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Peer-to-Peer Counseling: How to Support Your Inner Circle
Peer-to-Peer Counseling: How to Support Your Inner Circle
Every November 10th, we celebrate Indonesian National Heroes Day. The day when all Indonesian people celebrate the sacrifices of the youth who have been willing to give their lives for their country. 2021 provides each of us with opportunities to be modern day heroes for each other by being an advocate for each other’s mental health.
Many people believe that having good mental health means being stress-free. However, enjoying good mental health speaks more to a person’s ability to deal with problems, bounce back from adversity, and build a support system. Listening to each other’s stories and being there for others can be a simple, yet impactful act of altruism. This kind of peer-to-peer counseling is one skill that each of us are able to develop and practice in our daily lives.
Peer-to-peer counseling is a helping process that involves one-on-one interaction or interaction between several individuals. In academic settings, this usually involves students helping other students (https://www.whiteswanfoundation.org). In a simple way, students become counselors for their friends. Many people believe that to become a peer counselor for their friends, they have to be able to provide solutions for their problems. However, the most important things that we can do for our peers as a peer counsellor is to listen actively and with empathy and respect the confidentiality of the stories that are shared with us.(https://www.forbes.com).
Active listening requires your ears, eyes, and heart to listen to all of the words and the intention behind them. Peer counsellors who are skilled in active listening are able to avoid distractions and focus entirely on the speaker and what they have to say. Active listeners listen in a way which provides encouragement to the speaker, to freely express their emotions. Active listeners do not necessarily see it as their role to provide advice or suggest solutions. Rather, skilled peer counsellors guide the speaker to explore their own solutions. The act of paraphrasing builds trust and demonstrates to the listener that they are being heard. Paraphrasing is an essential tool in the tool box of all peer counsellors.
In the peer counsellor’s toolbox is the ability to empathise with others. Empathy helps counselors to understand other people’s feelings and understand their points of view. Empathy helps other people to trust the peer counselor, which then encourages the speaker to open up and more freely share their story.
The significance of confidentiality in peer to peer counselling should not be under-estimated. Confidentiality reassures people that they can trust the peer counselor and know that their stories will remain private. Peer counselors respect all stories they hear by not giving any judgment.
Peer-to-peer counseling has been proved by research to be a powerful support for people with mental health issues. It can help them to be more connected and feel a sense of belonging with others, as well as build better coping strategies to deal with day-to-day challenges. The positive insight that they gain about themselves through the peer to peer counselling process, often encourages people to take the next step and reach out to ask for help from mental health professionals. (Naslund et al., 2016).
As we celebrate National Heroes Day here in Indonesia, each of us should understand that we can be modern day heroes by supporting each other’s mental health.
Resource:
https://www.whiteswanfoundation.org/education/peer-counselling-in-academic-setting
Naslund, et al., 2016. The Future of Mental Health Care: Peer-to-Peer Support and Social Media. Epidemiology and Psychiatry Sciences. 25(2): 113–122.
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