Peer ears - peer counseling program for high school students

Children Today, July-August, 1984 by Sherry Boyer

Peer Ears

Who can young people count on to really listen to them--to look them straight in the eye, given them their full attention and try their best to hear their feelings and words without judging or criticizing? At Central High School in Champaign, Illinois, they can approach Peer Ears, students who have been trained to offer listening, support and alternatives to other students.

The program began in 1980, after Barbara Voss--the dean of students --and I became concerned over the large number of students who sought individual attention from a small number of supportive school staff members. We knew that teenagers enjoyed talking with one another, and in a few instances, the dean had successfully enlisted the assistance of older students to influence younger ones. Couldn't more teenagers, we wondered, learn counseling techniques and offer constructive support to their peers?

After gaining the principal's approval --"I don't think it will work, but you can try it,' he said--the program was launched.

A basic format has developed over the years. Guidance counselors, deans, teachers and students are asked to recommend as potential Peer Ears young people who are friendly, respectful and generally positive about life and school. After interviewing the students to explain peer counseling to them and to ascertain their interest in participating, 30 students are selected --boys and girls from all four grade levels representing different races and various socioeconomic backgrounds, achievement levels and areas of residence.

At the beginning of the school year, they participate in a 10-hour training session, which focuses on enhancing their listening skills and understanding of others. Through discussions, exercises and role play, training covers the importance of confidentiality, the nature of helping relationships, and techniques for modeling behavior and handling negative criticism and relationship problems. Students also learn about resources in the community to recommend to their clients.

To reinforce the principles learned in the training sessions, monthly meetings are held throughout the school year, and the dean of students or I often talk informally with a Peer Ear after a counseling session.

After training, Peer Ears, usually one at a time, staff a special office for three or four hours daily. Faculty members refer students for counseling, but more often the students themselves contact the dean or social worker to make an appointment with a Peer Ear. If Peer Ear intervention seems appropriate, considering the referred student's emotional state and expressed concerns, an appointment is arranged.

In general, the problems students bring to the Peer Ears concern family members, friends and teachers. The student counselors practice active listening, ask their clients to clarify a situation and, together, consider ways to handle it. Often, as a client retells his or her story, a solution presents itself. Peer Ears aren't expected to solve problems but to assist students in handling their own in a manner that maintains the clients' selfe-esteem.

The focus is on talking out, not acting out. Talking with a Peer Ear often enables a student to discharge emotions and begin to relax, and the student and counselor can then calmly consider alternative ways to manage a situation. A crisis can turn into an opportunity for growth.

One day, for example, Sue arrived in PE. class in a bad mood. She would not dress in her gym clothes and told the teacher, "I don't plan to play any stupid volleyball game.'

The teacher sent Sue to the dean's office, but she stayed in a restroom. When the dean learned about the incident, she searched for Sue and, after she found her, suggested that she talk with a Peer Ear. Sue agreed.

Later, the P.E. teacher asked the dean, "What did you do to Sue? She came to my office, apologized for her bad mood and behavior and promised to participate in class tomorrow. She was totally different from this morning!'

By having an opportunity to talk out, rather than act out, her feelings, Sue, with the Peer Ear, had decided what action Sue would take, and she managed the situation to the satisfaction of the P.E. teacher. Had Sue continued to be angry and uncooperative, she probably would have been suspended from school.

Peer Ears offer acceptance to many adolescents, like Diane, who are fearful of rejection. When Diane --who had been reared in a conservative, strictly religious family --became pregnant, she immediately stopped attending school. I visited her on several occasions and listened to her concerns. Diane was ashamed and embarrased and did not want to return to school to complete the remaining three months of her senior year. Reluctantly, Diane agreed to accompany me to school, but only to obtain homework assignments. Until I could take her home, I asked her to wait in the peer counseling room. I told Diane that if she wanted to talk, the peer counselor would listen and keep confidential what she shared.