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When you meet Alex Burnouf, one thing becomes clear: his work in mental health isn’t just a job – it’s a calling rooted in lived experience. Before stepping into his current role as Peer Support Coordinator, Alex navigated his own journey through mental illness and recovery. That experience didn’t just shape him; it gave him a unique perspective and a deep sense of purpose.
“I’ve lived it and continue to learn from it,” Alex says. “That’s what qualified me and led me to begin working in mental health as a Peer Support Worker.”
His personal journey taught him that recovery is never one-size-fits-all. Each person’s path is unique, and that understanding drives his commitment to making mental health care accessible, valuing lived experience alongside clinical expertise, and holding onto hope that things can always get better.
What does a Peer Support Coordinator do?
Alex’s role is as varied as it is impactful. As Peer Support Coordinator, he wears many hats:
- Supporting the Team: He provides practice supervision for other peer support workers, ensuring they have guidance and space to reflect on their work.
- Direct Support: Alex still works one-on-one with service users, offering a listening ear and walking alongside them in their recovery.
- Leadership and Advocacy: He chairs the Peer Network – a local committee of mental health service representatives committed to peer support – and represents the service user voice at senior leadership level within Adult Mental Health.
- Training and Development: Alex delivers training to enhance the skills of peer support workers and other staff, helping embed peer principles across the system.
But the ambition of his role goes beyond tasks. “It’s about integrating an effective peer support team within the service and influencing the culture,” Alex explains. “Peer support isn’t just about improving outcomes for people accessing care – it’s about shaping a more humane, relationally driven service that focuses on people’s self-defined journeys of recovery.”
The power of teamwork
Mental health work is never done in isolation, and Alex is quick to highlight the importance of collaboration. “Quite frankly, none of us function well alone,” he says. Integrating peer support into a traditional mental health setting comes with challenges, but it becomes possible when individuals and teams hold a shared responsibility for making it succeed.”
Education plays a big role. Helping colleagues understand the peer approach – its mutuality, its emphasis on lived experience – requires openness and shared responsibility. “It takes a willingness to learn about other forms of knowledge,” Alex notes, “knowledge that both complements and challenges traditional ways of working.”
Day to day, teamwork shows up in countless ways: an ad-hoc chat to brainstorm a response to a tricky situation, or the team rallying around a colleague who needs support. “We’re people supporting other people,” Alex says. “We wouldn’t get far if we didn’t offer to our colleagues what we aspire to offer to service users.”
What keeps him going
This work isn’t easy, and Alex is honest about that. “I need sources of motivation,” he admits. For him, it starts with a simple mantra: change is the only constant. Seeing people reclaim lost parts of themselves – or discover new ones – is deeply rewarding. “Bearing witness, gaining trust, and playing a part in someone’s recovery has left me with many moments that have shaped me personally and professionally.”
But it’s not only the success stories that matter. Alex finds meaning in the honesty and vulnerability people share, even in the hardest times. “My role is an immense privilege,” he says. “Being in a peer role means relating in a way that’s mutual and non-hierarchical. I’m not here as an expert – I’m here to walk alongside someone. When you see growth against the odds in that kind of relationship, it’s incredibly powerful.”
Looking ahead
Alex’s hopes for the future are ambitious yet grounded. He wants peer support to have a stronger presence and influence across mental health care – not just in one-to-one relationships, but in training, service design, and delivery. “Lived experience should be seen as essential,” he says, “equal to professional expertise.”
Ultimately, Alex envisions a system where humanity stays at the centre, where hierarchies are broken down, and power shifts closer to those using services. “Peer support is more than a role,” he reflects. “It’s a way of working that reminds us what care should be about: people, relationships, and hope.”
