The role of the peer support worker in increasing rural mental health help-seeking.

OBJECTIVE: Mental health peer support workers draw on lived experience to provide benefit to people experiencing mental distress. People living in rural areas are less likely than their urban counterparts to seek professional help for psychological distress. The aim of this study was to explore the perceived value of rural peer support workers as facilitators to rural mental health help-seeking. DESIGN: Data were gathered through a cross-sectional survey distributed by a social media boosted post. SETTING: A total of 349 "small" rural towns in New South Wales as defined by the Modified Monash Model classification system as MMM5. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 765 adult, rural residents completed the survey. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Participants were asked to select, from a list of potential facilitators, those which they felt would make mental health help-seeking easier or harder. RESULTS: Study participants felt that a help provider with lived experience of mental illness or distress would make mental health help-seeking easier. Similarly, rural life experience in a help provider was thought to facilitate help-seeking. Participants also believed that flexible and informal meeting settings would make it easier to seek help for mental distress. CONCLUSIONS: Engaging rural mental health peer support workers in a flexible/informal setting, as a complement to conventional health service provision, may increase rural help-seeking for mental distress. Increased mental health help-seeking is likely to have a positive impact on instances of serious mental illness.