A practical partnership: Collaboration between counsellors and peer supports to provide an after-hours telephone counselling service

Abstract

Clients sometimes reproach social workers and counsellors who try to help them without ever having personally experienced a similar situation. Previous attempts to overcome this concern through collaboration between counsellors and peers were perceived as flawed because of the unworkable power differential between professionals and non-professionals. This article describes how one agency, the Vietnam Veterans' Counselling Service, responded to such client concern by establishing an after-hours telephone counselling service using a partnership between specialised counsellors and peer supports. The difficult process of negotiation between professionals and peers, in this practical partnership, went some of the way to addressing the power differences found in such collaborative efforts. Importantly, the knowledge gained from a critical analysis of this partnership may be translated to other client groups. As well as presenting this analysis the article summarises the key elements of establishing a successful partnership.