Peer support has been a positive experience for me at the college and has helped me to expand my leadership capabilities and connect with my Forrest peers.

Throughout my time in peer support, I have made many positive connections with my peer support leaders, my peer support buddies and my peer support teachers alike. Peer support has been a fantastic experience, and it has allowed me to make new friends and teach me new skills along the way. In term 4 of 2022, we were first introduced to our peer support buddies and we underwent two days of personal development in order to prepare us in becoming peer support leaders. There have been some challenges in peer support, and organisation and communication are key qualities required for this role.

I found the most challenging part of peer support to be carrying out the activities we had planned effectively, and making sure that everyone was involved was also essential in order for a good peer support session. It took a couple of sessions for us to understand how important it was that our activities were engaging, and our instructions were delivered clearly, because things could descend into chaos quickly. It was hard to get the attention of the year 8 students, however things became easier after a couple of sessions once we had built rapport with them.

The two-day personal development program was a highlight of my time as a peer support leader, as it prepared me for the kinds of activities that we would be running with the year 8’s, and also gave me a chance to build closer relationships with the peer support leaders around me. As well as a fantastic subway lunch, we spent the two days playing team games with underlying themes of integrity, courage and communication. Planning the activities and preparing for our sessions was heaps of fun, and we had a lot of guidance and support from our peer support teachers Mr Pengelley and Mr Goor. By our final session with our peer support buddies, I felt that I had found new friendships and learnt new skills that I couldn’t have learnt anywhere else.

I am forever grateful for our peer support leaders Mr Pengelley and Mr Goor, and I am so thankful for the opportunity to take this leadership role and have this experience!