Peer Guide Program

Posted by Eileen Remley on Wednesday, November 30, 2016 in News Blurbs.

The Center for Student Wellbeing and the Office of Student Leadership Development are thrilled to introduce a new joint collaboration between our offices that is being piloted this academic year. The Peer Guide program will provide undergraduate students a space to seek support and guidance from fellow students in one or more of the following areas: emotional wellbeing, leadership development, life transitions, personal health, self-efficacy, social support/relationship building, and stress management.

The Peer Guide program will add to the rich variety of advising and support services led by Vanderbilt faculty and staff by incorporating a peer-to-peer model. We believe that in certain circumstances, students may be the best equipped to understand the struggles, challenges, and needs of their peers. We also strongly believe that successful leaders invest in those around them. The program is focused on trained student leaders – Peer Guides – who will offer private, personalized peer coaching sessions designed to promote mental health and wellbeing.

This February 2017, the first cohort of Peer Guides will be available for peer coaching in the Center for Student Wellbeing 3 hours per week for pre-scheduled or walk-in appointments. If you have students that would benefit from this program, we encourage you to send them to meet with a Peer Guide. More details will be forthcoming in early Spring 2017.

Our offices have already partnered with several of you in our Peer Guide training process this fall, and are eager to expand those partnerships next spring during the recruitment process. We cannot thank you enough for the work that you do, and we hope that this program will serve as a meaningful resource for you and your students as we continue the critical work of promoting student wellbeing. We are excited about the potential for the Peer Guide program to positively influence the culture and dialogue regarding student wellbeing on our campus.

Please reach out to Jason Steinas (Jason.e.steinas@vanderbilt.edu) or Brooke Wilson (brooke.r.wilson@vanderbilt.edu) for more information.