Abstract
Historically, both offender resettlement and psychosocial rehabilitation have been the responsibility of professionals within that arena, with the offender or patient as the passive recipient of an intervention (Clark, 1981; Thornicroft & Tansella, 2005). Peer support programmes do exist in penal and other settings, for example in the form of the Listeners scheme in the prison service, but have undergone little evaluation. This scarcity is particularly evident in the context of forensic mental health settings, despite research which supports the benefits of peer support for service users with a severe mental illness and for offenders (Bouchard, Montreuil & Gros, 2010; Coatsworth-Puspoky, Forchuk & Ward-Griffin, 2006). There could be several reasons for this, including matters of responsibility and confidentiality related to the challenge of formalising a peer support programme delivered by those who have a history of harmful interpersonal behaviours and attachment difficulties. Furthermore, the meaning of “mentoring” as it is practiced in other settings may be different for a forensic mental health setting, which is characterised by clear boundaries in both environment and social roles. There is therefore a value in hearing the perspectives of those with experience in this distinct setting. The aim of this audit was an exploration of service users’ perspectives on the concept of “mentoring” and the implications of this “expert by experience” view for establishing a formal mentor service in a forensic mental health setting, including benefits, risks and support needs for mentors.