Towards peer-led and person-centred care

When I first plunged back into postgraduate studies, I had no idea it would lead me here – to new perspectives that have unravelled not only my previous academic understandings, but also, understandings of myself, my identity, my intentions, and the world around me.

From the confines of traditional, biomedical conceptions of mainstream psychology, to the emancipatory horizons of critical health psychology (CHP)… and from naïve teenage dreams to practice as a private psychologist, to the raw reality of working in a peer support role at the pointy end of public health, in the Nelson Hospital Emergency Department.

Perhaps most pivotal of all, has been the congruence between my learnings and real-life examples in my working environment – to observe, encounter and critique applied healthcare interactions in motion and from a unique position at the intersection of clinical and peer-led models of practice. And within these blurred boundaries, the unwavering commitment that human-to-human, person-centred care is the only way to meaningfully, equitably adapt services and systems for individuals and communities that are currently being overlooked and underserved.

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