Humor and creativity are powerful tools for peer support, especially when dealing with challenging or sensitive situations. They can help you build rapport, reduce stress, cope with emotions, and foster resilience. In this article, you will learn some ways to use humor and creativity in peer support, without compromising your professionalism or ethics.
Humor is not only about making jokes or laughing, but also a way of thinking, communicating, and connecting with others. Humor can help you and your peers to view things from different angles and find solutions, express difficult feelings and thoughts, break the ice and create a pleasant atmosphere, reduce tension and relax the body and mind, lift moods and morale, as well as strengthen trust and empathy.
Humor in the right doses and manner is an effective way of create a space of relating, warmth and creativity through activating our prefrontal lobes. Fun connects and helps us easing into situation and removing potential apprehensions or nervousness.
Humour lets people know that you are affable, approachable, and sincere. By making light of even the most challenging situations, you demonstrate resilience and can inspire others to do the same. Humour is particularly important for people leaders as it engages your team and builds a sense of ‘being in it together’ on the frontlines. Humour is entertainment and is another avenue for people to make astute (sometimes painful observations) about the status quo to influence change in a non confrontational way.
Laughter produces endorphins which are peptides that interact with opioid receptors in the brain to help relieve pain and trigger feelings of pleasure. In times of stress or trauma an appropriate response to someone that can induce laughter might be a good idea. Even in the most devastating circumstances, laughter can relieve tension and give the brain "hope" that the pain being experienced can be endured. Research shows traumatic incidents physically affect the brain. Laughter can help to heal it. Laughter really may be the best medicine.
Humor can be a great asset for peer support, but it should be used with care. It's important to be aware of your audience and context, and to avoid anything that might be offensive, hurtful, or misunderstood. Moreover, humor should be used sparingly and strategically, so as not to distract from the message or undermine self-esteem. When using humor, it's important to do so with respect and an intention to connect with peers, not to compete or manipulate them.
I agree but, using humour in this way where it can border on the personal is fraught with danger. It is better to keep humorous comments as general as possible to avoid offence, unless you are confident you know your audience very well.
Creativity is not only about making art or being original, but it is also a way to explore, express, and transform yourself and your environment. It can help you and your peers discover new possibilities and opportunities, communicate and collaborate in different ways, engage your senses and emotions, stimulate your imagination and curiosity, challenge your assumptions and beliefs, and grow and learn from your experiences.
This sounds very wishy washy. I get the point being made about creativity but I think it would be better to say something along the lines of using humour can show your peers that you can think creatively and that using observational humour particularly, demonstrates that you are actively engaged in events and conversations.
Using creativity as a resource for peer support can be a wonderful experience, but it can also be intimidating or overwhelming without guidance or purpose. To make the most out of creative activities, it's important to know your goals and intentions, aligning them with your peer support objectives and values. You should also be aware of your strengths and limitations, choosing activities that are suitable for your abilities and needs. Be flexible and adaptable with the options and resources you have, experimenting with different creative mediums and methods. It's essential to establish boundaries and ethics; respect the needs of others, don't use creativity to harm or exploit anyone, and don't use it to avoid or escape reality.
In my experience creativity is a product of curiosity. It is important to allow colleagues to feel safe and comfortable enough to take a creative approach to a problem. You also must be prepared for failure and mistakes and that needs to be okay. Creative approaches to work will always have failures, this is a learning experience and can be used to ensure your team remains fresh and agile.
Humor and creativity can be used in peer support in a variety of ways, depending on the context, goals, and preferences. Examples include using cartoons, memes, or jokes to make a point or start a conversation, storytelling, poetry, or music to share experiences and feelings, games, puzzles, or quizzes to challenge thinking or test knowledge, drawing, painting, or collage to express emotions and thoughts, role-playing, drama, or improv to practice skills and explore scenarios, and brainstorming, mind-mapping, or vision-boarding to generate ideas and plan actions.
Allowing for down time and social interactions with peers is an important activity. I think having fun and putting aside time to do things other than work with colleagues is an important component of team building, leading to a better understanding of each other’s strengths and weaknesses and how the team can use this knowledge to compliment each other.
Humor and creativity can be powerful tools for peer support, but they also require some skills and practice. To make the most of these tools, be authentic and genuine to enhance or reveal who you are or what you feel. Additionally, be supportive and encouraging when using humor or creativity, validating or motivating others rather than judging or pressuring them. Furthermore, remain open and curious when using these tools, not limiting yourself or others, but instead expanding or enriching yourself or others. Finally, stay reflective and mindful when using humor or creativity, remembering or learning what matters rather than ignoring it.
Peer support is a generalized term. This article unfortunately is not specific to what type of peer support you are asking about in terms of using creativity and humor. Peer support to colleagues at work or education is much different to Peer work in hospitals or agencies. Creativity and humor would depend on the population you are sharing with and understanding any and all outcomes before utilizing humor; more so than creativity.