Students, Police and School Support Staff Partnering To Support Youth: Peers Empowering Peers

Published on Published on June 7, 2016

I felt compelled to repost this article in light of the Toronto Board of Education's decision.

How did PEP originate?

In 1996, as a result of 20 student deaths in the Halton Region Ontario, Raymond Pidzamecky M.S.W. RSW school social worker and Co-Director of Lifecycle Counselling teamed up with a public health nurse to develop a collaborative pilot program for drug prevention and harm reduction aimed at Grade 9 students.

In 1997 Raymond and school social worker and Lifecycle Counselling Co-Director Penny Smith M.S.W. RSW adapted and expanded the original program to focus on: drugs and alcohol; intimidation, violence and harassment; friends and fitting in; rumours; parties and dances; parents and teachers; and body image and sexuality.

All around us we have witnessed our young people suiciding, accidentally dying, being injured and being victimized. As adults we spend tremendous amounts of money and time on reactive intervention (tertiary) and to small degree prevention (primary). Even with the best of intentions we see through different statistics that our youth are feeling more stress and still ending up being victims and casualties. 

In the transition years, grades 7 through 9, students enter one of the most exciting and demanding periods in their personal development. A whole range of potentially helpful and destructive experiences mark this period. Decisions in these years have tremendous impact on future outcomes. All of this occurs against a backdrop of school culture. 

Students have stated to us that inviting quest speakers to talk about their own experiences has in part been entertaining and informative but not as meaningful as having their peers speak with them. Guest speakers are not a part of the school culture. Their commitment and concern is doubted when they are seen to come in then leave. With regards to the adults in the schools, some students feel that they are not as influential or credible as their peers. As a result, we decided to develop a program that would use School Social Workers/Child Care Workers, High School Resource Officers and Youth Counsellors (students trained from grade 11/12 of both genders), who could meet with all the grade 9 students in an attempt to create a safer culture. The seniors are a part of the school culture on a daily basis. They are visible, tangible and eventually approachable. 

If we can help students to empower themselves and each other, the results will not only benefit them but also the communities they reside in. Most intervention models work from the top down. The adults make the decisions and often unintentionally make young people dependent rather than self-driven and responsible for themselves and each other. Young people doubting or not knowing their own strengths.

Peers Empowering Peers is a service delivery model that is strength based and therefore acknowledges student strengths, their personnel resources and their ability to harness those attributes to benefit each other and their community. It is our belief that through the P.E.P. program students can begin to shape their own culture (re-culturation) to foster positive personal growth, increase capacity and regard for each other. 

The decision to have senior students in-service grade 9's is in fact an empowering tool that allows grade 9 students to express their fears, anxieties and concerns in ways they may not have been able to do before. The grade 9's have expressed many positive comments about the program. 

P.E.P. (Peers Empowering Peers) A Senior Led Peer Education Program

Target Group: Grade 9 students.

Objectives:

1. To dispel myths held by younger students. 
2. To give youth information coupled with abstinence and harm reduction messages. 
3. To encourage discussion around the issues of harassment, discrimination, intimidation, racism, labelling, abuse and violence.
4. Start identifying, in a proactive manner, students who are possibly at risk rather than identifying them reactively following a crisis
5. Teach students to be aware of various mental health issues such as depression/eating disorders/ so that timely intervention can be offered to their peers.  
6. Impact in a meaningful way as to reduce the risks of death and harm to our youth whether that is through intentional or accidental actions.
7. To help foster a sense of community between senior and junior students.  
8. Provide an unencumbered opportunity to ask the questions they need to ask.            
9. Reduce acting ou t, impulsivity and alienation.
10. Welcome the grade 9’s into the school. Make them a positive part of school culture-full members in the ‘club’ rather than the applicants.  
11. In achieving the above objectives, create a safe student/school and community environment. 

Strategy:

    To achieve the above objectives by utilizing senior students to communicate information, share opinions and respond to questions from grade 9 students under the supervision of school social workers. We are looking for ‘social leaders’-generally students concerned with other students’ well being and have a social conscience and understanding of stressors inside and outside the school.

In addition to the use of senior students the High School Resource Officers play a key role and participate in the in servicing all grade 9 students.

 Primary Program Target Areas

Safe Students/Schools/Communities

The major goal of PEP is to establish a safer school environment. As each first-year class receives PEP the overall school culture begins to change. Changes that occur in response to PEP result in students taking more responsibility for themselves and each other. The full process of community change takes 3-4 years depending on the number of grades in your high school

Harm Reduction Through Discussion/Example/ Education

Through the PEP process everyone works together to reduce harm. Senior students play a key role in creating a safe school environment. The credibility of senior students encourages younger students to be more receptive to harm reduction messages. Seniors are a respected part of the school culture, able to move freely within it and able to affect change that is timely and accepted. The senior students’ work during and after the delivery of PEP positively influences other students.

Threat/Risk Assessment

The issue of school violence has become a serious concern to educators, law enforcement and the community. Most violence is preventable when it is identified, evaluated and managed proactively. 

During the delivery of PEP some of the grade 9 students’ comments and/or behaviours may suggest the possibly of them being at risk. When this situation occurs, the student should at least be brought to the attention of professional staff (i.e. School Social Worker/School Child Care Worker/School Psychologist) to determine whether the student is at risk to themselves or others. Each school should determine its’ professional staff team and protocol. 

This process of informal risk identification happens quickly and continuously throughout the school year. Grade 9 students often feel it is more acceptable to express concerns about their peers to a senior student, rather than an adult, because of the social stigma of having been perceived as being a ‘rat’ or ‘snitching’. 

PEP seniors are encouraged and required, as part of their training agreement, to share any concerns about grade 9 students with the PEP staff.

Integrate Officers In School Culture/Demystify Stereotype 

Many communities have well-established relationships with local police officers. Still, we need to do more work in the school community. Some of our effort needs to go towards establishing relationships with our police services that are not solely based on responding to crisis situations.

Law enforcement personnel are key to the prevention of harm. A visible presence of uniformed School Resource Officers (S.R.O.’s) enhances the proactive nature of not only the PEP program but also any other violence prevention efforts that schools provide. As a result, officers and students develop relationships based on mutual trust and respect while at the same time working to establish a safe environment.

The relationships created by the P.E.P. program between students and police help to create self-determining partnerships. Self-determining partnerships are defined as those in which students, school staff and the police, work proactively to establish a safe environment.

Increase Communication Between Students & Students/Adults  

Common sense and experience tells us that open lines of communication are key to establishing a safer community. When students, school staff, police, parents and administration participate in a community development initiative like PEP, significant progress is made in the prevention of violence, death, alienation and isolation.

The P.E.P. program is an intensive, short term, interactive program intended to shape and support crucial decision-making processes for young adolescents as they adapt to the culture of high school. The program can be utilized by any high school as the issues cross all geographic and socio-cultural boundaries. To date, P.E.P. has been offered in the Halton and Niagara regions in Ontario and Lockport High School in the Halifax area.

Raymond has worked for the past 8 years as an Indian Residential School Counsellor with indigenous families in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. These areas of Canada have some of the highest rates of suicide, accidental death, poverty, addictions, homelessness and violence. He felt a calling professionally to help after he became aware of the impact of Indian Residential School on indigenous peoples.

Raymond Pidzamecky M.S.W RSW