When you’re ready to talk, we’re ready to listen. Introducing the Nova Scotia Peer Support Phone Service

Peer Support
Written By Véronique Grenier

The Mental Health Innovations (MHI) team celebrates their ongoing relationship with Nova Scotia Health. This valued relationship continues to expand as the power of peer support continues to be acknowledged as a viable tool by governments, healthcare, community organizations and workplaces.

Nova Scotia Health (NSH) has been a true champion in forwarding peer support services province-wide. Their 2012 Mental Health and Addictions Strategy: Together We Can, reinforced the powerful impact peer support can have on a person's recovery. NSH and IWK Hospital expanded mental health peer support at inpatient sites across the Province. In 2019, the program plan Direction 2025 was developed to map out NSH Mental Health and Addictions Program's (MHAP's) vision for the future, with clinicians, physicians, staff and colleagues across and within NSH / MHAP, and partners from across the broader system mobilizing to contribute significantly to the progress of the strategy, along with patients and families who share their experiences and openness to new services and new ways of accessing them.

  

And now, we are excited to share news about the launch of the Nova Scotia Peer Support Phone Service (PSPS). A toll-free, non-crisis, province-wide service staffed by MHI-trained peer supporters with individual or family-based lived experience with mental health and substance use challenges. It is available to all Nova Scotians 18 years of age or older who need support and to talk to someone.

 

"Nova Scotia Health's mental health and addictions program continues to foster a strong partnership with Mental Health Innovations. We recognize the value of peer support in providing holistic, person-centred and recovery-oriented support for Nova Scotians. We are thrilled to continue our collaboration with the development of the peer support line, which will help to strengthen the broader mental health and addictions system of care across Nova Scotia."   

- Dana Pulsifer, Senior Director of Mental Health and Addictions Program, Nova Scotia Health  

 

The partnership Dana refers to dates back almost a decade with the launch of Peer Support Nova Scotia - a program designed, implemented and managed by MHI on behalf of Nova Scotia Health, involving peer supporters located in every inpatient mental health unit in the Province, as well as within the central withdrawal management unit, and several outpatient clinics, including youth-specific locations. In addition, MHI leads the delivery of peer support skills training and provides regular peer support community of practice (CoP) sessions.     

 
 

MHI's methodology, philosophy and social support knowledge are grounded directly in Founder Stéphane Grenier's experience implementing the first peer support program in the Department of National Defense - the Operational Stress Injury Social Support (OSISS) program. He was later seconded to the Mental Health Commission of Canada to lead a ground-breaking project that produced the National Guidelines for Peer Support, the Peer Support Training Guidelines, and the National Standards of Practice for Peer Support. 

 
"I know I speak on behalf of the entire team here at Mental Health Innovations when I say that it is a true honour to collaborate with the Province and with Nova Scotia Health to launch this progressive service for Nova Scotians. It is through this type of collaboration that we can make giant leaps forward to improve the way people are supported as they experience the hardship of addictions and mental health challenges. Leveraging the power of human connection through peer support, now an evidence-based approach to mental health care, has never been more important."    

- Stéphane Grenier, Founder & CEO, Mental Health Innovations  

  

Peer support is the emotional and social support that occurs between individuals, or in a group, based on a common lived or living experience.  Peer support is grounded in hope, empowerment, and self-determination. It provides hope as the Peer Supporter has lived through a similar experience and has found their way to a path of wellness.  Peer support is not counselling or advice-giving; it is based on relationships in which each person is considered equal within the relationship and supports the peer as they discover the knowledge of what will work best for them. 

 

Those who have received peer support have shared what a profound impact it has had on their well-being and road to wellness.

We’re here to help.   

MHI provides a full suite of mental health services for workplaces and health care. They consist of a comprehensive turnkey service for the development of peer support programs, as well as virtual and in-person peer support skills training that is customized for the community, first responders, and workplaces.

Learn more here and sign up for our Support Your People Newsletter for upcoming training updates.  

Véronique Grenier
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