psychiatry on the internet, so we will not be sharing any further psychiatric ideas here- unless they pertain to recovery.
