https://www.hsbi.de/publikationsserver 2000-01-01T00:00+00:00 1 monthly https://www.hsbi.de/publikationsserver/record/5786 Lammers, Klara International Society for Third Sector Research 2024 People with mental disorders are at increased risk of unemployment due to causal and selective effects. Empirical studies show that in Germany, a high proportion of those receiving benefits from the authorities responsible for employment promotion (‘Job Centres’), are affected by mental illness. This target group hardly benefits from fluctuations in the labour market and thus experiences permanent exclusion from social participation through work. Within the Job Centres, people with mental disorders often do not find the support conditions they would need to stabilise their life situation. High caseloads, standardised procedures and the possibility of sanctions in case of non-compliance often prevent a trustful counselling relationship and support that is oriented towards the individuality of each person. The present study is located in a model project that tries to achieve better access to this group of people by implementing a peer support approach. So-called peer support volunteers are people who experienced a mental illness themselves, were able to overcome it and now support Job Centre-clients on a voluntary basis. They work in a triangular relationship with Job Centre staff, are supposed to facilitate the establishment of trust and to gain access to subjective perceptions of the clients. The empirical question addressed in this paper refers to the implementation of a voluntary peer support approach in the organisational context of the Job Centre: To what extent do institutional framework conditions and practices effect peer support volunteers and how does peer support shape the institution and lead to changes? The question is embedded in a larger qualitative study following a grounded theory approach and uses 31 problem-centred interviews and 6 focus group discussions with peer support volunteers as data basis. With regard to empirical findings, the analysis of the data shows that peer support and the institutional context influence each other. On the one hand, the Job Centre framework shapes the peer support volunteers’ support activities and restricts their ability to act at certain points – for example, when it comes to benefit regulations, perceived institutional targets or role conflicts in relation to the employees. On the other hand, it becomes clear that the peer support volunteers bring about changes in institutional practices and in the actions and attitudes of the staff. By talking about their own perceptions in the position as clients, they bring in the perspective of those affected. In addition, changes in the framework conditions of counselling within the project (e.g. lower caseloads, meetings outside the official context) have an impact on the support and distinguishes it from the regular context. https://www.hsbi.de/publikationsserver/record/5786 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess Lammers K. Voluntary Peer Support in Organisational Structures. An empirical Approach in German ‘Job Centres.’ In: International Society for Third Sector Research, ed. <i>ISTR Working Papers Series, Volume XIV</i>. ; 2024. Peer Support Mental Health Unemployment Volunteering Organisation Voluntary Peer Support in Organisational Structures. An empirical Approach in German ‘Job Centres’ info:eu-repo/semantics/conferenceObject doc-type:conferenceObject text http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_5794