Social isolation and loneliness are reported as having significant impacts on health, especially for older people. Policy concern has led to the creation of interventions to try and tackle these issues, including the funding of community-based support groups. The National Lottery Ageing Better Fund, 2015-2022 supported voluntary and community…

Higher education students need help and support to enable them to cope with the challenges of their studies. The aim of this study was to investigate the perspectives of first-year undergraduate students on predictors of psychosocial support in challenging situations. A creative art-based descriptive research design was employed utilising an…

Utilizing an ecological model as a framework, we analyze the role of peers as connectors between an array of microsystems within a student's post-secondary experience. We examine data from 128 student focus group participants from four colleges and eight universities in Ontario, Canada and conclude that peer interactions, both formal and informal,…

The aim of the current study is to investigate the impact of counselling-based training on online peer support by comparing the interventions of trained peer supporters as opposed to non-trained peer supporters. Two independent raters analysed 746 support posts published during a period of one year at the "Student to Student" online peer…

A survey was sent to 33 managers at units and centres involved in Higher Education student-to-student support services in the form of peer help programmes. The survey focused on managers' perspectives on peer help programme demographics, management, planning and resourcing, on intra-institutional and other linkages, as well as on institutional…

Counseling and helping services on college campuses have changed greatly in recent decades, yet the services provided by college counseling centers are hardly keeping pace. Campuses have turned to other means of addressing the increased need for helping services, including training paraprofessionals to address many counseling and crisis situations…

School disengagement and dropout prevention are important areas of inquiry in today's educational environment. School counselors can have dramatic impact on student engagement and retention. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of a peer helper program on disengagement and dropout. The researchers implemented a comprehensive,…

Student peer helpers will be trained to provide an intermediate helping response with potentially distressed campus students. The purpose of this article is to sufficiently describe our student peer helper training orientation curriculum, that is aligned with our educational objectives and the NAPP (2002) training standards, so that other college…

This document presents a guide for developing a peer helpers code of behavior. The first section discusses issues relevant to the trainers. These issues include whether to give a model directly to the group or whether to engender "ownership" of the code by the group; timing of introduction of the code; and addressing the issue of…

Describes a counseling program whereby 12 selected high school students were trained as peer counselors to extend counseling services to a greater number of students. Results were favorable. (HMV)

The author describes his early experiences in initiating a peer facilitation program. (Author)

The goal of the present research endeavor was to assess the selection and training process for the use of para-professionals as a part of the counseling and crisis intervention services offered to students at a four year liberal arts college. (Author)

Students helping students have become an increasingly important educational concept over the last 20 years. While the popularity and prevalence of these types of programs have grown considerably, there has been little effort to evaluate their effectiveness. The authors advocate for counselors to use a scientist practitioner approach to…

Examined factors that correlate with satisfaction with peer counseling. Findings from 159 students who had met with a peer counselor during 1 academic year revealed that, in general, students were only slightly satisfied with peer counseling services. Students who were satisfied had received empathy and understanding, as well as problem-solving…

Many researchers have linked peer counseling skills to skills necessary in acquiring friends. In order to examine the relationship between peer counseling training and friendship, peer counselor trainees' (N=167) expectations of friendship before and after peer counseling training were compared. Peer counselors' expectations of friendship were…