Peer Support in Action

Schools and other youth services increasingly rely on peer support to address bullying, social exclusion, rejection, questions of sexual identity, low self-esteem and loneliness. This practical handbook is written for adults who work with children and young people and need a dependable framework for setting up peer support that is both effective and suitable for their setting.

Helen Cowie and Patti Wallace draw on hands-on experience and current research to lay out the reasoning behind peer-based intervention. Rather than treating young people as passive recipients of help, they show how the willingness of many young people to support one another can be developed, and they give concrete advice on training, guiding and supervising those who take on the supporting role.

The book is aimed at teachers, educational psychologists, social workers, education welfare officers, counsellors, counselling psychologists and any professional involved in the pastoral care and guidance of children and young people.