Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing · Adjuncts to Treatments
Users Groups
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In 30 seconds
Users groups — also called consumer groups, survivor groups, service-user organizations, or peer-run organizations — are groups led by and for people with Lived experience Firsthand knowledge of having a mental health condition and using services Full entry → of mental health conditions. They exist because people who have been through psychiatric treatment hold expertise clinicians do not: the insider's knowledge of what it feels like to be diagnosed, hospitalized, medicated, stigmatized, and to rebuild a life. Users groups turn that expertise into Mutual support People helping each other reciprocally, without a professional in charge Full entry →, Advocacy Speaking up for individual rights and for better services and policy Full entry →, education, and paid peer-support services.
The movement has deep roots. Former patients organized mutual-aid clubs as early as the 1800s, but modern user groups grew out of the civil-rights-era ferment of the 1960s and 1970s — the same era as the anti-psychiatry critique of institutional care. In the United States, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI National Alliance on Mental Illness (US, founded 1979) Full entry →), founded in 1979, brought families and consumers together to advocate for better services and against stigma. Around the world, "Mad Pride" events, survivor histories, and peer-run drop-in centers made lived experience a visible force in mental health policy and research. Today, peer support specialists — trained, often certified, and increasingly paid — work alongside nurses inside hospitals and community programs.
Users groups are an adjunct to treatment, not a replacement for it. They work best when nurses understand what they offer and how to collaborate safely and respectfully.
Why this matters
Recovery-oriented care explicitly includes peer support as a core principle. Research on peer support has generally found positive effects on engagement, hope, and empowerment, though findings vary across studies and settings — it is evidence-informed practice, not a miracle cure. For nurses, user groups matter in four practical ways: they are a referral resource (people often trust a peer before a professional), a source of advocacy that improves services, a possible presence in your own workplace as peer specialists, and a model of the person-first, strengths-based philosophy exams and accreditors expect. Knowing the difference between a peer-led group and a clinician-led therapy group is also a classic test trap.
The college version
Core Concepts
Who "users" are and what the words mean
Terminology is politically loaded and regionally variable: user (common in the UK and Europe), consumer (US), survivor (people describing themselves as having survived the psychiatric system, not just their condition), and peer (anyone with lived experience). There is no single correct term — the respectful approach is to use the language a person or organization prefers. What unites the groups is leadership: people with lived experience set the agenda.
A short history
- 1800s–early 1900s: ex-patient mutual-aid clubs formed in several countries.
- 1960s–70s: civil rights and anti-psychiatry critique fueled organizing; deinstitutionalization left thousands living in communities with no support network.
- 1979: NAMI founded in the US — families and consumers advocating for research, services, and anti-stigma work.
- 1980s–present: "Mad Pride" activism, peer-run drop-in centers, consumer involvement in research and policy, and professionalization of peer support (training, certification, paid positions).
What user groups do
- Mutual support: safe, nonclinical spaces where people share experiences, practical tips, and hope. The helper role rotates — giving help is itself therapeutic.
- Advocacy: individual (accompanying someone to appointments, asserting rights) and systemic (lobbying for funding, better services, against coercive practices).
- Anti-stigma and education: speaking to students, staff, and the public; training clinicians.
- Peer support services: structured, paid roles inside the treatment system.
- Research and policy participation: lived-experience reviewers, service-user networks, involvement in service design.
Peer support: what it is and what it is not
A Peer support specialist A trained, often certified, paid worker with lived experience who supports others Full entry → is a person with lived experience who has completed training (certification varies by country and state) and is employed — sometimes by the system that once treated them — to support others. Their work is built on shared lived experience, mutuality, and hope: "I have been where you are, and I got through it." Peer support is not psychotherapy: peer specialists do not diagnose, prescribe, interpret, or treat — it complements clinical care. Because peers may hear about crises, good programs train them to recognize warning signs and escalate to the clinical team — the same recognition-and-escalation principle that governs nursing.
How nurses collaborate with user groups
- Refer appropriately: offer peer support as an option, never a requirement; explain what it is so expectations are realistic.
- Coordinate, don't duplicate: the peer specialist's role is distinct from the nurse's; share relevant information within confidentiality rules and with the person's consent.
- Respect scope and boundaries: peer specialists work within defined roles; confidentiality applies to them as it does to staff.
- Value the expertise: a peer's observation that "the system scared them too" is useful clinical information about how the person experiences care.
- Document collaboration so the care plan reflects the full team.
Common Confusions
| Do Not Confuse | With | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Peer support | Psychotherapy | Peer support uses lived experience and mutuality; it does not diagnose, treat, or interpret — it complements clinical care |
| Users groups | Anti-treatment groups | Many user groups support treatment; they advocate for choice, dignity, and better services |
| Peer specialist = volunteer | Peer specialist = paid professional | Many peer specialists are trained, certified, and employed with defined job descriptions |
| "Consumer" vs "patient" | The same person | Terms reflect different philosophies (person as agent vs recipient); preference varies |
| Peer support = unstructured chatting | Peer support = structured role | Peer support has training, certification, scope, boundaries, and escalation protocols |
| User groups | Clinician-led therapy groups | User groups are governed by people with lived experience; clinicians lead treatment groups |
Eli explains
The same idea, in plain words
Explain it like I’m 10
A users group is like a club where people who have been through the same kind of hard time help each other. One member might have been in the hospital for their feelings, and they can say, "I've been there — here's what helped me." Some clubs also talk to leaders and hospitals to ask for better rules, and some members get trained and paid to help others, like a coach who knows the path because they walked it.
Worked example
Priya, a psychiatric nurse, works on a unit that has hired Jalen, a certified peer support specialist who was hospitalized for a mental health condition years ago. A newly admitted client, Elena, has been withdrawn and tells Priya, "Nobody here has any idea what this is like." Priya remembers the collaboration protocol: she asks Elena if she would like to meet Jalen — peer support is always an offer, never an assignment. Elena agrees.
Jalen introduces himself as someone with lived experience and simply talks with Elena about what the first days of hospitalization feel like. He does not interpret her symptoms, discuss her chart, or advise on medication; his role is connection and hope. When Elena tells Jalen she is having thoughts of harming herself, Jalen does not try to counsel her — he immediately informs Priya, who initiates the facility's safety protocol with the provider, exactly as peer-support training specifies. Priya documents the interaction and coordinates so the care plan reflects both the clinical response and the peer relationship. Elena later says that meeting someone who "had been through it and come out the other side" was the first time she felt the unit might actually help. The peer and nursing roles did not blur — they reinforced each other.
Key takeaways
- Users groups are peer-led: people with lived experience control the agenda — unlike clinician-led groups.
- Core functions: mutual support, individual and systemic advocacy, anti-stigma education, peer support services, research and policy participation.
- NAMI (1979, US) is the landmark family-and-consumer advocacy organization; terminology (user/consumer/survivor/peer) varies by region and preference.
- Peer support specialists are trained, often certified, paid professionals who use lived experience to support others — they do not diagnose, prescribe, or provide psychotherapy.
- Evidence-informed, not miraculous: research generally shows benefits in engagement, hope, and empowerment, with variation across studies and settings.
- Nurses collaborate: refer with choice, coordinate within confidentiality rules, respect scope, document.
- Safety: peer specialists recognize warning signs and escalate to the clinical team per policy — never manage crises alone.
Check yourself
6 review questions from the chapter. Try each one, then open the answer.
What is the defining feature of a users group?
Show answer
Peer leadership: the organization and its agenda are controlled by people with lived experience of mental health conditions, not by clinicians.
List the main functions of user groups.
Show answer
Mutual support; individual and systemic advocacy; anti-stigma education; peer support services; participation in research and policy.
What does a peer support specialist do, and what do they not do?
Show answer
They use their trained lived experience to offer support, hope, and connection within a defined role. They do not diagnose, prescribe, or provide psychotherapy; they recognize warning signs and escalate safety concerns to the clinical team.
Why is terminology (user vs consumer vs survivor vs peer) important?
Show answer
The terms reflect different philosophies and histories (service user, consumer, survivor of the system, peer) and vary by region; using a person's preferred language shows respect and avoids imposing a label.
How should a nurse offer peer support to a client?
Show answer
As an offer, never a requirement, with an honest explanation of what peer support is. If the client declines, respect that; if they accept, coordinate within confidentiality rules and document.
A peer support specialist reports that a client has expressed suicidal thoughts. What happens next?
Show answer
The peer specialist does not manage the crisis — they immediately inform the clinical team (e.g., the nurse), who initiates the facility's safety protocol with the provider. This recognition-and-escalation pathway is standard peer-support training.
Study tools & related lessonsKey vocabulary · Related
Key vocabulary
- Lived experience
- Firsthand knowledge of having a mental health condition and using services
- User / consumer / survivor / peer
- Different terms people use to describe themselves as service users; regionally and politically loaded
- Peer support specialist
- A trained, often certified, paid worker with lived experience who supports others
- Mutual support
- People helping each other reciprocally, without a professional in charge
- Advocacy
- Speaking up for individual rights and for better services and policy
- Recovery movement
- The philosophy that people can live meaningful lives with or without symptoms
- NAMI
- National Alliance on Mental Illness (US, founded 1979)
- Peer-run organization
- An organization governed and staffed by people with lived experience
Sources & references
This lesson was adapted from the open educational references above; their licenses and attributions are preserved. See Copyright & Licensing.
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