Peer mentoring with women who experience multiple and complex disadvantage after trauma and abuse

This presentation combines doctoral research from Beverley Gilbert coupled with her practice experiences of delivering women’s peer mentoring for the past decade within a community ‘by and for’ peer support and peer mentoring organisation, run by women surviving abuse for women who experience multiple and complex disadvantage.

This research study is framed within feminist qualitative research. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to consider the findings from the data collected from 24 interviews with organisational decision makers, peer mentors and mentees. The findings from this study identify that one-to-one peer mentoring is a complex form of community level support that provides a welcome approach from the more formal, statutory,
community provision many women with multiple and complex disadvantage experience. Women within this study found agencies difficult to reach and voiced their frustrations that there were gaps in service provision that failed to meet the needs of women within this group in the community.

One to one peer mentoring provides a supportive and caring environment within the community where women can share their knowledge and can build meaningful, trusting relationships with other women within a community of strength (Gilbert, 2023). Peer mentoring can help to build a sense of inclusion amongst women who share lived experience and empower them to take collective action to address the systemic issues affecting their lives, to confront the perceived lack of appropriate support available in communities and to come together as a community of strength. Women participating in the research study undertaken by Beverley Gilbert advise that peer mentoring provides an essential ‘bridge’ between the lack of service provision for longer term community support according to the expressed needs of women surviving
domestic and sexual abuse. This supports their recovery and growth following on from sexual violence and
abuse, creating an inclusive caring space to belong.