Vital Bonds

Peer mentors and volunteers are crucial to our service, says Max Griffiths.

Our peer mentors at Via are people with lived experience who have previously used our services and are looking to give back to their community, while developing their own recovery capital.

Through completing the level 2 award in peer mentoring, they can progress to become a peer mentor in our services.

For those coming into drug and alcohol services, peer mentors bring encouragement, credibility, compassion and a real understanding of what it means to navigate support and rebuild confidence. This can be a vital resource for people using our services, as well as being an amazing opportunity for peer mentors to build on their own recovery capital. 

In these two stories, our peer mentors describe their volunteering as not just a role for them, but as a way of giving something back. Through representing their service, they’re supporting others, helping people make the most of the opportunities in front of them and much more.

Their stories remind us that peer mentoring is transformative – both for the people receiving support and for those offering it. 

We know how important it is to have a volunteering culture that makes this possible, and we’re thankful to our managers and teams who are so welcoming, approachable, and generous with their time and support.

Everyone at Via is hugely appreciative of our peer mentors and volunteers and the impact they make. We couldn’t provide the life-changing services we deliver without them.

Max Griffiths is head of volunteering and participation at Via

I’ve been a peer mentor for two and a half years. My key­worker had mentioned the peer mentor course to me, and I hoped to get off drugs and then volunteer or work in drug and alcohol services.

From the early 1990s until 2009, I was injecting heroin. I was in and out of services on methadone for several years until I was on a 2ml dose, and while doing a course I managed to come off it for good. I did the NOVA and Next Steps courses at Via (on building confidence, motivation and self-development) and then straight into the peer mentor course. 

Starting as a peer mentor was exciting and daunting at the same time. Even though you know what you’re meant to be doing, you start thinking you’re not going to live up to it or you’ll do something wrong. Then you realise you’re there to talk to people – and if they want to talk, great. If not, fine – you chat to them about the support they can get.

The kitchen is the area most people will go to, and as peer mentors we make sure it’s stocked and tidy, ready for coffee and toast. We tell people how the service has helped us and how it can help them, and we try to make them feel comfortable if it’s their first time. People can be full of anxiety, and we help them feel better. 

There’s so much support for peer mentors from staff and other peer mentors, and you can always ask your manager if you need to. Everyone is welcoming and will direct you to someone more appropriate if it’s not them. Via doesn’t feel clinical or like a hierarchy – it feels relaxed and comfortable. 

I’ve done lots of training that I didn’t know I would be able to – BBV testing and other accredited courses, such as health inequalities and access to health, and right now I’m training for my driving theory exam. Every Friday we cook in the kitchen, so I also did my food hygiene awareness certificate. 

For most people being a peer mentor is about giving back. But for me it’s more about being the person that service users will talk to, and showing them there’s light at the end of the tunnel – that there’s life after addiction. 

Some service users are very young and feel they’ve wasted their lives. I feel excited showing them that they haven’t and they’ve got so much left. I want people to know what they can achieve. It can feel like being on a hamster wheel – being stuck on it, getting your script and leaving. I was like that, but now I help engage others and show them an alternative. 

I would like to be a volunteer recovery practitioner in the future, and one day work in the drug and alcohol field.

I’ve been a peer mentor for five months now. I was using the service myself, and then moved on to attend groups at the recovery hub.

One of the Via staff at a group session mentioned to me that I would be a good peer mentor, so I did the course. 

Peer mentors do lots of different things to represent the service. As a former service user and currently abstaining, I feel able to support others. I’m relatable and people open up to me. Service users talk to me about their journey and we discuss any problems that Via can help with. I want to help them get the best out of the service, knowing what support there is. 

I feel I can give back to the service that supported me when I was in treatment. This place kept me from using, and now I can do the same for others. I help in the women’s group, and love being able to chat in a safe place. It’s really fulfilling when you meet someone at the beginning of their journey then help keep them engaged as they go from treatment into the recovery hub – it feels good to do good. 

I love peer mentoring and do it three days a week. I would like to carry on volunteering and move into other areas to experience different things such as outreach and criminal justice. My main goal is to get a job at Via.