Finding someone who understands what you are going through, a peer who has gone through a similar experience, can make all the difference. Join the Peer Connect program to connect with someone living with your lung condition.
Lung Foundation Australia’s Peer Connect program provides you an opportunity to share your experiences and support with someone else others who ‘gets it’.
What is Peer Connect?
Since launching as the Pulmonary Fibrosis Peer Connect program in 2017, Australians living with Pulmonary Fibrosis (PF) and Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), have been connecting with others from across the country via telephone to share stories and advice – and a laugh or two along the way.
Peer Connect is now also available for those living with, or caring for someone with, Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, bronchiectasis and lung cancer.
The one-on-one telephone-based service connects you with a volunteer Primary Peer to share experiences with each other. No matter where you’re located, Peer Connect allows you to connect with someone living with your lung condition. Chat with someone who understands what you’re going through and know you’re not alone – all from the comfort of your own home.
Hear from a participant
Peter, who lives with IPF, has experienced first-hand the benefits of being able to connect with someone with a shared experience. After being diagnosed with IPF in 2016, Peter heard about Peer Connect through a Lung Foundation Australia education seminar.
“It encourages me to keep on track. It’s like a checkpoint in a way,” he says.
“I’ve learned through my work that if you’ve got someone to run with, it encourages you to persevere in what you’re supposed to do. You hold each other up to it.
“It’s a very important thing to do … if I didn’t have someone like my peer to talk to from time to time, I feel I’d be worse off.”
Professor Anne Holland, Chief Investigator at the Centre of Research Excellence in Pulmonary Fibrosis – which proudly supports the PF Peer Connect program – says it’s a wonderful way to connect with someone living with your lung condition.
“It’s an invaluable way to offer mutual support. One-on-one peer support for those living with a lung condition equips people to live well, assisted by the understanding, knowledge and empathy of people who are on a similar journey,” she said.
Join Peer Connect
Find support through our one-on-one telephone-based service and connect to a volunteer Primary Peer from the comfort of your own home.
