Peer Support

Peer Support (sometimes known as Peer Mentoring) is about young people offering support to other young people, usually within the school environment. Young people often prefer to share their problems with their peers rather than speak to an adult.

Without realising it, young people already give support to their friends, using the listening skills they already possess and often understanding the problems the friend may be experiencing. Learning to be a Peer Supporter is just a formal way of emphasising these skills and maybe learning a few ones.

You will and learn about confidentiality and how to care for each other in a positive way and also have a system for supervision. There will obviously be limits to the amount of support you can give and you cannot be responsible for young people who are at risk or deal with things that you feel uncomfortable with. All this will be made clear during the session.

It is a big commitment to give up your free time to be a Peer supporter and you need to be able to work as a team for it to be successful. It can also be very rewarding to know you have supported someone with difficulties, big or small.