Short Abstract

Peer support evaluation doesn't have to be impossible. Through three layers of co-design across Scotland, we're rewriting the rules: challenging what counts as evidence, embedding evaluation into daily practice and proving hope and connection are outcomes worth measuring.

Description

Peer support organisations face an impossible tension. Funders demand robust evaluation, yet these groups often operate with minimal budgets, no evaluation specialists and stretched staff. Traditional approaches (expensive consultants, complex methodologies, clinical measures) are neither affordable nor appropriate for capturing what peer support does. Meanwhile, organisations hold rich evidence in conversations, relationships, moments of hope and community connection. But this remains invisible because it does not fit conventional evaluation frameworks.

Too often, evaluation feels heavy, distant and like a betrayal of peer support values. It happens once a year, reactively, solely for funders. Workers feel removed from it. We know peer support is transforming Scotland’s mental health landscape, but how do we prove it?

Scottish Recovery Network used Matter of Focus's outcome map template (a framework of column headings for adaptable evaluation) to develop a peer support specific adaptable outcome map through co-production with 14 organisations across Scotland, from small community groups to larger charities and NHS peer worker services. We did this through several online and in person workshops, one to one reflective sessions, sense testing meetings and the accumulation of independent feedback.

Crucially, workshops brought everyone into the same room: peer workers, evaluation leads, managers, CEOs. This mixed expertise, experience and perspectives rarely combined. We heard what does and does not work from all levels, creating a tool that works in practice for everyone.

The tool provides shared values and language across the sector, whilst allowing each organisation to maintain their unique voice and describe their specific impact. Organisations are not standardised, they are connected.

The map is designed to be flexible. Organisations can use it in ways that fit their capacity and context, from simple applications to more detailed approaches. This respects that communities are experts in their own experience while building an evidence base that strengthens the sector.

We are also supporting four organisations to develop their own outcome maps and create autonomous reports, through tailored support at no cost, but this is not just about creating output. We are helping them build evaluation processes that work for them: ongoing rather than annual, proactive rather than reactionary, meaningful to practice rather than purely for funders, aligned with values rather than betraying them.

Co-design continues through two layers. We are taking the map around Scotland in half day workshops, gathering feedback from people at all levels of peer support. Meanwhile, the four organisations conducting autonomous evaluations show us how the tool works in practice and how they find outcome mapping. Each layer deepens understanding and refines what evaluation can look like.

This work challenges what counts as data and evidence. When impact is relational and emotional (someone feeling less alone, finding hope, taking their first recovery step) how do we capture that meaningfully? We validate community defined outcomes as credible evidence. Stories, observations and relational shifts are data. Hope, belonging and empowerment are outcomes worth measuring.

This presentation shares a realistic approach to embedding evaluation across peer support: moving from burden to practice through continuous, multi-layered co-design.