Peer support
Are you experiencing Depersonalisation and/or Derealisation? Would you like to be able to meet other people who understand what you are going through to support and learn from each other?
What is Peer Support?
The isolating nature of DPDR and the lack of awareness surrounding it can lead people to believe that they’re the only ones feeling this way. But this is far from the case. Our peer support sessions are an opportunity to meet others going through the same struggles and discuss your shared experiences in a space where you will be understood.
They aim to:
- connect people with shared experiences to support each other
- provide a safe space where everybody feels heard and understood
- treat everyone’s experiences as being equally valid and important
- create an environment where you can give and receive support
Many people tell us that they find the sessions to be validating, educational and comforting in their journeys with DPDR. For many, our sessions are the only form of support that they are able to access for navigating life with the condition.
What do the sessions involve?
Currently, sessions take place on Zoom and are facilitated by volunteers from our team. Once the call begins, attendees will be reminded of the house rules and guided through a brief grounding exercise before being split into smaller ‘breakout rooms’ to allow for easier discussions. Each breakout room will have an Unreal facilitator in it to guide the conversation and ensure the safeguarding of the session.
Each session has a theme and you’ll be encouraged to share your thoughts and experiences related to that theme during the call. Please note: to participate in the virtual sessions, you need a good, stable internet connection. If your connection drops out and you are disconnected from the call once the breakout rooms are open, it is sadly unlikely that the team will be able to readmit you as our facilitators will all be busy running their groups.
At the end of the call, you will see a feedback questionnaire – filling it in should take less than a couple of minutes, and we really appreciate it when people do so as it helps us to evaluate the sessions and make changes to how we run them to improve the experience for all.
How to book your place
To make sure that everybody gets the opportunity to participate sufficiently, we generally have to limit numbers to 20 people in each session.
The groups are free to attend, but we operate a first-come-first-serve ticketing system through Eventbrite for each session – you must secure a ticket to receive a link to access the call. By running the ticketing system, it also allows us to maximise the safeguarding of each session and only allow people into the call who are supposed to be there.
Details of how to book a ticket are sent out via our mailing list the day before the session runs – so if you are interested in attending, please click the button below to sign up to the mailing list.
Frequently asked questions
For more information on our Online Peer Support Sessions, you can read our Peer Support FAQs or watch the video below.