Peer Connecting BME East and Midlothian

Black and Minority Ethnic Peer Connecting Service offers one-to-one and group support for people over 18 living in East and Midlothian who are looking to improve or manage their mental health and wellbeing. We work collaboratively with other organisations to support not only you, but your family as well.

Our peer support brings together people with shared experiences of a particular mental health and wellbeing difficulties, isolation and loneliness, language barriers in connecting with others or community, or similar personal interests and cultural background.

If you decide to access our service, you will have a choice between taking part in one to one peer support with a peer volunteer, which is sometimes called befriending, or in a support group with other peer participants and volunteers. This is where you work towards goals you have agreed with someone else.

Within Peer Connecting Service we will support you and aim to:

Help you to build your confidence and self-esteem, explore ways of managing your feelings and thoughts better, and feel more empowered and in control
Support you to reconnect with family and friends, build new relationships, and get more involved in your local community
Help you to discover and reinforce your strengths and talents, find a sense of purpose and meaning in your life, and feel more hopeful for the future;

Our Peer volunteers draw on their own experience and training provided by us in order to do this. Everyone’s experiences are treated as equally important and no-one is more of an expert than anyone else.

If you want to access the service or want to help someone else access the service, see below for the introduction form or contact monika.dyczko@health-in-mind.org.uk