5.3.3 Other

- Potential to introduce Peer Mentor workshops/group sessions to share experiences and feelings (for emotional support and personal development) - Consideration of the label ‘Peer Mentors’ as the most appropriate term given the primary function and nature of the customer-Peer Mentor relationship.

• Management of Peer Mentor should be maintained and resourced appropriately

Sufficient time and resource should be afforded for Peer Mentor management/coordination and monitoring. This should not be underestimated, neither should the value of lived experience in this role. At present, the Expert Citizens complete vetting and DBS checks on new volunteers (offering alternative volunteering opportunities for those not ready or who do not qualify for Peer Mentoring), deal with Peer Mentoring expenses claims, and ongoing monitoring is embedded through ongoing contact to identify issues and record contacts in the CRM following Peer Mentor-customer meetings.

• Protection of Peer Mentor-customer boundaries

It is important that Peer Mentors maintain professional boundaries, despite their keenness to help customer, to avoid prioritising customer’s needs over their own. Measures to develop this across Peer Mentoring should be discussed at the consultation event.

In addition to the above suggestions to build and protect customer-Housing First relationships through processes for Service Coordinators and Peer Mentors, further considerations include:

• Rebuilding relationships after COVID-19

COVID-19 and associated restrictions on in-person support was thought to have negatively affected customer relationships with Service Coordinators, Peer Mentors and the Housing First programme. Special attention is needed to rebuild these relationships, but without creating dependency. Some of the above measures could help in this regard (e.g., increased informal contacts, opportunities to meet the wider network of Housing First staff and volunteers),

• Materials/booklet for customers

We recommend the introduction of materials that contain photographs, names and numbers of Housing First staff would give customers a resource so they know is in the programme, what they do, who to contact with different types of enquiry, and why they might hear from them. An annual review of content and updating of master copies could be used for quality assurance and consistency.