Youth Peer Support – Virtual Training
With the generous support of the Community Helps Grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, we transformed in-person peer support training to a totally virtual platform with interactive webinars, meetings via Zoom, and Peer Support job shadowing within our new, virtual drop-in group format.
During the pandemic, we developed virtual recovery programs for youth experiencing mental health issues d Our program’s goals are to teach youth about mental health issues, help them transition from youth-oriented to adult mental health services through leadership development, and help them cope.
Based on our 37 years of experience, and success in delivering peer support training and recovery programs across Ontario, the program is built on our proven strengths in support and recovery. It features an extensive range of peer support training to empower, to build hope, and to develop youth leadership skills.
Training Components And Descriptions
All Training
- Components of Mental Health
- 4 Components of Mental Health Peer Support Training
- Community of Practice
- Supervision up to 60 hours
Time Duration
- 4 hours of workshop training
- 30 hours of peer support training
- 3 months of Community of Practice sessions and direct supervision
Activities And Outcomes
Priority Outcomes
Youth Peer Support Training
- Youth Peer Support Training Facilitators will train youth on the components of peer support to help those living with a mental illness
- Youth will receive Hope + Me’s four-day Level 1 Peer Support program.
- See Process Map Figure B (Level One Peer Support Certification)
Training Activities
Level 1 Peer Support Training
Training Duration: 4 days of training (30 hours) plus three months of CP sessions and direct supervision
- Hope + Me will provide 4-day training to volunteers and graduates in the Peer Support recovery model
- Community of Practice – During first 3 months, sessions happen weekly
- Sessions occur monthly after three months
- One Hour weekly virtual via Zoom – topics include:
- Stigma
- Self- Care
- Self-Reflection
- Active Listening
- Trauma Informed Care
- Mindfulness
- Delivery
- Designed to meet needs of youth
- 3 days over a weekend plus one day
- Accreditation and Certification as a Youth Peer Supporter
Priority Outcomes
Leadership Facilitation Training
- Enhanced self-confidence and leadership skills for youth
- See Process Map Figure A (Four Components of Mental Health)
Training Activities
Training Duration: 1 hour
What participants will take away from the training:
- A deeper understanding of Practices of Exemplary Leadership
- Increase capability as an engaging facilitator
- Professional skills to help increase the effectiveness of empowering others to reach for their goals
Priority Outcomes
Emotional Intelligence Training
- The workshop will show how participants can develop emotional intelligence to better work with Peers
- See Process Map Figure A(Four Components of Mental Health)
Training Activities
Training Duration: 1 hour
What participants will take away from the training:
- Learn what emotional intelligence is and discover approaches for raising their own emotional intelligence
- Practice resilience, and develop empathy and awareness of others and learn to encourage supportive communication and manage
- conflict
Priority Outcomes
Compassion Fatigue Training
- Mentors will learn how to set a good example by modeling their own physical health and well-being, fortify their personal
- See Process Map Figure A (Four Components of Mental Health)
- 3-day WRAP® Level 1 Training
- Participants will learn about recovery
- Participants begin their Wellness Recovery Action Plan®
Training Activities
Training Duration: 1 hour
What participants will take away from the training:
- By practicing intentional peer support and sharing their lived experience , skills, and capabilities they will be able to:
- encourage peer self-care
- strengthen peer supports
- promoting peer self-advocacy
- Learn to identify signs of compassion fatigue
- Review personal strategies to increase resilience
- Learn the essential elements of personal self-care plans and create a personal plan
Program Evaluation And Focus Groups
- We conduct robust evaluations on all of our programs and services to ensure knowledge transfer, future project sustainability, improvements in service delivery, and an acceleration and dissemination of education and early prevention.
- Our focus helps to facilitate the recovery process of those with mental health challenges and represents a major community-based contribution to the health and social services system.
- Using a mixed methods evaluation approach on our peer and recovery programs, evaluation results have shown on average, a very high level of client satisfaction based on the administration of the scientifically validated CSQ-8 tool.
- Our evaluations also focus on participants setting a personal goal as part of their participation in our programs and the vast majority of participants have shown positive progress towards goal attainment.
- The Changing Minds With Youth program established a Youth Advisory Committee made up of youth who are directly involved in the design and evaluation of the programs thereby increasing direct youth participation in creating solutions to the mental health challenges faced by youth within their communities.
A
WRAP Training Level One
Seeing the Unseen
Youth Mental Health Assistance Training
Training:
Youth Leadership Facilitation
Training:
Emotional Intelligence
Training:
Compassion Fatigue
B
Peer Support Training
Day 1
Building a Strong Foundation
Day 2
Turning Values and Principles into Practice
Day 3 Peer Support Lived Experience
Day 4
Building Your Toolbox
C
Community of Practice
Three-Month
Community of Practice
One-hour weekly session topics may include:
- Stigma
- Self-Care
- Self-Reflection
- Active Listening
- Group Dynamics
- Trauma Informed Care
- Mindfulness Safe Talk
D
MDAO’s Body of Knowledge and Practicum
Supervision
Youth Peer Supporters complete 60 hours of peer support supervision including orientation, coaching and assessment
Level I Peer Support Certification
Ongoing Monthly Support
Evidence-Based Source: Mental Health Commission Of Canada Peer Support Practices
Knowledge
17 Knowledge Components
37 Performance Objectives
66 Measurable Behavioural Indicators
Experience
Lived Experience
Recovery and Resiliency
10 Elements
Competencies
11 Competencies
60 Enabling Objectives
Community of Practice is led monthly and supervision completed weekly
Code of Conduct
Value-Based
Supervision Community of Practice
Community of Practice is led monthly and supervision completed weekly