Things to know about the Training
Who Should Deliver this Training?
Facilitators of this training should:
- Be very familiar with peer support–make sure to read the entire curriculum before facilitating, so that you can be prepared for anything that could come up in a training
- Read the Leadership & Facilitation module
- Facilitate with a trauma-informed approach
- Be familiar with mental health and substance use issues
- Be open to a co-learning approach–you don’t have to be an expert, but be open to learning from participants and others
- Bring in guest presenters for topics you are not comfortable facilitating
- Be able to tap into lived experience, and be willing to share personal stories and anecdotes
If you are a staff or faculty member, please consider bringing in a student peer who has been doing this work for a little while, to co-facilitate with you. This whole training is grounded in mutuality, and breaking down hierarchies, it is important to bring some mutuality into the training itself.
Timeframes
Each campus and group will have different amounts of time available for training. We recognize that students will only be providing peer services for one–three years maximum. This means that you will be delivering this training often so that you always have students available to provide services. You must figure out what timing and format works for you, and fits with the timeframe you have available. Anything we recommend in this guide is just that–a recommendation.
You have freedom to use this curriculum in whatever way works for you, your students, and your program.
In-Person vs Self-Study
Because of the length of this training, it will be impossible to cover all of the material in an in-person training. This means there must be a component of self-study for students to cover on their own, or on their own in small groups.
Pick the modules that you feel are important to cover in-person, and then ask students to read the others on their own.
We know that in-person learning can be a richer experience for people, as they get a chance to dialogue about it with their peers. You may want to open up time during in-person sessions for students to discuss the most important points from modules that are read-only.
You can also use some of the modules as continuing education throughout the year.
Training Essentials
Learning Objectives
As you will have seen throughout the training, each module has a set of important learning objectives. Learning objectives tell participants what they’re going to be learning. Learning objectives are always actionable. They’re also a powerful tool for facilitators, as you can use them to guide activities, discussions and structuring facilitation and focus for each module.
Each module has 3-5 key learning objectives. Before you facilitate, be familiar with these objectives, as this will help you to decide what is important to cover and what can be left out.
Feel free to adjust the learning objectives if you feel they n