Designated Link Person (DLP)

Promotion and Recruitment

Promotion

Every college is different, so bespoke promotion remains vital for checking interest and generating interest in the training. Trained Peer Supporters are important in this process.

• Word of mouth, i.e.: recruitment events, lightening talks from trained peer supporters, welfare teas, chatting to students, cascading through common rooms.
• Email promotion.
• Posters.
• Website content and videos/ recorded interviews.
• The blurb below.

Promotion blurb

Below you’ll find a potential blurb that might help:

• Would you like to have the skills and confidence to offer a helping hand to other students in your college/ department/ division?
• Contribute and engage with your student community?
• Promote and create welfare and wellbeing spaces in college/ department/ division?
• Be part of student wellbeing and welfare provision in college/ department/ division?
• Invest in building a supportive and collaborative atmosphere?
• Learn transferable interpersonal skills and self-development?

Training as a Peer Supporter is a great way to develop personal and social skills that will be useful in all your relationships as well as making a positive contribution to the welfare support in your college/ department/ division. The Peer Support Programme offers an experiential training focusing on active listening, assertive communication, diversity awareness and support skills, self-awareness, and self-care. Please feel free to talk to trained peer supporters, the Designated Link Person (DLP) or email The Peer Support Programme with any questions you may have at [email protected]. Find more information at https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/welfare/peersupport.

Recruitment

You can recruit in many ways. Recruitment input from multiple sources is an attempt to create community input, sense of team cohesion and creating a bridge between college and centralised services. DLPs and college/ department/ division always have final say.

• Individual interviews, group interviews, applications, a quick chat.
• Can bring in Peer Support Programme team member.
• Involve trained Peer Supporters where appropriate.

Applications can be ranked for strength of application and include as much diversity, inclusivity and equality as possible:

• Gender identity.
• Disability.
• Subject, course and department.
• Year of study and level of study.
• Sexuality and sexual identity.
• Cultural background.
• Friendship groups.
• Extra-curricular activities.
• Not just welfare reps – other students are represented too.

The Programme will notify the applicants through email and invite them for training when names have been given. Emails will be either a yes or a ranked reserve depending on outcome that you agree.

Essential questions

• Is the student able to attend all training sessions?
• Is the student able to attend supervisions (top-up training) post-training?
• Is the student able and willing to meet with the DLP and senior welfare as needed per term?
• Academic permission to participate from senior tutor, organising tutor, supervisor?
• Resilience question - The training covers challenging topics such as suicide, self-harm, families, discrimination, depression and anxiety. Does the student feel in a resilient frame of mind to carry out this training, the supervisions and become a Peer Supporter?

Open questions

• What does the role of Peer Support mean to them?
• In what way would training for the role of peer supporter be beneficial to them?
• What do they think a trained peer supporter should offer to someone who comes to see them?
• What do they think are the main benefits of a Peer Support Team in the college?
• What do they have to offer the Peer Support Team?
• What else would they like to say about themselves or their personal experiences that might be of use to them in the role as a peer supporter?

Information we collect

• College.
• Name.
• Pronouns.
• Gender.
• Primary Nationality.
• Age.
• Rainbow Peers, Disability Diversity Peers, Peers of Faiths, Peers of Colour and Coffee Ambassador interest.
• University email.
• Division.
• Level of study.
• Stage of study.
• Common room committee member?
• Dietary requirements.
• Any individual support adjustments or access requirements they might need for accessing the building and/ or training purposes.

The Peer Support Listener Role

The role in a nutshell:

• To Listen (openly, without judgement expressed and with curiosity).
• To Validate and acknowledge someone’s experience.
• To explore (with other’s words).
• To refer on.

Impact KPIs:

• Attends training.
• Attends most supervisions where possible.
• Attends a meeting with senior welfare.
• Runs a couple of events – 1 explicitly welfare and one indirectly welfare.

A peer supporter:

• Is a student with some additional training.
• Is warm, caring and empathic.
• Is welcoming and provides a safe space for people.
• Can keep a confidence where appropriate.
• Helps those approaching them to clarify a concern.
• Allows the person approaching them to lead the discussion.
• Is aware of different types of questions and uses the skills of summarising and reflecting to show understanding.
• Understands the importance of creating boundaries and setting limits, especially around time, issues of severity or risk and personal limits.
• Knows when to refer someone who seeks help on to others including senior welfare by appropriately extending confidentiality.
• Understands that not all people want to change, and that not all problems can be solved.
• Attends termly supervision regularly and keeps in contact with their supervisor.
• Is an active member of a peer support team in college by meeting regularly as a team with senior college welfare including the DLP and Junior Deans.
• Looks after their own health and well-being, and regularly and mindfully practices self-care.
• Realises that Peer Support is more than individual support, that it is about community engagement, promotion and creation of welfare/ wellbeing spaces in college.

A peer supporter:

• Is not a mental health professional.
• Tries not to talk mostly about self.
• Tries not to encourage dependency.
• Does not gossip about a session.
• Tries not to give careless, inappropriate, or unthoughtful advice.
• Tries not to jump to conclusions.
• Tries not to assume they know what is best for the person.
• Does not keep things to themselves when they should be passed on appropriately.  
• Does not make promises that might endanger a fellow student.
• Does not just want one to one sessions but also runs events and fosters a welfare/wellbeing community in college.