Today is Wednesday, March 11th, 2026, and it is 9:49pm. Well, I was part of a focus group today. The funny thing is that I was invited to be part of the focus group—yet I felt like my peer input was not appreciated. In a pond of clinically trained individuals, I was the lone peer fish. I felt like an alien in that environment. But I know that if at least one other peer had been in the pond, I would have been okay. It got me to thinking. Was I just the “token” peer. I was there for appearances only and my input didn’t really matter and wasn’t really valued. The clinical staff did not appreciate what I had to say. I said that peer support groups were needed and they tried to steer me toward clinical support, like I needed their help, which I didn’t want nor did I ask for. I know what kind of support is needed by people with a serious mental illness, because I have one. Unfortunately, the prevailing mood was that my voice was not welcome, was not considered worthy of consideration and did not matter. They said that we were there to learn from each other, but they didn’t want to learn from me. They just wanted to talk about their projects and didn’t care for my input. It was very frustrating for me. But still I spoke up. I am a peer and I advocated for peers. They said there was plenty of training was available for the program directors. I asked if training was available for me and the facilitator basically said it was not.
I am so happy that I work for an all peer run agency. The program directors were part of multidisciplinary teams and yet none of their peers were present. I even asked, “Why am I here?” Their discussions didn’t include me nor did they attempt to include me when I spoke up. It was a crappy experience. I had been looking forward to the focus group. I was really hoping to have a positive influence on how services are provided. I advocated for my peers even though I was all alone. I was invited to participate in the focus group. I was told that it would be used to collect data. I was also told that the recordings would be destroyed and not shared with the participants. Is there any transparency there? I think not!
I spoke to one of my peers and she was in a different focus group. She told me that she was the only peer there too. Are we just being used as tokens. Do they just want to be able to say they got peer input, when they really didn’t, and just do whatever the hell they want anyway? They can say they had peer input, because one peer was in the virtual room. I say that is fucked up.
I feel like I wasn’t respected nor valued because I did not have clinical training like everyone else in the room. We need a support group for peers in the community. Not one at a clinic or psychiatric hospital. We need a support group in a comfortable space that is not aligned with a mental health provider. A community center would be good. We need a support group for peers. It needs to be in a space that we are comfortable with. We are peers, but we are so much more than our mental health. That is just a small piece of who we are. We are mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, aunts, uncles and cousins. We are working or volunteering, we are active in society and live independently. We take care of others, and we need to make sure that we are taking care of ourselves. Self-care is crucial. We can’t care for others, if we are falling apart.
Also, I would say that EVERYONE needs to be educated on boundaries. Not just peers, but clinicians too. Just because they are trained clinical staff, doesn’t mean they cannot disrespect our boundaries. When I said that boundaries should be taught in kindergarten. The response I got was that consumers are not ready for education on boundaries, that we are not capable enough, that it needs to be WEAVED into other programs. I say, “No!” Why are these clinicians afraid to educate peers on boundaries? Is it because they are frightened, we will discover that they are violating ours? As Faith G Harper would say, the time has come to “Unf*uck Your Boundaries.”