Three years ago, I received an email telling me about a 4 (Peer Education) weekend training that was happening in LaSER. I had never heard of Peer Education before but I decided to just go for it and signed myself up for the weekend anyway… I’m so glad that I did! Years on and I can honestly say it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life- I have delivered some very interesting sessions to a diverse group of girls in my county. But I still don’t think that Peer Education is very well known and this is a huge shame as it means that lots of young women are missing out on the opportunity to develop vital communications skills and have fun!
There is a lot of information on Girlguiding’s website about Peer Education but I think it would help to hear from some real-life Peer Educators themselves, so I asked some of them to tell me their favourite thing about running the sessions- here are some of their answers:
Emily:
“It really is incredible to see how much the girls’ confidence grows, even over just one session!”
Emma:
“It’s a lot of fun running the sessions with them and it’s highly rewarding (you feel a real sense of accomplishment).”
Katy:
“It allows us to see the girls grow and engage in difficult topics whilst having fun and joining in the activities.”
Anna:
“Not only do the girls learn valuable skills, but you also get to see things from a different perspective and can explore their opinions on a variety of topics.”
Holly:
“The themes you cover such as Breaking Free or Think Resilient can be quite challenging (especially when it is up to you to lead the discussion!), but I always had the support and guidance that I felt I needed. “
My favourite part of being a Peer Educator is adapting all the different activities to suit the different groups of girls and then delivering them. Your first session is always scary- I delivered Free Being Me to my local Brownie group and I had every five minutes planned out in a list that I had typed up! Needless to say, it didn’t exactly go according to my plan as some activities ran over but by the time I had delivered it, I just thought on my feet and changed the session.
I hope that this has encouraged you to think about becoming a Peer Educator (or asking one to come to your unit)- it’s a really great opportunity and a lot of fun too!
To find out more about Peer Education or register your interest in becoming a Peer Educator, visit the LaSER Peer Education page.
*A special thank you to the lovely Peer Educator Facebook group who contributed comments to this article!*
