SUN is turning 5!

Q: Thanks for joining us Sindhu. First things first, can you describe SUN and explain who it is for?

Sindhu: “SUN is a facilitated peer support service for anyone aged 18 and above, who can experience complex emotional difficulties or traits of personality disorder. SUN is open access but you need to be registered with a GP in Surrey and North East Hampshire to access it. SUN membership is not limited in time – you can access the service as long as you want.

Relationships are of primary importance in SUN. We aim to support our members (ie. people accessing the service) to form healthy attachments, offer a validating and non-judgemental space, encourage curiosity and sharing of different perspectives within the support groups.

We offer 6 groups a week (3 online and 3 face-to-face) and each group is structured into 3 parts where members are invited to bring thoughts and feelings about anything they wish to discuss. SUN members both give and receive support to one another and can attend as many groups as they wish to.

Co-production is at the heart of what we do. We offer various opportunities that promote member involvement outside the support groups – community meetings, focus groups, socials, newsletter production and outreach presentations where members are encouraged to actively participate and contribute to the SUN community.“

Q: What is your role as part of SUN?

Sindhu: “I am the Service manager for SUN. We are a co-produced team of clinicians and staff with lived experience; shared responsibility is an integral part of our ethos and it is very much a flattened hierarchy in SUN.

My role is to lead on service delivery to ensure it is consistent, be a containing presence for the community, holding risks around any challenges that may arise, promote opportunities for service development and representing SUN widely. My duties vary from week to week. I enjoy the variety of the tasks that I get to do – chairing and minuting meetings, supervising colleagues, reporting, co-chairing community meetings, co-facilitating peer support groups, focus groups, working groups and so on. I also lead on the maintenance of our Enabling Environments Award that we received in December 2024 through supporting the team to think innovatively about the quality improvement process that we follow.“

Q: What is special about the service?

Sindhu: “SUN is very special to me in lots of ways. As a service, the open access element helps members to decide whether SUN is right for them and gives them the opportunity to attend groups when they feel the need, so it is empowering.

It is a simple registration process where we just ask for basic demographic details, so members don’t need to wait for an assessment or triage and there is no waiting list. We usually process our registrations within 48 working hours. A lot of our members are known to have experienced difficulties around endings, so it is quite special that SUN membership is not time limited.

We are truly co-produced; we involve our staff and members in all aspects of service development. We create a space where both staff and members can share their views and we aim to make co-produced decisions where possible.

There seems to be some stigma about personality disorder, and our members are known to have had both positive and challenging experiences with clinical treatment services, so the peer support element is invaluable as they can support one another by relating, validating and gently challenging where needed. Some of our members may feel isolated too, so the community aspect of the service supports them to feel less alone and build healthy relationships.

I have never worked in a service before where staff have regular protected time for team supervision and reflective practice and where staff wellbeing is discussed as a priority within all team meetings!“

Q: SUN is co-delivered by SABP Clinicians and Lived Experience Practitioners from Mary Frances Trust. Why is it important to have both organisations involved, and what does each bring to the table?

Sindhu: “We are so privileged to be working as a partnership service because it really compliments the medical and social models of care. We are a facilitated peer support service and not a clinical treatment service.

Working alongside MFT helps us reinforce the community aspect of our service, empowers our members to be and feel part of a community, rather than be viewed as a ‘patient’ who is under the care of a service. Being a partnership really embraces co-production too.

Working for SUN can be quite emotionally demanding for everyone as there may be some levels of unpredictability around what may be brought to groups, so it is really important that our staff with lived experience are supported with policies and protocols that can be adapted to meet their needs and I feel that MFT have acknowledged this which we feel truly grateful for.“

Q: SUN is turning 5! What are the key moments, milestones, or highlights from the past five years?

Sindhu: Wow! What a journey it has been… To note some of the key elements:
– We launched SUN during the pandemic, our first SUN group was on 18 January 2021 online.
– We formed our team during the pandemic which I think was a huge challenge that we successfully overcame.
– We launched our first face-to-face SUN group in January 2022 at Guildford institute.
– We launched our first face-to-face social in April 2022.
– We launched our first community meeting in March 2023.
– We received the award for the best poster at BIGSPD conference, Glasgow in June 2023.
– We celebrated our 1,000^th SUN group on 21 May 2024.
– We received our Enabling Environment (EE) Award in December 2024.
– We received our Silver Award for SABP ‘Team of the year’ in May 2025.
– Two of our staff members completed their Diploma in Relational practice in July 2025.

Q: What are you proudest of about the service?

Sindhu: “I am genuinely proud of absolutely everything in SUN! To specify, the proudest element is being able to witness the development journeys for our staff and members since they joined SUN and the difference we make to people’s lives through empowerment and compassion.

I am also incredibly proud of how we work as a team and how we embrace co-production. I work within a dedicated team where all my colleagues are passionate and committed to SUN. We try our best to be responsive as a team rather than reactive which plays a huge role in offering containment to our community.“

Q: What would you say to someone who isn’t sure if the service is right for them?

Sindhu: “It is completely understandable if you are not sure about whether the service is right for you. We have virtual events that we run on the first Thursday of every month which is open to everyone. It is an opportunity for you to find out more about what we do. There will be a short presentation about our service and time for Q&A, so you can ask any questions and meet some of our staff and members at the event. Please email sun.admin@sabp.nhs.uk to book on and receive a TEAMS invite.

I just want to reassure you that groups are not everyone’s cup of tea; it takes time to build relationships and feel part of the community. It may also feel different when you are offered the choice to make decisions and are listening to different perspectives within groups, but they are facilitated spaces and you are welcome to bring any feelings about groups to discuss, so we can support you. You might not be the only one who has thoughts and feelings about groups!

If you are still not sure about what to expect from groups, you are more than welcome to sign up and try attending a couple of groups, either face-to-face or online. If you decide to not continue, you can just email us to let us know, and we can close your records on our system. So, it is completely up to you whether you want to engage with SUN or not!”