Lived experience is an evolving field which focuses on the person's personal experience with a mental health situation or psychosocial disabilities and their journey to recovery.
The lived experience approach places at the center of the stage the unique experiences, perspectives and insights of people living with psychosocial disabilities.
This approach is based on the belief that there are things that only people who have lived through such experiences can understand.
Therefore, peer-support is a vital tool in the treatment and rehabilitation process of people with psychosocial disabilities. In recent years the Lived Experience approach is rapidly gaining momentum both in Israel and abroad, creating a community of people who support and learn from each other while creating a space for shared experience and destiny.
In the last decade people with Lived Experience have been integrated into the mental health rehabilitation field, including – rehabilitation coordinators, case managers and more. Recently there has been a rise in awareness regarding the significance of integrating lived experience knowledge into a broader range of fields due to the positive impact it has on the Israeli mental health system.
Today, the need for recovery support peers is clear and the value of the knowledge they bring with them is recognized.
Therefore, many organizations rely on a person's knowledge from their own lived experience to help promote others recovery.
This is done by basing activities on the Lived Experience approach and integrating the Lived Experience knowledge into the decision-making process.
Enosh employs peer support specialist who chose to use the knowledge they gained in their mental health recovery journey in order to support other individuals, lead mental health recovery programs and peer support programs. Their work is based on the insight gained from their life experience dealing with extreme mental health conditions.
How we implement peer support?
- Lived experience knowledge department: Enosh have recovery support peers that use the knowledge they gained in their own recovery process in order to support people as well as lead program both inside and outside of the organization.
- The "Yachad" Initiative: Expert peers at Enosh are trained for the role and lead "Havrutot"- Lived Experience peer support groups aimed at mutual learning and support which enables recovery and open discussion in an equal manner.
- UPSIDES international research project. The main objective of UPSIDES is to widen access to peer support interventions for people with severe mental illness, by researching sustainable best practices in high-, middle- and low-resource settings. The UPSIDES project involves scientists, mental health professionals, peer support workers, and service users from six countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The program examines a range of parameters related to peer support in the organization. Information on UPSIDES can be found here: https://www.upsides.org/
- Lion Gai Meir, head of lived experience knowledge department in the UPSIDES Project https://youtu.be/ikMysNvtUls .
- “Listening from experience” Lived experience call center that includes people with lived experience and family members with lived experience who provide support and information through phone calls. This initiative allows people to reach out and talk to recovery support peers, which also include family members, who based on their experience offer support. The support line was established many years ago by volunteering family members and has become a professional information center that includes knowledge gained through Lived Experience as well as professional and theoretical information.
- Policy and Advocacy: Enosh believes in giving people with Lived Experience an opportunity to express their insight and knowledge both within Enosh as well as outside of the organization at local, national and global levels. Recovery support peers and service users participate in various forums to advocate and promote the rights of people with psychosocial disabilities, and their family members.
- Raising awareness and changing public perception of mental health– the activity of the lived experience department includes participation in conferences, lectures, roundtables, and meetings with local communities and organizations. One of its flag projects of Enosh is the “dialogue project” that trains people with lived experience in public speaking as an income generator. The program aims to tackle the social stigma associated with mental illness and expand employment opportunities for participants.