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Peer mental health mediators joining healthcare teams: Hopes, resources, and obstacles Volume 98, issue 4, Avril 2022

Authors
1 Service d’épidémiologie et d’économie de la santé, EA 3279, Faculté médicale à la Timone, Aix-Marseille Université
2 Équipe mobile Psychiatrie Précarité MARSS, Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille, service d’épidémiologie et d’économie de la santé, EA 3279, Faculté de médecine de Marseille
3 Université Sorbonne Paris Nord-Paris 13, IRIS
* Correspondance : M. Sedan

This study focuses on the training of peer mental health mediators at university and their integration into the care settings where they begin to work. These (ex-)mental health patients are trained to work in care teams as intermediaries between staff and users. A study using interviews and observation was conducted with a methodology inspired by interactionist sociology. The construction of this new profession relies on the valorization of experiential knowledge and exchanges between peers about their professional identity. Their integration into care teams is not always easy. Success depends on training the teams for the mediator’s arrival and their awareness of the recovery movement.