Peer providers are increasingly employed in mental health services. We explored challenges experienced by 31 peer providers in diverse settings and roles using in-depth interviews, as part of a larger study focusing on their recovery (Moran et al. in Qual Health Res, 2012). A grounded theory approach revealed three challenge domains: work environment, occupational path, and personal mental health. Challenges in the work environment differed between conventional mental health settings and consumer-run agencies. Occupational domain challenges included lack of clear job descriptions, lack of skills for using one's life story and lived experience, lack of helping skills, and negative aspects of carrying a peer provider label. Personal mental health challenges included overwork and symptom recurrence. Implications for all domains are discussed, with focus on training and skill development.

The photovoice intervention demonstrated promise for reducing self-stigma and enhancing proactive coping with prejudice and discrimination.

Providing peer support to individuals with psychiatric disabilities has emerged as a promising modality of mental health services. These services are delivered by individuals who experience mental illnesses themselves. The purpose of this study was to explore how working as a peer provider can enhance personal recovery. The study was conducted with 31 peer providers employed in a variety of mental health agencies. Data were collected through face-to-face semistructured interviews and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Qualitative analysis revealed a wide range of recovery benefits for the peer providers. The benefits span across five wellness domains: foundational, emotional, spiritual, social, and occupational. In addition, analysis revealed five role-related and five work-environment-related mechanisms of beneficial impact. The role of sharing one's personal story is highlighted as contributing to positively reauthoring one's self-narrative. Implications for peer training, job development, and workplace supports are discussed.

Findings support the feasibility and acceptability of the Recovery Narrative Photovoice for individuals with serious mental illnesses. These results reflect the potential for using this intervention in psychiatric rehabilitation settings to facilitate recovery-related outcomes, including empowerment, positive identity, and community integration. Future research will require a replication of pre-post assessment of this intervention to further establish the efficacy of this program.

Prejudice and discrimination represent a major barrier to the recovery and community integration of individuals with serious mental illnesses. Yet, little is known about the diverse ways prejudicial practices are enacted at the workplace beyond blatant discrimination. This paper presents findings about the manifestations of prejudice and discrimination at the workplace. Data were gathered from a national sample of individuals with serious mental illnesses who reported perceiving negative attitudes at work as part of their participation in a larger study on sustained employment (n = 234) and from a subsequent study on workplace psychiatric prejudice and discrimination (n = 202). Qualitative analyses of data collected through two different surveys informed the development of a comprehensive taxonomy that identified a range of prejudicial and discriminatory practices that fell within two contextual domains: work performance and collegial interactions. The specific categories within each of these domains represented a continuum of more subtle to more blatant expressions of psychiatric prejudice and discrimination that influenced workers with mental illnesses through different impact pathways. Study findings informed the development of a broader conceptual framework for understanding and combating psychiatric prejudice and discrimination in employment settings and improving the workplace inclusion and employment outcomes of individuals with serious mental illnesses.