NAIT launches new peer support group
By Admin User on November 26, 2018
NAIT’s Students’ Association has been developing a peer support program over the past two years and it’s getting close to its launch date on November 26.
“There’s not a place where students can talk to other students, can talk to peers that they know exactly what they’re going through and to feel comfortable talking to someone that is like a friend,” said Vice President of Student Services, Willow Shelley, who was inspired by the past leadership at NAITSA to complete the project.
The peer support group is also anonymous and confidential. The peer supporters aren’t like counsellors currently at NAIT, as they’re students. This was decided in order to make the students using the group feel more comfortable. When the peer supporters are hired, it is for the whole school year since they will be students at NAIT. The training is also different from counsellors because they don’t need a prior education in counselling. They learn active listening and peer support. Shelley says that they, “Listen to the individual and help to guide them, through their own action plan and their own process.”
Megan Brodeur, Service Hub Manager at NAITSA says the launch on Nov. 26 is more of a testing phase. “What we’ll call a soft launch phase in the winter term because we are launching this year. It’s just like three weeks before the end of term our full launch will be January, so we’re just gonna see what the first year is like.”
The hours of the peer support group vary depending on the day of the week. As the schedule is made in order to fit the peer supporters schedules. For the current semester, the peer support group runs from November 26 to December 14.