School-Wide Peer Helping
Peer Helping Changes School Climate
by
Greg Danakas
At Runnymede Collegiate Institute in Toronto we are now in our third year of operating a peer helping program. Our program continues to grow and improve, so I am delighted to provide some details about our activities.
We have been fortunate to have our peer program featured on local television, and our peer helpers were regulars on a local teen call-in show. Most recently we were featured in the November, 1995 issue of Canadian Living Magazine (p. 27). An upcoming documentary on violence against women, produced by Canada's National Film Board, will also feature a segment on our peer program.
What justifies such publicity? Probably the work of our students in providing a needed and valued service at our school. We run two credit courses at the grade 11 and 12 levels. Students wishing to become peer helpers must go through a vigorous selection process that includes a detailed application, a questionnaire that is sent to teachers, and a personal interview. I also take pride in the fact that our peer helpers represent the cultural, economic, and academic diversity of the school and community.
Our school is semestered so our peer helpers get the advantage of a full year for them to do their work. The basis of our curriculum is the Peer Counselling Starter Kit as well as other sources. We also provide each of our peer helpers with a copy of the workbook that accompanies the Starter Kit.
We use the phrase "peer help" as an umbrella term for all of our activities. Here is a list of the various activities associated with our program:
Peer Counselling
Peer Help Centre
Conflict Mediation
Grade Nine Involvement
Peer Help Newsletter
Keep the Peace Week
White Ribbon Campaign
Safe Sex and Condom Availability
Feeder School Outreach
The peer helpers are dedicated to reaching out to our feeder schools and providing those students with positive role models and grade 9 preparation. In workshops and their practicums, peer helpers believe that our support should be community wide.
Practicums
Drug and Alcohol Prevention Week
We are busy! I get calls from all over Ontario about our program and how to start a peer help course. I get invited to panel discussions, and I am eager to help others gain the benefits we have received. Our program has grown quickly and it has affected our school in fundamental ways. It is the hardest subject I have ever taught, and the time commitment is enormous. But what a wonderful experience! The head of our Guidance Department, Joe Gates, has one fundamental philosophy, "I am my brothers' keeper." Think how wonderful our world would be if we could all live this way!
Gregory Danakas can be contacted at Runnymede Collegiate Institute, 569 Jane Street, Toronto, Ontario, M6S 4A3, (416) 394-3200, fax: (416) 394-4445.
Using the model developed by Peer Resources, our students are trained to listen and help students who are experiencing some difficulty. In our three years we have experienced everything from problems in the relationships to problems with teachers to potential suicides.
Peer helpers run and co-ordinate this centre which is always open during our two lunch periods so that students can drop-in when they need someone to talk to. There is also an appointment box for students to ask to be seen at another time.
This has been extremely successful at our school. In the event of a conflict, whether verbal or physical, the Vice-Principal or Behaviour Resource Teacher informs me and I choose a Peer Helper to mediate the conflict in the Peer Help Centre. Most disputants avoid detentions or suspensions due to mediation. In the event that a suspension is unavoidable then the mediation takes place immediately upon the student's return to school. We are running a 100% success rate, and we are very proud of what we have been able to accomplish.
Each peer helper is assigned to a Grade 9 homeform which they formally visit at least once a month. During the course of the year, peer helpers develop a big brother, big sister relationship with their Grade 9s. The helping team consists of the assigned peer helpers, the assigned school counsellor, and the mentor teacher who teaches the Grade 9 class during the same period as our peer help class. In case of a problem, they know exactly where to find us.
Five times a year a second year peer helper publishes a newsletter which is distributed to every student in the school. It outlines our activities as well as gives some biographical information about our peer helpers. For example, in a recent issue edited by Maria P., peer helpers, Sasha R. wrote about the month's activities of the peer program; Susanne S. described why she became a peer helper; Tunde T. contributed thoughts about our peer help class; Tyrone S. let students know what he gets from being a peer helper; Tammy T. provided an article on our training retreat; Eduard U. reminded students about the importance of our White Ribbon campaign; and Richard K. talked about his interests and why he signed up to be a peer helper.
Last year a peer helper initiated a whole week dedicated to peace that ran during Easter week. It was huge success and will now be an annual event. She organized a different activity each day from an assembly to classroom workshops to selling positive message balloons. A student would buy and send a balloon to a friend with a positive message attached to it. We also had peer helpers roaming the halls rewarding students and teachers who were seen doing acts of kindness.
Each year a male peer helper plans a week long activity based on stopping violence against women. It takes place on the week of December 6 in memory of the 14 women massacred in Montreal in 1989.
In conjunction with our Science Department and the Community Health Unit we provide condoms to students. The peer helpers are developing a week dedicated to promoting abstinence and safe sex.
Three times a year for three weeks, peer helpers must dedicate themselves to a helping situation. They can help a teacher, help coach a team, work in the Skills Lab or engage in virtually any service-oriented activity they can create.
In co-ordination with our Drug Awareness Resource Teacher, a second year peer helper organizes this very important educational week. Once more, they develop daily activities, invite experts for information panels, and develop classroom workshops to be led by peer helpers.