Peer specialists use their experience to counsel others with mental illness
Lily Chan's life was wrecked by mental illness but she used the experience to help others as a peer specialist, writes Elaine Yau
Lily Chan Lei-hung has had more than enough ups and downs for a lifetime. She's has gone from working as a business development manager for a publicly listed American company, to being an unemployed divorcee battling bipolar disorder. Chan certainly knows how mental illness can destroy your life.
But she never thought that her mental illness, which at one point drove her to the edge of suicide, would also paradoxically give her a lifeline. Chan, 46, is the first person with a mental disorder employed by the Hospital Authority to work as a full-time counsellor. The peer specialist scheme was launched two years ago at Castle Peak Hospital as a way to boost the recovery and rehabilitation of mental patients.
The peer specialist programme follows in the footsteps of Western hospitals, according to Dr William Chui Wing-ho, associate consultant with Castle Peak Hospital. "I went to Holland before the launch of the scheme. I saw that the scheme could reduce hospital use and boost illness management there," he says.
More than 30 US states have launched peer specialist programmes, according to a recent report in Stateline, a publication of US-based non-profit The Pew Charitable Trusts. People with mental illness who are helped by peers tend to have more longer-lasting recoveries.
According to the Hospital Authority Mental Health Service Plan for Adults 2010-2015, the number of people with a mental disorder in Hong Kong is estimated at between one million and 1.8 million.
Chui says the life experience that a peer specialist gains in overcoming mental illness is something professionals can't get from training.