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TOPICS
1. Funding Opportunities for Youth-Based Peer Programs
2. Opportunities for Creating and Strengthening Peer Programs
3. The Best Peer Conferences and Events
4. Win a Chance to Be A Certified Dream Coach
5. Becoming the Friend You Always Wanted to Have
6. Three Key Studies from Peer Research
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH-BASED PEER PROGRAMS
CIRCLE (The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement) has announced a new grant competition for youth-led research on civic engagement. Research can focus on a variety of topics such as the effects of volunteering, service learning, or peer leadership on the civic attitudes and behavior of youth in a community or school. A variety of methodologies for conducting the research are supported, but applications will be evaluated, in part, on the quality of youth involvement in realizing and completing the research project.
The CIRCLE grants are made available through the support of The Pew Charitable Trusts and Carnegie Corporation of New York. Visit the CIRCLE website for additional details and requirements for eligibility: http://www.civicyouth.org/grants/applying/index.htm.
"Life is a rush into the unknown. You can duck down and hope nothing hits you, or stand as tall as you can, show it your teeth and say, "Dish it up, baby, and don't be stingy with the jalapeños.'"
~ Grey Owl ~
OPPORTUNITIES FOR CREATING AND STRENGTHENING PEER PROGRAMS
1. COMPREHENSIVE PEER PROGRAMS LEADER WORKSHOP (Level I)
The focus of this workshop is on developing high quality peer programs and recruiting, selecting, training, and supervising volunteers to provide peer assistance. Emphasis is placed on the key components of successful peer-based programs in schools, universities and communities. The use of peers as mediators will be included. The course will take place: July 5-9, 2004 in Waterloo, Ontario and July 12-16, 2004 in Victoria, British Columbia. Space is limited to sixteen participants. The fee for the workshop is $753.50 and includes all materials, nutrition breaks, post-session consultation and membership in the Peer Resources Network. Additional information and online registration as well as accommodation information is available at http://www.peer.ca/trng.html or by calling 1.800.567.3700.
2. ADVANCED TRAINING FOR PEER PROGRAM LEADERS (Level II)
An advanced course for persons who have completed a Level I course and have at least two years experience with facilitating peer programs. Emphasis on training skill development, coaching others to create successful peer programs, and the latest trends, issues and resources associated with peer work. The course will take place: July 7-8, 2004 in Victoria, British Columbia. Space is limited to eight participants. The fee for the workshop is $550.00 and includes all materials, nutrition breaks and post-session consultation. Additional information and online registration as well as accommodation information is available at http://www.peer.ca/trng.html or by calling 1.800.567.3700.
3. FIRST NATIONS PEER PROGRAMS LEADERS WORKSHOP (Level I)
The emphasis of this workshop is on First Nations, Aboriginal, Metis, Inuit and Indian communities and has been designed for adults working with youth. The workshop integrates First Nations customs and traditions into state-of-the-art peer training principles. The merging of the Medicine Wheel with the Experiential Learning Cycle benefits any peer training program. The course will take place July 12-16, 2004 in Victoria, British Columbia. Space is limited to sixteen participants. The fee for the workshop is $753.50 and includes all materials, nutrition breaks, post-session consultation and membership in the Peer Resources Network. Additional information and online registration as well as accommodation information is available at http://www.peer.ca/trng.html or by calling 1.800.567.3700.
4. FIRST NATIONS PEER PROGRAMS LEADERS WORKSHOP (Level II)
An advanced workshop for persons who have taken the Level I workshop training and have at least one-year experience in facilitating peer programs for youth in First Nations communities. Emphasis on improving training skills and the use of peer work for community development and healing. The course will take place July 8-9, 2004 in Victoria, British Columbia. Space is limited to ten participants. The fee for the workshop is $550.00 and includes all materials, nutrition breaks and post-session consultation. Additional information and online registration as well as accommodation information is available at http://www.peer.ca/trng.html or by calling 1.800.567.3700.
All seminars are based on principles of adult learning and use experiential skill-building exercises and activities; builds on participant experience and ideas; provides focused input from the workshop leader; encourages sharing learning experience; provides a library of relevant resources; and provides a notebook and take-away trainer materials for each participant. Participants who complete any seminar will receive a Certificate of Completion and be eligible for Continuing Education Unit (CEU) credit. Additional information and online registration is available at http://www.peer.ca/trng.html. Or call 1.800.567.3700.
I was teaching my ten-year old neighbour how to play tennis. He enjoyed rallying back and forth, but had more difficulty when we attached regular tennis scoring to our match. When he didn't win the set, he would fall to the ground and his eyes would fill with tears. I asked him what a good friend should do while he was laying on the ground berating himself. He thought for a moment and said, "Just stand there and stare at me in disbelief!"
PEER CONFERENCES AND EVENTS
Third Annual National Peer Support Conference
January 23-25, 2004
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia
Tel: (604) 822-9246
www.ams.ubc.ca/services/speakeasy/conference.html
speak@ams.ubc.ca
Sixth Annual Pomona Peer Resources Conference Peer Helpers Peace Forum (Let It Begin with Me)
February 5, 2004
Pomona First Baptist Church, Pomona, California
Tel: (909) 397-5060; Fax: (909) 590-8744
www.pusd.org/peer
Adult Facilitator Certified Peer Ministry Training
February 16-19, 2004
Houston, Texas
Tel: (952) 698-3988
peermin@theinstitutefrw.org
National Peer Helpers Association 18th Annual Conference
Pre-conference Institute: June 24-26, 2004
Conference: June 27-29, 2004
The Hilton Hotel, Austin, Texas
Tel: (877) 314-7337; Fax: (866) 314-7337
www.peerhelping.org/
"By making a place for wholeness within our relationships, we offer others the opportunity to be whole without shame and become a place of refuge from everything in them and around them that is not genuine. We enable people to remember who they are."
~ Rachel Naomi Remen ~
WIN AN OPPORTUNITY TO BECOME A CERTIFIED DREAM COACH
Peer mentors are often in the position of helping their partners find a way to turn their dreams into reality. Whether the partner is a young person or an adult, dreams, hopes, and goals become the substance for most effective mentoring relationships.
In order to assist mentors to increase their skills in dream conversations, Peer Resources has made an exceptional arrangement with America's Dream Coach Marcia Wieder. This world-renowned coach and speaker has agreed to provide a Peer Resources Network member with a complete scholarship for tuition in her upcoming Certified Dream Coach Training. This training will take place in Tiburon, California (near San Francisco) May 16-22, 2004. Normally the cost is $2950.00 (US) for seven full days of training, all training materials, and six months of post-training consultation with Marcia.
To qualify for this full scholarship draw (transportation, meals, and accommodation not included), just sign-up to become a member of the Peer Resources Network for a minimum of two years (total cost: $107.00 for an individual member or $214.00 for an organizational member).
The selection (a random draw from all eligible names) will take place on January 28, 2004 and all persons who have registered as members between December 9, 2003 and January 27, 2004 will be eligible for the scholarship draw. The member selected may transfer the free registration to another person. (This offer cannot be exchanged for cash value.)
For more information about the Certified Dream Coach Training, go to http://www.dreamcoachu.com/>http://www.dreamcoachu.com/.
To become eligible for the Dream Coach training, go to our secure server at: https://www.islandnet.com/~rcarr/SPRN.html.
If you have any questions about this offer, please contact us directly at 1.800.567.3700.
"The dream is real, my friends. The failure to make it work is the unreality."
~ Toni Cade Bambara (1939-1995) ~
BECOMING THE FRIEND YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO HAVE
My first experience with death was peering into the casket of my 11-year old friend and schoolmate, Ferdinand. I was puzzled, confused and deeply saddened by the loss of my playmate. I was too young to wonder how he died and just overwhelmed by the wonderment of what happens to you when you die and where you go.
Years later I learned he had taken his own life. This is still difficult for me to accept. How could an eleven-year old experience such anguish that suicide became a reality? And more importantly how come I didn't know what was going on inside him? We spent a lot of school time together: in-class, on the playground, as team members, and just horsing around. I feel cheated that the adults in my school didn't help us learn how to open our inner lives to each other.
Had I known then what I know now about friendship and helping myself and others to bring our inner lives into authenticity, I'm sure I could have been even a better friend to my boyhood chum.
Many years later, at the only high school reunion I've attended since I graduated more than 45 years ago, I had a similar experience. Several of my high school buddies and friends told stories about their lives during our high school years. Many of these stories were punctuated with descriptions of abusive family members, degrading and demeaning experiences, alcoholic parents, destroyed dreams, unfulfilled goals, and failed relationships.
These stories weren't unusual, nor were they in the majority. And almost everyone who had such a story to tell, believed that they had overcome the worst of the experience, and that it had been a significant struggle marked by often repeating the same trouble in their own family.
Again I wondered how come I didn't have a way of knowing about these things while they were occurring? I'm not suggesting that I could have prevented any of it. But I do know now the power of genuine listening, the value of a connection of spirit, the solace that comes from truly being with someone, a brief touch, an unexpected call from a friend, and a warm smile. Unfortunately, except for a sprinkling of peer assistance programs in schools around North America, there are too few opportunities for young people to learn how to live authentic lives.
As tragic as the death of my boyhood friend was, and as painful as the various situations that my teen-age friends experienced were, they have served as blessings that shaped choices I've made. Events such as these have served to increase my commitment and dedication to becoming the friend I've always wanted to have. My life as a peer mentor and peer coach is an extension of that blessing and my life is now surrounded by the friends I've always wanted to have.
"Some people come into our lives and quickly go, others leave footprints in our hearts and we are changed forever."
~ Grey Owl ~
WHAT'S NEW FROM THE PEER ASSISTANCE LITERATURE
Peer Resources continually scans the professional and popular published literature to find articles of interest to people involved in peer assistance. Three of several hundred recent additions to the searchable, annotated bibliography at www.peer.ca/SearchB.html are:
Carr, R. (2003). Peer mediation: Standards that can save a life. Peer Facilitator Quarterly, 19, 1, 84-85.
Based on a court case in which he was participating as an expert witness, the author describes the tragic consequences when attention is not provided to appropriate standards for peer programs. The author states that peer program leaders owe it to young people and their parents to establish the best possible peer programs and that to do any less is to betray the trust of young people and their peer helpers. Youth must be given the opportunity to express their inner lives in ways that contribute to their self-understanding, healthy growth, and loving relationships. To do any less, according to the author, places our entire society at-risk.
Daunic, A.P., Smith, S.W., Robinson, T.R., Landry, K.L. and Miller, M.D. (2000). School-wide conflict resolution and peer mediation programs: Experiences in three middle schools. Intervention in School and Clinic, 36, 2, 94-99.
This article describes the rationale for, program components of, key implementation factors involved in, and how students can use peer mediation. The model developed includes a school-wide conflict resolution curriculum and a peer mediation program delivered by a group of trained students.
Rohrbeck, C.A., Ginsburg-Block, M.D., Fantuzzo, J.W., and Miller, T.R. (2003). Peer-assisted learning interventions with elementary school students: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95, 2, 240-257.
The use of peers as agents in the learning process capitalizes on the natural ways that peers can enhance student-centered learning. A meta-analytic review of group comparison design studies evaluating peer-assisted learning (PAL) interventions with elementary school students produced positive effect sizes indicating increases in achievement. PAL interventions were most effective with younger, urban, low-income, and minority students. Interventions that used interdependent reward contingencies, evaluation procedures that measure current performance in relationship to previous performance (personal best), and provided students with more autonomy had higher effects. Adequate descriptive information was missing in many studies. Researchers are encouraged to develop PAL interventions in collaboration with practitioners to maximize those interventions' use and effectiveness and to include more detailed information about students, schools, and intervention components in their reports.
The Peer News has been provided by Peer Resources <www.peer.ca/helping.html>. To become a member of the Peer Resources Network and receive a similar monthly publication as well as a print magazine on peer assistance, mentorship and coaching, visit <http://www.peer.ca/PRN.html> or call 1.800.567.3700 in North America or 1.250.595.3503 outside of North America. To be removed from this mailing list send an email to <info@peer.ca>.
~ WISHING YOU A JOYOUS HOLIDAY SEASON ~
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