NSFT staff inspire on Global Peer Support Celebration Day
Pictured above: L-R Peer Support Workers Channais Elliott, Steffi Keeble, Emma Godbold and Emma Lord
Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) is marking Global Peer Support Celebration Day (16 October) by recognising the impact of Peer Support Workers who use their lived experience of recovery from mental health challenges to support others.
Peer Support Workers bring authenticity, empathy and hope. At NSFT, they are an important part of many teams, offering a unique insight into the challenges and triumphs of recovery.
Four Peer Support Workers from across the Trust have shared what the role means to them.
Emma Lord first joined NSFT as an administrator. While working, she received support from a colleague after struggling with pressures linked to her autism. That experience changed the course of her life.
Emma said it was the first she had felt "heard and validated".
Encouraged to consider becoming a Peer Support Worker herself, she now works with the West Suffolk Young Adult Mental Health Service Team in Bury St Edmunds. She particularly values supporting young people, because her own teenage and early adult years were so difficult.
She said: "I'd overcome many obstacles as a neurodivergent person who also experienced anxiety and depression, and I wanted to give hope to others in the same boat. It's the most rewarding job I have had."
For Steffi Keeble, a Peer Support Worker with the Suffolk Community Rehabilitation Team, the decision was driven by her own recovery.
"By going through my own mental health journey, I knew that I wanted to work in mental health to help make a change," she said.
"I wanted to show others that recovery can be possible and give peer support which is a role that I wasn't offered when I was going through my struggles but could have been very beneficial."
Steffi says she values being able to share her story and support people authentically. "I enjoy being able to have meaningful conversations with people that I'm working with, being my authentic self and sharing my lived experience. I had times where I felt that I wasn't capable enough and could have quit but I'm so glad I didn't and pushed through as it was so worth it."
Channais Elliott joined the Trust as a Perinatal Peer Support Worker in July 2025, a role shaped by her own experience of anxiety, depression and postnatal depression after the birth of her third child.
She said that period of her life showed her just how "isolating and overwhelming" the perinatal journey can be and made her realise "how vital it is to have someone who truly understands, listens without judgment, and offers compassionate support".
"I wanted to be that person for others," Channais said. "Someone who could walk alongside parents during one of the most vulnerable and transformative times in their lives."
Channais said the role has also supported her own recovery. "Being part of a supportive team and using my experiences to help others has given me a renewed sense of purpose. It's helped me turn something difficult into something meaningful."
Emma Godbold is a Peer Support Worker with the Children, Families and Young People's Services team. She has found that not only has sharing her lived experience helped to connect with others, but it has helped her understand her own conditions.
"I may not be able to stop the darkness," she said. "But I've taught myself to sit with it and seek out the things that bring me joy.
"Being able to share parts of my recovery journey to support someone else is so rewarding."
Anthony Deery, NSFT's Chief Nurse, said: "We are immensely proud of all our Peer Support Workers, and it is fitting to celebrate their contribution on Global Peer Support Celebration Day.
"Their roles help to make our services more accessible to patients by building trust and providing experiential knowledge that empowers individuals to manage their condition, navigate the healthcare system and advocate for their needs."