“Would you like to just sit down in a relaxed atmosphere and have someone your own age listen to you unload your problems in total confidence? The Peer Helping room at Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies (LACES) is just the place to do this. It does not look like a classroom or counselor’s office. It has a refrigerator stocked with sodas, a comfortable sofa, pictures on the walls, boxes of Kleenex.
About 200 high schools in California, including LACES, North Hollywood High, El Camino High and Granada Hills High, are helping students deal with communication problems, loss of someone close to you, school pressures and other issues through Peer Helping Programs. Some peer helpers also help with academic tutoring, college guidance, conflict resolution and drop out prevention. Peer Helping Programs are currently the fastest growing programs at colleges and universities. These programs are based on the concept that teens feel the most comfortable talking to others their own age.
Peer Helpers at LACES undergo arduous training. Among other things, they learn seven effective communication principles:
1) State your own feelings clearly, without being accusatory. (Begin with “I feel…” instead of “You always…”);
2) Never interrupt or finish another person’s sentences or thoughts;
3) Concentrate on what is being said to you, rather than trying to formulate your response while the other person is talking:
4) Maintain eye contact with the other person;
5) Ask questions to clarify what the other person is saying;
6) Repeat the other person’s ideas as you understand them;
7) Never put anyone down.
With these simple tools, Peer Helpers can deal with serious problems such as a girl being hit by her boyfriend or rumors that a girl is sleeping around with so-and-so.
Your friends can’t be as objective about your problems, and they might not communicate or listen effectively.”
