SUN (Service User Network)

SUN is an easy to access community-based peer support service for adults experiencing difficulties with complex emotions often associated with personality disorder.

These emotions can affect how a person feels, copes with life and manages relationships. Based on an established model of care, SUN offers access to regular peer support groups where people can talk about their experiences and offer one another help and advice. Groups are facilitated by a clinician, and a peer support worker with lived experience of mental health issues.

Who is SUN designed to help?

SUN is available to anyone aged 18 and over who is registered with a GP in Surrey or NE Hampshire.

It is for people who:
• have been diagnosed with personality disorder and who are looking for increased support in the community to help them manage their condition
• would describe themselves as having complex emotional needs but have not received a diagnosis of personality disorder

What happens at SUN groups?

SUN groups follow a set format to encourage people to: say how they are feeling and what they want to get out of the group; discuss topics or themes that are raised; offer support and share experiences; and talk about how they are feeling at the end of the group. Group facilitators participate in discussions where helpful and where needed.

Where are SUN groups held?

Several groups are held weekly and they offer both face to face and virtual groups, providing people with a choice of how to access support.

Our SUN timetable is as follows:

Virtual Groups:

• Mondays – 10am – 12:30pm
  
• Tuesdays – 2pm – 4:30pm
• Fridays – 10am – 12:30pm
  

Face to Face groups:

• Mondays – Merstham Community Hub – 2pm – 4:30pm
•  Wednesday – Guildford Institute 2pm – 4.30pm
• Thursdays – Maybury Centre Woking 2pm -4:30pm