– The purpose of this paper is to describe a voluntary sector organisation's work in transforming day services, based on peer support, in the face of major cuts in Local Authority funding and the requirement to provide “low-cost, high-impact services”.
– A description of the challenges facing the organisation and the ways in which services were configured based on peer support.
– The number of people for whom support was provided increased from 60 to 180 using the rich pool of talent present among peers/volunteers. Friendships developed to reduce isolation and across the provision a sense of hope and optimism was created.
– Many services are facing substantial cuts. This paper offers a positive approach to addressing these based on peer support and use of community resources that may be of value to others facing similar challenges.
