Access Through Peer Support: Implications of an Innovative Counselling Approach in German Jobcentres

Abstract

This research approaches the theoretical discourse on accessibility from an empirical perspective using a qualitative study in a specific field of social services. In Germany, jobcentres are institutions responsible for promoting employment, providing benefits, and offering counselling to unemployed people. Due to their hierarchical structures, standardised processes, and orientation towards the paradigms of an activating labour market policy, jobcentres can be described as organisations that are difficult to access for clients, especially for people with mental disorders. Based on a qualitative analysis, this article examines an innovative model project that implements a peer support approach in this context. Peer support volunteers have experienced mental disorders themselves and support users on this basis. The analysis comprises 38 individual interviews and seven group discussions with peer support volunteers and users, addressing the research question of how the introduction of peer support has changed the perception of accessibility within the jobcentre institution. The empirical results show that changes are taking place both at a structural level and concerning the relationships and organisation of support. However, certain barriers within the organisation remain and restrict accessibility. With reference to Clarke's access theory, the majority of the identified changes can be understood as conservative active‐outreach strategies aligned with the existing system and its normative orientations. Additionally, the involvement of the previously little‐heard and potentially stigmatised perspective of people who have experienced mental disorders themselves reveals a transformative potential at certain points.