Are you a parent or carer of a child or young person with mental health difficulties? Are you using – or would like to use – your experience to help others?
Or, are you a service that is offering parent/carer peer-led support or would like to offer this to parents and carers?
The Charlie Waller Trust are delighted to announce that they are now taking joint applications for the Parent Carer Peer Support training course. Their first course will start in January 2026. This fully funded course is open to parents and carers with lived experience, working in partnership with a supporting service.
What is Parent Carer Peer Support?
Parent carer peer support (PCPS) workers are parents and carers with lived experience of supporting a child or young person with a mental health difficulty. They have a lot to offer. In particular, they can give a safe, non-judgmental space for other parents and carers to learn from each other.
For services, this is an invaluable way to help boost capacity in the system, building on partnership work with voluntary sector organisations and encouraging mutual aid.
At the Charlie Waller Trust, we believe that every parent or carer should be able to access support from their peers. We believe in the strength that comes from representation of the rich diversity of parent and caring experiences – diversity of family makeup, culture, ethnicity, neurodiversity, sexuality, migration history, disability or faith. And we hope to be part of building a peer support community that reflects this diversity. We feel this new emerging workforce deserves expert training and a partnership with professionals.