Peer Leadership Development Programme
The Peer Leadership Development Programme is a national programme that supports people with lived experience of health and care services to develop the skills and confidence to influence services in formal ways.
The framework asks to promote the Peer Leadership Development Programme to people they support who may want to use their experience to help others.
Who is it for
People with lived experience of:
- long-term health conditions
- mental health problems
- accessing health and care services
- being a carer.
It is not for healthcare professionals. It is specifically a development programme for citizens who want to be part of designing and improving services.
What it covers
- Co-production principles and skills
- How health and care systems work in your country
- Influence, communication and meeting craft
- Working with professionals (and the power dynamics that creates)
- Self-care for the work.
Why this is part of the SPLW role
Two reasons:
- It's good for the person. Some of the most powerful turnaround stories in social prescribing involve people who have moved from being supported to being co-producers themselves. It gives meaning, it gives agency, and it sometimes opens employment routes.
- It's good for the service. Peer leaders bring perspectives the system needs. They make co-production real, not theatrical.
How to introduce it
Don't push it. Offer it when the timing is right — usually well into the support relationship, when the person is settled and has space to think beyond their own situation. Make it concrete: who runs it locally, what it involves, how to enrol.
Read more
- Peer leadership development pathways available in your region (often run by national chapters of or equivalent organisations)
- Coalition for Personalised Care.