About the Peer Leadership Development Programme and who can join

There are four steps to the Peer Leadership Development Programme. We know that people will be joining for different reasons and with different goals. We also know that becoming a Peer Leader is a step in a personal journey that often starts with experiencing the benefit of personalised care in your own life or the life of someone close to you.

When we say, ‘Peer Leader’, we mean ‘a person with lived experience who is committed to working collaboratively with the health and care system to influence the way personalised care is developed and delivered’.

Who can join the Peer Leadership Development Programme?

The Peer Leadership Development Programme is open to everyone but is mainly aimed at people who could benefit from personalised care, for example, disabled people, people who have a long-term health condition and/or their family carer.

The programme has been co-produced with a wide range of people including the Personalised Care Strategic Coproduction Group, Nesta People Powered Results Team, Peoplehub CIC, NHS England and NHS Improvement Patient Participation Team. It has also been co-designed and tested with people with lived experience and system leaders in London and Tameside and Glossop.

As well as co-designing and co-producing the programme, Peer Leaders are also co-delivering the Peer Leadership Development Programme. Watch out for our mentors Debs Robinson, Holly Loughton, Anjjie Chhapia, Ali Smith, Vicky Forfar and Andrea Partridge. As graduates of the Peer Leadership Academy, they are here to support your learning journey and will introduce themselves in the comments below.

The main aim of the programme is to support people with lived experience to develop their knowledge, skills and confidence to become effective Peer Leaders for personalised care. As you move through the steps, you’ll see why personalised care and peer leadership are intertwined and how the values and principles of personalised care mirror the values and principles of peer leadership. That’s why Step One and Step Two are important for anyone wanting to become a Peer Leader. As Gandhi said, ‘you must be the change you wish to see in the world’.