Reimagining Support for Unpaid Carers: Voice, Peer Networks, Lived Expertise and Integrated Neighbourhood Models

Unpaid carers supporting people with mental health difficulties experience profound psychological and physical strain. These pressures are intensified by systemic neglect, stigma, and isolation, contributing to heightened anxiety, chronic stress, and reduced wellbeing. This study draws on qualitative narrative interviews with 15 unpaid carers engaged with Mind in Bexley services and an exhibition for National Carers Week. The analysis examines how peer support operates as a protective infrastructure, enabling carers to cope with uncertainty, rebuild identity, and reduce isolation through shared experience, support, and collective belonging. Informed by social support theory, resilience frameworks, social identity theory, and the Helper Therapy Principle, the study explores how carers negotiate their roles, reclaim agency, and foster community. Findings highlight the importance of embedding peer support within integrated care systems. The paper argues for including carers and peer networks in emerging integrated neighbourhood models across England, where ‘integrators’ can connect statutory services with community-led and lived-experience networks to strengthen preventative support. Carers’ voices must be central to social work practice, service design, commissioning, and policy reform. Addressing structural barriers and valuing experiential knowledge is essential to building sustainable mental health systems. Although based in England, the mechanisms identified resonate internationally.