The institutionalisation of peer support in France: Development of a social role and roll out of public policies

This article aims to explore the varied ways in which the role has developed through an analysis of its institutionalisation process. To do this, data from two surveys will be analysed: one based on peer counsellors who set up an association under the law of 1901 and the other on peer-support workers from “Housing First”, an experimental public policy intervention programme. Two different processes of institutionalisation of the peer-support role emerge from the analysis: one which prioritises the development of a social role and the other the roll-out of public policy. Neither is yet sufficiently successful to guarantee the sustainability of the practices, owing to a lack of legitimation process or shortcomings in reciprocal typification. This situation has delayed the professionalisation of the peer-support role. It also raises two questions: that of the links between experiential knowledge and professional knowledge and that of the effects of a meeting of peer supporters who were hitherto isolated in their respective fields (health, mental health, disability, exclusion, addiction, etc.) and within their causes.RésuméAujourd’hui en France, les pratiques d’accompagnement par les pairs se développent et s’institutionnalisent dans les secteurs d’activité de la santé (et notamment de la santé mentale), du social et du médico-social. Malgré une unité de valeurs prégnante, une origine historique commune, la revendication unanime de savoirs expérientiels fon...
Source: ALTER - European Journal of Disability Research - Category: Disability Source Type: research