Nuances before dinner: exploring the relationship between peer counselors and delinquent adolescents

Adolescence, Fall, 1997 by Mark Beitel

Peer counseling is an umbrella term for all kinds of peer-oriented programs including peer-education/facilitation, peer-academic advising, and various types of peer-intervention, for example, peer counseling and peer crisis intervention and peer advocacy. Researchers often examine these programs from the client's perspective or from the peer counselor's perspective.

Many studies have focused on what peer counselling does for the client. Problems of student adjustment have been examined (Brown, 1965; Vriend, 1969; Schweisheimer & Walberg, 1976; Downe, Altmann, & Nysetvold, 1986; Srebnijk & Elias, 1993), and there has been some therapeutic application of peer counseling for more severe adjustment problems (Riessman, 1965; Hilgard, Staight, & Moore, 1969; Hanegbi, Krasilowsky, & Feuerstein, 1970; Sugar, 1972; Fine, Knight-Webb, & Vernon, 1977; Huey & Rank, 1984).

Several studies have examined what the experience of peer counseling does for the peer counselor (Hahn & LeCapitaine, 1990; Puchkoff & Font-Padron, 1990; Silver, Coupey, Bouman, & Doctors, 1992). Most of the early research on peer counseling is framed by behavioral and social-learning principles, wherein modeling and vicarious learning are employed to explain the action of peer counseling. More recently, peer counselling has been viewed in terms of ecological or supportive intervention, psychological education, and as growth and development oriented (Srebnic & Elias, 1993; Carter & Janzen, 1994; Sprinthall, Hall, & Gerler, 1992; D'Andrea, V. J., 1987). This broadening scope acknowledges the complexities of the peer counseling experience. The conception of peer counseling has shifted from one in which individuals variously model and imitate prosocial behavior, to a more interpersonal, interactional perspective in which thoughts, feelings, and motivations may be considered. Such theoretical widening puts peer counseling in a relational context. It is now time to focus on what happens between client and peer counselor, to examine actual interchanges, and to consider each participant's involvement in the dyadic relationship.

To my knowledge, there has not been any study of the ways peer counselors and clients interact; that is, a study of the peer relationship. This paper details the peer counselor-client relationship as it occurs - in vivo - from the point of view of a participant observer. This unique and exciting relationship can be quite intense or relatively mild, hateful and jealous, or warm and caring - crushes may develop, tempers may fly. One thing is certain; the relationship is never dull.

The following observations are structured by two clinical frameworks, which will be entirely new to the peer-counseling literature - one developmental and one technical. The developmental theory is adapted from self-psychology (Kohut, 1984) and object relations theory (Winnicott, 1953), and views peer counselors as need-meeting transitional objects. The technical framework comes from Bibring's five principles of therapeutic intervention (cited in Glick & Meyerson, 1980).

The peer-counseling program that was examined in this study is housed in a voluntary, two-week residential counseling program for runaway and troubled youth. Clients are referred to the agency by school counselors, mental health professionals, parents, friends, the courts, protective services, and televised public-service announcements. The agency provides residential treatment to over 250 clients annually and offers:

. . . a safe shelter for runaway and homeless youth 24 hours daily, 365 days each year. The services are built around the core program of shelter, intensive counseling care, prevention, and family advocacy. Shelter care includes three nutritional meals daily, semi-private sleeping quarters, around the clock supervision by trained personnel, and a safe, comfortable home environment for a maximum of ten children. . . . The counseling regimen is geared to the individual needs of the youth and their family, encompassing daily individual counseling, daily group counseling, family counseling twice weekly, parent support groups weekly, and daily recreational or vocational therapy. Aftercare counseling can extend up to two years after the shelter experience, and may include continuation in a Parent Support Group, Peer Support Counseling, individual and/or family counseling. (Agency fact sheet)

Clients are "youth between 10 and 17 who are experiencing serious difficulties at home, particularly young people who have run away, or been kicked out of their home. . . . Youth that have been in another shelter in the past six months, are addicted to drugs or alcohol [and report such information], have a serious psychiatric disorder, or have committed a felony are restricted from care at the agency. (Agency fact sheet)

There are three shifts, which are covered by a variety of staff members in the 24-hour period: 8 A.M. to 4 P.M., 4 P.M., and 12 P.M. to 8 A.M., respectively. The day and evening shifts are staffed roughly as follows: one shift supervisor (Bachelor's degree in human service field or equivalent experience), one intern (receives undergraduate credit from one of several universities in the area), one or two volunteers, and one or two peer counselors. Adult counselors have advanced degrees in mental health fields and do not work "shifts," but rather see clients individually during the day and in the evening.