Women with a Mental Illness Power On

WHW is about to enter the final phase of the Power On program that is designed to build the capacity of mental health service providers to implement the Power On model. This phase is vital to ensure the program's achievements are sustained over time.

The role of the Peer Educator

Power On is a peer education program. A woman who has experienced mental illness has been involved in the research, development, implementation and evaluation of the project. The peer educator facilitates the workshops in partnership with a facilitator from within your mental health service.

What is the program about?

We asked more then fifty women who experience mental illness about what matters most to them in terms of wellbeing. Based on this information and a series of trials and evaluations, we documented a twelve-week program of two-hour workshops delivered by a facilitator and a peer educator. Workshops are interactive and designed to encourage women to learn from one another and through their experiences. Workshop topics are self-esteem, assertiveness, body image, access to information, communicating with your health professional, menopause and your menstrual cycle, nutrition and healthy weight, positive thinking, exercise and wellbeing, and relationships: connecting with others.

Feedback from women who have been involved in Power On programs

Power On made me feel important. It made me feel like I mattered.
We can learn so much from others in the same boat.
I loved being with other women as I was free to open up.
I have the right to ask my GP to prepare a plan to help me.
Friendship is give and take; not just yap, yap about ourselves.
Everyone has good qualities; no matter how unwell we are.
It all STARTS with me. I learned that it is me who can change my negatives into positives.
Positive, positive, positive. I learned that it's not everything to be skinny and beautiful; we don't all like the same things, different things are attractive to everyone.
We are all beautiful. I can now get away from my nagging husband and be more assertive to tell him what I want without becoming aggressive.
Power On made us "feel like a woman" - like the Shania Twain song.

Power On will provide:

Free training for a facilitator nominated from within your agency

A trained peer educator and kit to co-facilitate your program

Take home fact sheets (available in print or audio)

Consultative support from as required

Online community discussions and resources

A program manual complete with:

session plans
an evaluation framework
activity plans
training notes
a program and evaluation report about the Power On trials

What is required of the mental health service?

Nominate a facilitator to undergo training and to facilitate the workshops

Nominate a support person to provide one to one support as required

Involving family and friends

A specific strategy to inform family members and carers as well as service providers is incorporated in the Power On program in recognition that empowerment is not simply a matter of educating women themselves, but that a supportive environment is also very important.

How can you get involved?

If your service is in the western region of Melbourne and you would like to be part of this fantastic effort to enhance women's wellbeing by delivering Power On within your women's group, please contact the Power On project team at Women's Health West on 9689 9588.

POWER ON FACT SHEETS

A series of fact sheets were developed to reinforce workshop discussions and to assist women who experience difficulties with memory due to their illness. The fact sheets provided a resource that women could take away and refer to after the workshops had finished.

FIND OUT MORE about our Sunrise Women's Group, organised by and for women with a disability.