"Peer Support is really helpful to have. I see people on the street and would like to walk up to them when I see a sad face. My Peer Support training helps me to approach anyone. I've been sensitized." Says Margo of her experience as a 17-year-old Peer Support student of George McDougall Senior High School in Airdrie Alberta, Canada.
The development of resiliency, the ability to meet life's challenges and overcome difficulties, is interconnected with emotional intelligence and the skills of Peer Support. Simply put, emotional intelligence is "the intelligent use of emotions" (Bodine and Crawford, 1994, p.34).
The first step to using emotions intelligently is being aware of one's own feelings and being able to express those feelings in constructive ways. Not surprisingly, much of the training in Peer Support is recognizing and expressing feelings. Peer Support plays a significant role in helping others identify and express their feelings.
Being aware of feelings and working through emotions can help develop a sense of hope. Hope together with the development of skills for handling emotions and difficulties, provides the ability to try again, bounce back or transcend difficulties; in other words, demonstrate resiliency.
Hope, an attitude, is an important characteristic of resiliency (Benard, 1991), and "a key attribute of emotional intelligence (Bodine and Crawford, 1994, p.41)." Hope enables people to persevere in spite of difficulties and interacts with internal confidence. Closely linked to hope is self-efficacy, the belief in oneself. Self-efficacy is crucial to the ability to bounce back and be resourceful, thus demonstrating resiliency. Instilling hope and self-efficacy in others can come about through caring and supportive relationships.
Benard (1991) emphasizes the value of caring relationships for the development of resiliency. Likewise, emotional intelligence includes the abilities to recognize emotions in other, express empathy and develop positive and caring relationships. Developing caring and supportive relationships is in essence the work of Peer Support.
The first step to using emotions intelligently is being aware of one's own feelings and being able to express those feeling in constructive ways.
Peer Support training and experiences provide a foundation for developing positive and caring relationships and life competencies. Life skills, including active listening, empathy, problem solving, handling stress and working through both positive and negative emotions, can contribute to self-efficacy, and give or strengthen hope.
Peer Support work helps students to develop both resiliency and emotional intelligence. As Brenda, a Peer Support student from Forest Lawn High School comments, "Peer Support has prepared me for life." Often, helping means taking the time to really listen. Assisting others in sorting through and clarifying difficulties or problems in he moment can have lasting impact, realized much later in life. Those who are reaching out and supporting others, may never know the profound impact they are making.
By Debbie Kocay
AADAC Youth Services, Calgary Alberta, Canada
Reference:
Bernard, B. (1991). Fostering resiliency in kids: Protective factors in the family, school and community.
Bodine, R. and Crawford, D. (1999). Developing emotional intelligence. Champaign, Illinois: Research Press.
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