Our Values
It is our mission:

“To empower people whose lives are
affected by Bipolar Disorder through:

• Peer support and the sharing of experience
• Improving access to information and education and
• Valuing the individual journey to recovery”

Bipolar Support Canterbury has a commitment to principles of recovery and to developing the role of peer support within our organisation.

Recovery can be described as the journey a person takes to reclaim and heal their lives after trauma. It may be the trauma of having a mental illness or it may be the trauma of being affected by someone else’s mental illness; it is a unique process of personal growth and self discovery.

Our intention is to provide support in a way that promotes hope for a person’s future, encourages personal responsibility and self -advocacy and offers information that allows people to make choices for their own lives.

Peer Support is not like clinical support
Shery Mead is a peer support trainer from the United States and she describes peer support like this:

“Peer support is not like clinical support, and it is more than just being friends. In peer support we understand each other because we’ve “been there,” shared similar experiences and can model for each other a willingness to learn and grow. We come together with the intention of changing unhelpful patterns, getting out of “stuck” places, and building relationships that are respectful, mutually responsible, and, potentially, mutually transforming.” (Wellness Recovery Action Plan and Peer Support. Personal, Group and Program Development. Copeland and Mead, 2004. Peach Press, Vermont.) www.mentalhealthpeers.com/booksarticles.html

We believe peer support has much to offer a person who seeks to reclaim their life following the trauma of mental illness experiences.