Youth making a difference -- with and for each other!

Training for:

Advisors

Staff

Students

Why Peer Helping?

School and agency staff are stretched ever thinner to meet the increasing needs of students. Yet a readily available resource -- young people themselves -- often remains underutilized. Peer helping harnesses the innate desire of youth to contribute, giving it structure and direction.

Current research demonstrates that peer helping is the most effective avenue for young people to make a positive difference and be recognized for it. In the process, peer helpers hone essential life and employability skills, like communication, problem solving, and decision making. They also come to view themselves positively, which is a key to success in school, job, and life. And as active contributors, they develop a sense of personal and social responsibility, which prepares them to be the adult citizens and neighbors we'd all like to have.

What is Peer Helping?

Effective peer helping programs provide young people with the skills, opportunities, and support to positively influence their peers' attitudes and behavior on academic, social, and personal issues. In turn, peer helpers provide understanding, support, prevention education, intervention, and referrals for individuals and groups. They serve via peer tutoring, conflict mediation, cross-age tutoring, mentoring, parent education, teen theater, and a variety of other needed service activities.

Benefits of Peer Helping

• Tension and violence are reduced, and tolerance and understanding are increased as peer helpers resolve conflicts and open channels of communication.
• Risk behaviors - vandalism, substance abuse, truancy - decline as more students come to care more about themselves, their peers and their school, because they feel valued.
• Staff members feel more support and morale improves as they notice students helping each other, becoming part of the solution.
• Student attendance and academic performance improve as the students served by their peers feel valued, and the peer helpers themselves see the value of their work.
• Community perception of students and schools becomes more positive as peer helpers impact the lives of those they serve.

How We Can Help

Community Matters provides training and technical assistance to help start and strengthen peer helping programs.

Training for Staff and Advisors

To help implement peer helping programs at a site or district level, we offer inspiring and substantive training programs tailored to meet your specific needs. Participants will learn how to implement and sustain an effective peer program, including how to:

• Gain support of staff and administrators
• Recruit and select a diverse group of students
• Identify and obtain appropriate curricula and materials
• Design retreats and classroom experiences to train students in helping skills
• Select and develop meaningful opportunities for service
• Provide effective ongoing supervision and support
• Recognize students and other contributors to your program
• Evaluate program effectiveness and overall impact
• Raise funds to sustain and enhance the program
• Build a broad base of community support with effective public relations

Format Covering the above content areas properly requires 2-3 days, depending upon prior experience of participants. The training can be arranged to match participants' schedules.

Location We can conduct the training at your site, or you can host the training jointly with another site, district or organization to stretch your dollars further.

Training for Students

Providing students with proper training is essential for the success of a peer helping program, especially at its inception. Community Matters can design and deliver a comprehensive training for your students that will:

• Motivate and inspire them to actively contribute to their school and community via peer helping
• Equip them with an understanding of the peer helping model, so they have a context for their work
• Introduce the skill sets necessary for peer helping: active listening, problem solving, conflict mediation, coaching and giving feedback, etc.
• Provide ample opportunity to learn and refine those skills via discussions, role plays and other experiential learning methods
• Engage them in planning how the program will be implemented, so their level of ownership increases and their commitment builds

Format Covering the above content areas properly requires 2-3 days, depending upon prior experience of participants. The training can be arranged to match participants' schedules.

Location We recommend using a retreat-style conference center near your community, and can help you find the setting that's right for your group.

Technical Assistance

Troubleshooting, problem solving and support with program implementation is included with the above trainings, and can be provided separately as needed.

Please contact us.