A new mental health and alcohol and drug addiction program that is delivered by peers is being trialled in the Top End, with those who have personal experience also called on to help design the program.

The Lived Experience Network spokesperson Noelene Armstrong said the organisation developed Recovery Together, as a free, evidence-based program delivered by peers – people with their own lived experience of related issues and recovery, who have been trained to deliver the program.

The program has been funded by the NT Primary Health Network as a trial and will be evaluated.

“Recovery Together provides a safe and confidential space for people to learn evidence-based strategies to support their recovery,” she said.

“The medical model for recovery relies heavily on treating peoples symptoms with medication. In reality ‘recovery’ is a deeply personal process and its defined by each person.

“Recovery is living a meaningful and satisfying life. Its about having control over and input into your own life, sometimes even with the ongoing experience of symptoms.

“It’s important to know that people can and do recover from significant and lifelong challenges. The evidence demonstrates that the best ways to support recovery is to create connections, destigmatise people’s experience and support them to build their own recovery and self-management skills.

“These are the principles which have been applied by the NT Lived Experience Network to develop Recovery Together.”

Ms Armstrong said the NT Lived Experience Network emerged from the empowerment created when a similar program called My Recovery, was delivered during the Darwin Peer Led Education Pilot from May 2019 to October 2021, which was evaluated by the Menzies School of Health Research, capturing the impact it had on local people’s experience of recovery.

She said some of the participant feedback included: “…we were a group. We were all bonded together. We all had similar problems, but I found that I wasn’t alone. We supported each other.”

And: “I can see now a meaning. I can also see why life is so important too. So, the course did make a hell of a difference for me.”

And also: “I think it’s brilliant. I think peer programs are the way to go. I got more out of that peer program than I’ve got from any bloody program ever that’s been done by professionals.”

The program will be trialled in Darwin and Palmerston from next month through March 2023, with a limited number of programs delivered on the evenings or weekends.

“We are inviting people to submit their expressions of interest for the program and their preferences for participating by filling in our online survey or getting in touch with us directly,” she said.

Mr Armstrong said The Lived Experience Network was also hosting a co-design workshop to support the final shaping of the Recovery Together program and was calling on people with lived experience of mental health and, or alcohol or drug related issues to join them to provide their thoughts and views about the program’s design, planned activities and how we can best evaluate it.

You can register you interest by calling Ms Armstrong on 0438 022 032, by emailing contact@livedexperiencent.net, or by visiting the website.

The co-design workshop will he held between 1pm and 4pm Saturday September 24, at Response Employment and Training, 3/66 Coonawarra Road, Winnellie. You can register here.

If you or anyone you know is experiencing mental health difficulties, please reach out to Lifeline on 13 11 14, Beyondblue on 1300 224 636, 13YARN (a service run by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people) or Mensline Australia on 1300 789 978.