Certificate in Peer Support (Mental Health)

Why a new course?

The Peer Support workforce is growing, both locally and internationally, and the nature of the role is becoming more and more sophisticated. It is now recognized that the challenges of working in Peer Support are unique. You are required to bring elements of deeply personal experience into a professional setting, and to make difficult decisions on a regular basis about how best to promote recovery.

No existing NZQA qualification adequately prepared Peer Support Workers for their work, so Mind and Body have developed the Certificate in Peer Support, based on five years of delivering the training. Our specifically tailored course ensures you or your employees are fully equipped to rise to the challenges of the role, and become great Peer Support Workers.

Why Level 4?

As a Level 4 qualification, our Certificate satisfies the new health sector recommendation that all professionals delivering support services have an appropriate qualification of at least Level 4. We see the Peer Support Workforce as the future of New Zealand’s mental health services. The uptake of this qualification will enhance the growing reputation of Peer Support as a genuinely viable form of mainstream mental health support.

What is the course based on?

Mind and Body have developed the Certificate in Peer Support based on over five years’ experience delivering Peer Support Services throughout the country, and training our own Peer Support Workers to excel in the role.

Delivering mental health services since 1998, we are one of the largest and longest running consumer-run organisations in New Zealand. In both our service delivery and our training, we draw upon a significant body of experience on both sides of service delivery to help get our country’s mental health services where they want to be. Our vision is of a world in which everyone can lead the life they choose, whatever their experience of mental distress. This training teaches you and your employees how to support people to do just that.

This course is also the first and only NZQA-approved mental health qualification to integrate the seven ‘Real Skills’ from Let’s Get Real, the Ministry of Health’s guiding document for mental health workforce development.

Course Content

1. Philosophy and Ethics
2. Legislative and Cultural Context
3. Practicum
4. Communication in a Team
5. Implementing the Strengths Model
6. Safety and Supervision

Competencies

Peer Support Workers who complete the course will:

• understand the philosophical and ethical foundation of recovery-based peer support
• develop cultural competence, and the ability to implement the Treaty in their work
• understand and be able to apply the concept of promoting autonomy in peer support work
• understand the role of advocacy in peer support
• understand the role of peer support and how it relates to clinical mental health services
• understand the change cycle and how to facilitate change
• be able to identify safe peer support practices and demonstrate safe and ethical practice including use of external supervision
• develop skills to support and facilitate recovery
• develop individual and group communication skills
• develop the ability to reflect critically on their practice.

The course also covers all seven ‘real skills’ from Let’s Get Real, the Ministry of Health’s framework for mental health and addictions workforce development, exploring their specific implications for Peer Support work.

Time commitment

The full course involves 100 hours of classroom time and 200 hours of independent study, followed by on-the-job assessments completed over the first six months of employment. The classroom time is scheduled so that students already working as Peer Support Workers can continue seeing clients each week. The course is run multiple times a year, so students do not have to undertake the whole course at once.

Enrolment Requirements

To enrol on the course you need to be working as Peer Support Worker for an organisation who can support you during the practicum (on the job) period of the training.

Alternatively, we have now opened the Certificate to individual fee paying students. To successfully enrol on the course an individual will need to complete an application and interview process. Additionally, Mind and Body Learning and Development cannot guarantee a placement for the completion of practicum for individual students, and it is their responsibility to secure a placement with an approved organisation.

Recognition of Current Competency

We can assess and process this credit based on students’ experience to date, allowing them to bypass elements of the Certificate. There is an administration fee associated with this process.

Course Location

We are based in Auckland, but can travel to deliver the course throughout New Zealand. Travel does affect the course costs, Contact us us for more information.

Contact

For more details or to register your interest, contact Training Manager Nicky Grant: nicky@mindandbody.co.nz or 09 630 5909 x803.

Course Modules