Peer mentoring as an overlooked health and social care method

Abstract

Peer mentoring, delivered by people with shared experiences, has grown rapidly across the globe in recent decades (Munn-Giddings and Borkman, 2017). This (multi)national development is underpinned by ‘lived experience’ movements pressing for democratic inclusion, and consumerist notions of user involvement as a lever of efficiency and effectiveness (Beresford 2002). Peer mentoring is a ‘method’ to implement the ‘theory’ of lived experience involvement and the closely related theories of participation, and coproduction, but it has largely been overlooked in health and social care texts and consequently in professional training. To bridge this gap, this chapter will introduce lived experience involvement in health and social care and examples of peer mentoring, before focusing on criminal justice as a case study to explore how the strengths of peer mentoring can be harnessed and the pitfalls avoided.