PEOPLE suffering with mental health illnesses across Basingstoke are set to benefit from a new partnership in Hampshire.

Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust and Solent Mind have teamed up as part of a new partnership which will see people who have had personal experience of mental health problems employed to support others.

Seven peer support workers have been employed by Solent Mind to work for the trust and another nine were set to be recruited by the end of this month.

They will work across four sites in Hampshire, including Parklands Hospital, in Aldermaston Road, Basingstoke.

Twenty-three-year-old Charlotte Lucas from Basingstoke is one of the recruits chosen to become a peer support worker.

Charlotte was diagnosed with depression at the age of 16.

Her family then started to notice a further change in her behaviour.

She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and started a four-month long stay in the care of Parklands Hospital.

As part of her recovery, Charlotte started volunteering at Parklands and applied for the peer support worker role, which she has been doing for around a month.

She told The Extra: “I wouldn’t have got through it without the the support of my mum and dad, they really were my rock.

“The first reaction of a lot of people that go into hospital is ‘I want to leave’ and the main way I can help is at the first instance I can reassure them that a few short days is quite short in terms of the rest of their life.

“That is the sort of message I have tried to put across and also being open about having mental illnesses.

“It breaks down the stigma and it is important for them to have someone willing to share their lived experience.”

Lesley Herbert, Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust’s consumer adviser who is overseeing the programme, said: “The employment of peer support workers is part of our commitment in Southern Health to improve the support we offer people with mental health problems.

“Working alongside people in the hospital when they are at their most unwell, peer support workers can offer hope that it is possible to recover and live a meaningful life, and share strategies that have helped them to do just that.”