Linzi Smith

From

Education, Training and CounsellingETC

Peer Educator

stress&

Minimum standards

for Peer

educator training

Issues that Peer Educator’s have to deal with:

1. Increased workload

2. Administrative or management issues

3. Lack of recognition

4. Feelings of helplessness

5. Lack of boundaries (time & energy)

6. Disclosures

1. Increased workload

• Extra time to plan your peer educator sessions

• Time to gather your materials• Materials are often not provided by

management • Time to research• My time is not my own (e.g. tea / lunch/ on

the taxi going home)• Time away from family while preparing

2. Administration or management problems

• Lack of support from my superiors: Sometimes they support me emotionally but not practically, (making sure that my colleagues attend the sessions) others say sometimes they support me practically but not emotionally.

• No clear referral system in place• Don’t have a programme or a curriculum to

follow – I get training and then just have to speak about whatever I feel like to my peers.

3. Lack of recognition

• Sometimes feel unappreciated by both peers and management

• Management & supervisors may not be aware of the time & effort involved

• Due to confidentiality issues management are often not aware of the benefits of having Peer Educators in the workplace

• A lot of confidential information is shared and the impacts on the Peer Educators life are not apparent to management

4. Feelings of helplessness

• Referral system not in place or ineffective

• Ineffectiveness of public health systems

• When colleague is in denial

• When colleagues make use of unscientific treatment

• Their colleagues say that they are bored with HIV and don’t want to attend

4. Feelings of helplessness continued

• When management is not supportive or involved

• When I suspect that one of my colleagues is HIV positive but will not admit or speak to me. I feel I don’t have the skills to get my colleague to even admit that he may be at risk

• I feel sad when my colleague is dismissed for incapacity because his/her support system is then removed as they don’t have any support in the community due to the stigma.

5. Lack of boundaries

• I just can’t say “no” to my colleagues when they need help.

• Phone calls come at all hours of the day or night

• I do weekend & night time work• My colleagues & the managers have

unrealistic expectations of me but I don’t do anything about it.

• I like to feel needed, so I can’t say no.

7. Disclosure

• My colleagues disclose the following: – Their HIV status– Their love affairs – Rape– Substance abuse– Relatives who are sick or dying & ask for

assistance– Their financial problems– Their emotional and psychological problems– Their social problems– Their work problems

Managing these issues causes stress because Peer Educators:

• Have not been trained as counsellors but have to deal with all kinds of personal disclosures

• May not have enough knowledge to answer difficult questions

• Need regular debriefing, mentorship and coaching

Stress

Before becoming a peer educator – After becoming a peer educator

Excellent Peer Educator Training programmes would help to reduce the problems

that Peer Educators are having

Proposed minimum requirements in Peer Ed training

• Receive a minimum of 7 to 10 days of training• This training must include skill development in how to

transfer knowledge & how to develop skills instead of simple giving of information and expecting peer educators to transfer this information adequately

• Lesson plans & curricula to follow the training must be given to the peer educators

• A monitoring and tracking tool must be implemented to track the peer educators progress with their colleagues.

• Send peer educators for refresher training at least every 2 years.

• Increase peer educators skills by facilitating counsellor training – very important for peer educators to have these skills after a VCT drive

If you feel that these issues are

real to you – how can we help you to overcome

them?

You are only one,But still you are one.

You cannot do everythingBut still you can do something;

And because you cannot do everything,Do not give up doing the something that you can do.

Edward Everett