Download Playing on the Team: Peer to Peer Support

Playing on the Team: Peer to Peer Support
Today there are support groups for any number of things: Caregivers, Diet, Exercise,
Grief, Illnesses, Lactation, Mental Health, Recovery, Families of persons with specific
ailments and the list goes on. What all of these groups have in common is that the people
who come together share a common experience. Peer in this case is taken to imply that
each person has no more expertise as a supporter than the other.
The Peer Support relationship is one of EQUALITY!
Peer support can be informal – just you talking with a friend or someone you meet in the
doctor’s waiting room. It can also be more organized. Many health care providers have set
up programs of “peer mentors” who are paired with other patients to provide support.
Others have set up education programs led by patients to teach others about selfmanagement. Any of these approaches can provide you with opportunities to help yourself
and help others.
The question is what if anything have “we” done for ourselves?
Making peer support a part of our daily work practice will help us increase our ability to
maintain safe and healthy levels of performance, and prepare to be ready to support each
other during a crisis or disaster.
Peer support helps in at least four ways.
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Emotional support
Practical advice
Practical help - like an exercise partner or a ride to the doctor
Increased confidence from seeing others like you succeed at self care
Helping Peers Helps You
You can provide peer support as well as receive it. You have a wealth of information and
experience to share with co-workers. You may be able to provide emotional and practical
help, too. Studies of peer support show that both helpers and receivers of help benefit.
How does providing peer support to others help you? First, helping others is good for your
health. Studies show that those who volunteer their time are less likely to die from any
cause, compared to those who do not volunteer. Helpers also report that they have fewer
colds, headaches, and backaches. They even report relief from pain of chronic illness like
arthritis and lupus. Many volunteers report that they eat and sleep better since they
started volunteering. Second, peers in your group you may help you and enrich your life in
the workplace as well as at home. Third, talking about and learning or teaching selfmanagement, emotional resilience and other skills may help you solve problems in your
own life, and last but not least . . . if we incorporate peer support into our daily routine, it
will like other emotional resilience techniques better prepare us to work together in a safe
and healthy manner in the event of a crisis or disaster.
How to Be Good at Supporting Your Peers
The key skills in providing peer support are:
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Listening is often the best help we can give.
Sharing your knowledge, your techniques for emotional resilience and coping
techniques; telling others how you got through similar problems will give them hope
and ideas.
Giving advice -- should usually be kept to a minimum. What worked for you might
not work for them. But you can present ideas for them to check out. For example:
One colleague may choose to work out daily at a gym to reduce stress. This may
not work for a variety of reasons for other group members but a peer group can
help them to find what might work for them: crocheting?, WII? Listening to music…
Giving information – Don’t preach, but if you know of books, web sites, articles that
they can read, let them know. If you know of social agencies that might help them,
give them the phone number. You don’t want to appear to be the expert; you want
them to become their own experts.
Work together to see what will help you be healthier and safer. Taking care of
yourself and each other in a peer support setting will help you to access these same
skills during an event.
Take care of yourself: getting together and discussing ideas and can help you care
for yourself and strengthen your team.
You can set your Peer Support Group up in a way that suits your team: Depending on your
style, work culture, time and space limitations you may do better in formal peer support
programs such as:
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A formal peer support program where you talk or meet regularly with team
members to discuss topics of interest
Peer Support training classes that you regularly schedule where you all share in the
teaching/training experience
OR…what will work for you and your team: Peer Support Group suggestions,
experientials, and techniques are included in this training to help get you started
Adapted from: Providing Peer Support & Education: www.newhealthpartnerships.org