Peer Programs

An In-Depth Look at Peer Programs: Planning, Implementation, and Administration

Judith A. Tindall, David R. Black

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2011
• eBook ISBN: 9781135896928
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Theory & Practice

The Peer Power Program is a peer training program designed for middle, high school, and higher education students, focusing on 8 core skills: Attending, Empathizing, Summarizing, Questioning, Genuineness, Assertiveness, Confrontation, and Problem Solving. Through a series of exercises, games, and self-awareness techniques, youth and adults involved in the program can gain the basic communication and mediation skills necessary to effectively help their peers.

An overview of peer helping, Peer Programs explains the value of and techniques for helping non-professionals learn to help others one-on-one, in small groups and in groups of classroom size. Intended to be of use to those responsible for planning, implementing and/or administering peer programs, this text should also convince those who are not directly involved that peer helping is a worthwhile undertaking – reducing drug and alcohol abuse, dropouts, violence and conflict, HIV and AIDS, pregnancy, stress and negative peer pressure. New features of this edition include:

• updated rationale for peer programs
• updated highlights from current evaluation
• added professionalism- CPPE. Certified Program, Programmatic Standards, Rubric and others
• downloadable resources of forms to customize for all phases of the Peer Program
• step-by-step guide of new and current programs

This book is an indispensable guide for learning important aspects of training peer helpers and as a resource book for a wide range of professional peer helpers, such as: administrators; managers; teachers; counselors; ministers; religious educators; social workers; psychologists; human resource personnel and others in the helping professions.

CHAPTER 1
An Open Letter to the Peer Program Professional

Dear Peer Program Professional,

The goal of this book is to provide a model designed to teach peer program professionals how to provide a rationale for training others in peer resource skills; training guidelines; and how to plan, implement, and evaluate effective peer programs. Peer programs are a major delivery system of systematic youth development, affective education, interactive teaching, development of life and resiliency skills, and asset building in youth and adult support programs.

Peer programs can provide prevention, intervention, and support systems for people regardless of their age or the setting. This book has two purposes. The first purpose is to enable the trainer/peer program professional to know how to teach interpersonal communication skills and techniques. This training will enable lay helpers to work with others, either formally or informally, in a variety of helping roles. The second purpose is to assist the peer program professional in how to set up a peer program that follows the National Peer Programs Association Programmatic Standards and Ethics.

The philosophy of a mental health professional “giving away” skills and “training” others in peer programming requires a specific plan, strong commitment of energy, self-awareness, time, and probably additional training. This resource book and accompanying student workbooks titled Peer Power, Book One and Book Two, Workbook, along with Peer Power, Book One and Book Two, Strategies for the Professional Leader, will enhance awareness about the scope and tasks of developing a successful peer program. The program design has been developed and field-tested by the authors and others for over 30 years.

Peer programs have been shown to be an effective strategy in dealing with some of society’s problems such as academic underachievement; loneliness; conflicts; safety problems such as underage drinking and driving; and health problems including HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy, smoking, substance abuse, eating disorders, and other mental health issues (e.g., stress, depression, and suicide). Other areas of successful application have been with conflict resolution, cultural diversity, lack of support groups for individuals and families facing chronic illness, aging parents, genetic disorders, addictive problems, neighborhood- and work-related problems. Research as explained in Chapters 4 and 5 indicates that a peer is often the most effective in influencing behavioral change in others.

Studies indicate that the peer program professional is one of the keys to an effective program (Sachnoff, 1984). Several personal attributes are essential before a peer program professional can deliver a peer program successfully. This success of training lay helpers depends upon six attributes:

1. A high level of awareness of one’s own values, personality type, feelings, goals, and aspirations.
2. An awareness of the time and effort involved.
3. A commitment to developing and completing a program that follows NAPP Programmatic Standards.
4. A willingness to take creative risks.
5. An ability to trust trainees.
6. The ability to create an infrastructure that embraces peer programs as an effective means of helping others.

Peer helping professionals must be dedicated to the concept of the value of training lay leaders in effective interpersonal communication skills as well as competency in designing a curriculum and using and teaching such skills. They also must have the skills to begin and sustain a program within their organizational structure. A peer program professional who is an effective communicator enhances chances of trainees functioning at high levels of effectiveness within a supportive environment. Even though the peer program professional may have had experience in counseling or teaching, this experience does not assure effectiveness in peer program teaching. Research by Carkhuff (1969, 2000a, 2000b) and colleagues (Carkhuff, Berenson & Griffin, 2004) concluded that oftentimes a counselor has lesser helping skills as a result of that counseling experience. One can very easily develop habits and behaviors that are counterproductive and ineffective for training peer helpers and not be aware of it. Therefore, trainers for peer training programs need to improve continuously and add to competencies in their personal helping skills before and throughout the process of training others. Peer program professionals also must have the skill of working within their current infrastructure.

The first requirement for being effective in training peer helpers is possession of a high level of awareness of one’s own values, personality type, feelings, goals, and aspirations. A trainer must have a keen awareness of self and others in order to carry out an effective training and peer program. Without this ability to know oneself well, a high probability exists that the trainer will exhibit behaviors that can detract and damage an otherwise effective program. The leader of any program of this nature exerts a tremendous influence, either negative or positive, on trainees learning the basic communication skills. Unless trainers are cognizant of personal feelings and emotions and how they are communicated to others, their impact on trainees will be haphazard—sometimes destructive, sometimes beneficial—but never will the impact be consistently helpful in the growth of the individual trainee.

A second attribute is awareness on the part of the trainer of the significant amount of time and effort required to organize people in an educational system, workplace, church system, hospital, youth facility, or community system that is neither geared nor oriented to include peer helping training. As is true with other requirements of peer training, if the time, effort, and energy are not given willingly, or if the trainer is not able to give the time to organize a program adequately, the probability of success will be reduced. Under these circumstances, it would be ethically appropriate not to volunteer to assume responsibility for developing, operating, and overseeing a program.

The third attribute is that the time commitment to develop and complete a program that follows the National Association of Peer Programs Programmatic Standards and Ethics (www.peerprograms.org/publications) requires high levels of physical and emotional energy. A peer program requires high energy levels that enable concentration over relatively long periods of time. For example, a key training procedure that relates directly to this high-energy requirement is found in the feedback process of the program. The feedback process requires that the trainer evaluate the effectiveness of a trainee’s communications skills and provide feedback regarding that appraisal to the trainee. To do this consistently and well requires a high enough level of energy to concentrate for significant periods of time. High expenditures of energy require that one be in good physical and mental condition. Otherwise, difficulty will occur in maintaining energy levels sufficient to be an effective rater and trainer.

Fourth, the willingness to take creative risks is important. The Peer Programs: An In-Depth Look at Peer Programs: Planning, Implementation, and Administration book is only a resource book, and for a specific program to be effective, each person must use personal creativity to develop needed modifications. Although it is important not to change the skill-building pattern, the program design needs to be adapted to the unique conditions existing in the system being served. Because each system operates somewhat differently, adaptations require creative thinking and planning to fit the program design into the structure of the setting in which the training takes place. For example, an open school could have peer helpers located in many parts of the building, whereas a traditional school may have to fit a training program into an often-rigid physical and curricular structure. A university setting may have a different delivery system than a community agency. The program design needs to be adapted also to the developmental level of those being trained.

Fifth, the competency and integrity of the trainees must be trusted. An element of risk always exists when one is training helpers because possibly trainees will go beyond their skill level in helping other people. Experience shows, however, that trainees become acutely aware of their boundaries and limitations as the result of training. Considerable time and effort in the training program are spent in clearly identifying the responsibilities of the helper when dealing with information that may be confidential or a problem that may be beyond the helper’s capacity. The final requirement after training is to trust the lay helpers to behave responsibly and within the confines of their training.

Sixth, the ability to create an infrastructure that embraces peer programs as an effective means of helping others. Systematic infrastructure development is needed to sustain and ensure the program’s effectiveness throughout its life. Following the National Association of Peer Programs Programmatic Standards and Ethics (www.peerprograms.org/publications) will assist in that goal. It is essential to get the top manager/administrator on board to recognize and commit to the value of peer helpers. Generally, a written plan will assist that administrator in understanding and supporting the program. Effective evaluation will assist not only in the sustaining, but also in the growth of the program.

When using the training procedures described in this book, we have neither witnessed nor has anyone ever reported to us inappropriate helping behaviors. The training helps to establish the qualities of competence and integrity needed to develop capable and competent peer helpers. To date, this trust has been supported by thousands of peer helpers/tutors/mediators/mentors/educators/ambassadors/leaders.

One caution to you: The peer program professional is not to use this resource book as a “cookbook.” The program design demands a high degree of structure for success, and the resource book should provide a disciplined structure rather than a recipe for your program. A peer program professional is urged to blend personal creativity into implementing the program to specific needs without destroying the integrity of the process and the program design.

To you, a potential peer program professional, an invitation is issued to participate in a highly exciting program for increasing competencies in the helping skills. Peer Programs: An In-Depth Look at Peer Programs: Planning, Implementation, and Administration has been developed to assist people interested in an action program for training peer helpers. The accompanying four books titled Peer Power, Book One, Workbook: Becoming an Effective Peer Helper and Conflict Mediator and Strategies for the Professional Leader; and Peer Power, Book Two, Workbook: Applying Peer Helper Skills and Strategies for the Professional Leader contain content and activities to assist trainees in gaining and applying the essential skills under your supervision. If you are interested in having your peer helpers also do conflict mediation, the book Conflict Resolving (in press) may be of use for you. A CD is included with this book that contains the NAPP Rubric, forms that can be used for your program, and evaluation tools to which you may add your own organizational name and which you may adjust to meet your needs. Those of you working with preadolescents may want to consider Peers Helping Peers: Program for the Preadolescent, Leader Manual and Student Workbook (Tindall & Salmon-White, 1990).

Sincerely,

Judith A. Tindall, PhD
David R. Black, PhD

A man becomes virtuous
by performing virtuous acts;
He becomes kind by doing kind acts;
He becomes brave by doing brave acts.

—Aristotle

CHAPTER 2
Peer Helping and Its Components

Interest among counselors and other persons in the helping professions has been growing significantly over the last several years; interest in teaching nonprofessional skills, attitudes, and concerns of effective human interrelationships has also expanded. Training programs are relatively new and terminology is in the formative stage. By reading this chapter you will be exposed to the frequently used terminology in peer programs and the meanings commonly associated with these terms.

Peer Helping

The most important term is the concept of peer helping. For the purpose of the program, peer helping is defined as a variety of interpersonal helping behaviors assumed by nonprofessionals who undertake a helping role with others. Peer helping includes one-to-one helping relationships, group leadership, discussion leadership, advisement, tutoring, service learning, conflict mediation, peer education, mentoring, providing staff outreach support, and all activities of an interpersonal human helping or assisting nature.

Peer Program

A peer program is a systemic approach to deliver peer helping to others. An effective peer program involves a vision, mission, goals, infrastructure, selection of the peer helpers, training of the peer helpers, evaluation of the peer program, and promoting the program to those they serve.

Peer Resources

The term peer resource is used to refer to any program that utilizes trained, nonprofessional people to work with other people in schools, communities, churches, businesses, industries, and intergenerational programs. Peer resources implies the use of human capital that are invaluable resources in the helping community. It is the concept of utilizing trained peers to assist in a variety of ways such as listening, educating, mediating, tutoring, crisis management, and mentoring.

Affective Education

Because the trainee’s experience is one of learning how to teach, the peer program professional must be aware of the concept of affective education or deliberate psychological education. The terms affective education and deliberate psychological education (DPE) essentially are interchangeable, and both refer to educational concerns that deal with feelings. References to DPE strategies relate to procedures or programs that teach or train people in the concepts and skills involved in improving interpersonal affective psyc...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Forms
• Chapter 1 An Open Letter to the Peer Program Professional
• Chapter 2 Peer Helping and Its Components
• Chapter 3 Why Peer Programs Now? A Case for Peer Power!
• Chapter 4 The Future of Helping
• Chapter 5 Highlights of the Peer Resource Literature
• Chapter 6 Development of the Peer Program Professional
• Chapter 7 Steps to a Successful Peer Program
• Chapter 8 Training Model and Procedures
• Chapter 9 Utilization of Peer Resources and Advanced Training
• Chapter 10 Evaluation of the Program
• Chapter 11 Building a Team
• Chapter 12 Programmatic Standards and Codes of Ethics
• References
• Appendix
• Authors
• Author Index
• Subject Index
• Introduction to the Materials on the Computer Disk