The SALUS Peer Advisory Board

Although a scientist with training as a peer worker was part of the SALUS research group from the beginning, the SALUS work was initially not planned to be participatory. While individuals with their own experiences of mental crisis or family members were involved as interviewees in many subprojects, such as qualitative interview studies, they were not involved as advisors or coresearchers.

It became increasingly clear during the research that individuals with experiential knowledge are in a very good epistemic position to evaluate how practical and applicable SALUS research is, how much relevance the projects have, and whether there are any pitfalls and errors hidden in the design that the research group had not considered from a scientist's perspective. In addition, there was a curiosity within the research group to experiment with participatory formats themselves in order to test how the boundaries of classical scientific models could be softened and existing power dynamics shifted.

Individuals were found through the network of the team member with training as a peer worker as well as participants from interview studies who had expressed an interest in participating in SALUS, and the peer advisory board was established at the end of 2021.

The advisory board meetings take place quarterly. At each meeting, SALUS researchers present a project or research question. Advisory board members provide objections, assessments and recommendations during the subsequent discussion. A statement is issued following the meeting to transparently communicate how the advisory board's feedback is incorporated into the project.

A progress report on their collaborative work was published by the SALUS researchers and advisory board members in an article for the journal "Sozialpsychiatrische Informationen," Volume 53, 1/2023. In it, we report on our initial experiences as well as the opportunities and challenges of our collaboration.


Link to article:

https://psychiatrie-verlag.de/product/faissner-m-gather-j-et-al-der-salus-betroffenen-und-angehoerigenbeirat-einzelartikel-aus-si-1-2023/
Iris Haferkemper

EX-IN Genesungsbegleiterin, Leiterin einer Online-Selbsthilfegruppe
Christina Stefaniak

Studium der Fächer Chemie und Theologie für das Lehramt an Gymnasien (Abschluss: Staatsexamen)

Doktorandin am Institut für Anorganische und Analytische Chemie der WWU Münster

Genesungsbegleiterin in einem psychiatrischen Krankenhaus
Prof. Dr.
Ulrike Kluge
Sylvia Spiegel

Mitglied im Landesverband Nordrhein-Westfalen der Angehörigen psychisch erkrankter Menschen e. V.

Mitglied in der Gesellschaft für seelische Gesundheit Dortmund e. V.

Mitglied im Dortmunder Verein Konstantes Lernen und Wachsen e. V. (KLuW)
Dr. Imke Heuer

Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaftlerin, Peer-Forscherin und UPSIDES Peer-Begleiterin, aktiv in der Selbstvertretung autistischer Menschen
Madeleine Thesing

Genesungsbegleiterin und Studentin der Sozialen Arbeit
Dr. rer. medic.
Alexa Nossek
alexa.nossek@rub.de

Alexa Nossek is a medical ethicist. She studied philosophy and ancient history and received a M.A. from the University of Duisburg-Essen. Alexa obtained her doctorate in medical science at the University of Duisburg-Essen in cooperation with the Institute for Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, Ruhr University Bochum. She worked as a researcher at this institute from 2015 to 2020.

One of her research interests is ethics in psychiatry. Here she focuses on peer support work, recognition between staff and patients, patient autonomy and capacity, coercion and avoidance of coercion, and stigma.
Andrea zur Nieden
George Szmukler
Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry and Society
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London
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